5 Tips to Save Money in Your Home Bakery

5 Tips to Save Money in Your Home Bakery

Home Bakers aren’t exactly loaded, are we?

More often than not, we are resourceful people looking to make an extra income while we stay at home and take care of our families on a super tight budget.

When I started my home baking business back in 2012 I had almost nothing. I had a $10 hand mixer, 2 cheap plastic hand-me-down mixing bowls, 1 square tin and 1 muffin/cupcake tin (and a $5500 student loan to pay off, lol!). That’s it! That’s all you need.

I completely understand how daunting it can be to build up a home bakery on a super tight budget, so I’ve put together 5 tips to save money in your home bakery without compromising on the quality of your bakes.

Even though my business and finances are stable now, I still use all 5 of these money saving tips in my home bakery – because saving money is so much funnnn!

Saving money literally makes me giddy. My husband thinks that’s weird, but I’m having a great time 😂🥳

1. Create Recipes with Leftovers

“Waste not, want not” will ALWAYS be one of the most valuable phrases known to man.

When I watch cooking and baking shows I always cringe when they leave like 10% of the batter in the bowl… I don’t get why anyone would do that and it upsets me deeply.

Or sometimes people crack eggs into the bowl so fast that lots of the white never makes it into the bowl and gets flung into the trash! So painful for me to watch.

My close friends and family know me as “Miss Frugal”, but I seriously don’t mind because I have saved $100’s of dollars by being so fugal. So, boom!

When I started baking from home I mostly made cupcakes and brownies.

But cupcakes require frosting and now my frugal nature was faced with a massive problem…

I’m sure you know from experience that you always have to make more frosting than what you actually end up using, so you always end up with left over frosting.

Desperate to not waste the excess of my ultimate vanilla frosting, I always scooped the left overs into a bowl and put it in the freezer. After accumulating about a liter of this left over frozen frosting, the time had come to do something with it.

I had heard about Pumpkin & Cream cheese muffins and decided to try using my left over frozen frosting as the filling since it is about 60% cream cheese anyway.

The result was spectacular!! 5 years later I still sell 100 of these Pumpkin & Cream Cheese muffins every week – the customers call them “crack muffins”! And the best part is that all my left over frosting does not go to waste!

Sofra Bakery in Cambridge, Massachusetts has created “morning buns” from their left over croissants.

They cut up the croissants in cubes, bake them with custard (like bread pudding) and brush them with an orange blossom glaze. Genius!

Almost every breakfast joint has their version of French toast. We all LOVE French toast, but when you think about it, it is nothing more than a left over recipe! It was a way to use up stale bread and not wasting it.

Some of the best recipes are ones where people had to get creative and prevent waste. I’m confident that you can do the same 🙂 So, brainstorm some ideas of how you can use leftover ingredients, off-cuts, etc. to create new products for your Home Bakery.

Build your home bakery on a super tight budget with these 5 insider tips to save money in your home baking business - without compromising on the quality of your bakes! Even though my business and finances are stable now, I still use all 5 of these money saving tips in my home bakery - because saving money is so much funnnn! #homebakery #homebusiness #cakebusiness #bakingbusiness

2. DIY it Baby!

It’s quite shocking how much money you can save by making things yourself – especially when it comes to ingredients.

Shocking as it may seem, the last time I bought icing sugar was 3 years ago. Icing sugar is expensive. It costs 250% more than regular granulated sugar.

There had to be a way around buying this expensive ingredient that doesn’t exactly contribute to a “better flavour” or anything.

I decided to buy a Nutribullet (high speed food processor). Sure, it cost me $150, but I’ve already made up that difference AGES ago.

Making my own icing sugar (oat flour, almond flour, hummus, peanut butter, smoothies, and more) has saved me heaps of money.

Another way I love to save money is by making my own muffin & cupcake liners from baking parchment. Fluted cupcake liners are really inexpensive, but they make muffins look smaller and less rustic.

I was keen to buy muffin liners (they look more handmade, with 4 little “ears” on top), but they costed like $0,12 each – that adds up super fast!

Instead of spending that money, I rather figured out how to make my own muffin liners in mere minutes for just $0,01 each. I sell 100 muffins a week, so added up, that’s a $11 weekly saving. For me, that’s worth it.

And then one of my favourite money saving tips involves my Home Bakery’s Packaging.

Beautiful, expensive branding and packaging can be a very tempting expense. But if a wrapper is beautiful and the candy tastes bad, will you ever buy it again? No.

So, don’t spend hundreds of dollars on printing amazing packaging. Just go for simple packaging to start off with.

You can seriously get away with 50 cents per box. I like to splatter metallic gold paint on my boxes to add some flare! Here’s a video tutorial of how I jazz up my boxes.

And then you should also put your business’s details on the box. Just design a large sticker with your logo on Canva. Print out the stickers and stick one on each box. Easy, beautiful and cheap!

3. Buy Ingredients from the Right Suppliers

Source ingredients in bulk or from direct suppliers wherever you can. When you cut out middle men, you eliminate all those extra mark ups you pay for in the grocery store.

For example, I used to buy all my cocoa powder, chocolate, frozen berries (and so much more!!) in the grocery store, which was super expensive.

I eventually found a supplying company with super high quality products that sell ingredients even to small businesses like home bakeries.

Now I save like 40% in ingredient costs WITHOUT COMPROMISING ON THE QUALITY OF MY INGREDIENTS! So rad!

I also went directly to a local chocolaterie and buy 1 kg blocks of chocolate from them.

This way I get to support a local business, get higher quality chocolate AND pay less for it than in the grocery store because I buy it in bulk.

Such a win-win-win!

4. Invest in Tools that Increase your Productivity

The one thing that is just as important as saving money is saving TIME. If you can save time then you will have more time to bake things to sell for profit.

Learning to work faster is important, but you can also invest in tools that will make your baking process faster like stencils, cookie cutters, a food processor, etc.

And then there is a “tool” of sorts that is FREE… It is my favourite productivity booster! And it is simply to do things in bulk wherever it’s possible.

If I make 10 of my Pumpkin & Cream Cheese muffins at a time with all of their DIY components (liners, filling, crumble, dry ingredients, and more) from start to finish, it will take me 2 whole hours I reckon!

But by making 100’s of muffin liners at a time, making my filling a few litres at a time, sifting ALL my dry ingredients for the day and putting them in labelled baggies and more, I save SO MUCH time.

Doing things in bulk will streamline your productivity and business like crazy.

5 Amazing Tips to Save Money in your Home Bakery without compromising on the quality of your baked goods! Building a Home Bakery does not have to be expensive. Click through to learn how you can save money where it counts. #homebakery #cakebusiness #bakingbusiness #cupcakebusiness

5. Increase Your Profit

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my Home Bakery (for 3 long years) was being so set on saving money that I did not INVEST my money in making more profit in the future.

I know it feels great to save money – trust me, I am known as “Miss Frugal” among my friends and family! But honestly, making money is even better than saving money… NEVER forget this.

MAKING money is better than SAVING money.

Making INVESTMENTS in order to get more orders and baking done, is better than saving money.

Here’s an example from my own Home Bakery Journey:

In the name of “saving money”, I refused to employ someone to wash dishes and clean for me for the first 18 months of my Home Bakery.

Now, I feel so stupid for not doing it sooner! I always made the excuse that “there’s no way I can afford to employ someone to clean!”

What I didn’t realize is that employing someone to clean for me twice a week would free up more time and energy for me to do more of what actually makes money – BAKING.

Since I’ve made the investment of employing Jane to clean twice a week, I’ve been able to increase my baking profits by 30%!

It’s the BAKING that brings in profit, so free up your time so that you can spend more time BAKING.

I’ve also trained Jane to do prep work for me. This includes chopping chocolate, grating carrots, slicing apples, etc. These super exhausting and time consuming tasks can easily be taught to someone else. It’s wonderful!

Easy, delegate-able tasks include: all cleaning and prep work. Later on you can expand to deliveries, errands, etc.

And while we’re talking about this point of “MAKING money is better than SAVING money”…

Let’s talk about how you can make more money in your Home Bakery:

To get more orders, you need customers to pay attention to your business. You need to know how to attract customers to your business.

And the way you do that is with effective marketing. And I’m NOT talking about spending money on ads!

Effective marketing is all about the (free) words you use to help customers understand and believe that YOUR business is the perfect fit for them.

🌟 If you want to learn how attract more customers and orders with marketing, then this blog post is your next step >> The 4 Essentials of Home Bakery Marketing.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post!

Which money saving tip is your favourite?
Are there any other things you’ve done to save money in your Home Bakery Business?
Let me know in the comments below.

Chat soon

Aurelia 🙂

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Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers build calm, profitable businesses that actually fit their lives by fixing the underlying reasons their orders are inconsistent – not by throwing more marketing, trends, or pressure at it.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

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Want to start a Home Bakery Business? Or maybe you have a business but you want more customers and consistent orders? Here's a free library full of resources, tips, tools, secret recipes and ideas to grow your Home Baking Business. Click through to access the free library! #homebakery #homebaking #bakingbusiness #cakebusiness

You absolutely DO NOT need to make fondant cakes to have a successful Home Bakery Business! Learn how I've been baking, full-time, for 6 years without EVER touching fondant! Click to learn how you can do it too... #homebakery #bakingbusiness #cakebusiness #homebaking #baking

One of the BEST ways to make your home bakery business stand out from your competition, is to pick a business name that actually attracts customers! In this post you'll get a behind the scenes look at what customers look for in a business name. You'll finally understand which types of business names attract them to a baking business, and which types of names put them off or bore them. Click the post to get the tips now! #homebakery #bakingbusiness #businessname #baking #homebaking

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Don't throw out your split chocolate ganache! You can save it and make is 100% smooth & shiny! :D Click through for all the tips you need to fix and prevent split/oily/grainy chocolate ganache. #chocolateganache #splitganache #bakingtips #bakingtipsandtricks

Want to get that thin, super shiny crust on top of your brownies? Great news is, you don't need to drop your favourite brownie recipe in search of a shiny-top brownie recipe! You can use this simple baking tip to get a shiny crust on ANY brownie recipe that contains dairy and sugar! Click through to get the step by step method for baking brownies with a shiny crust on top... #baking #bakingtips #brownies #homebaking #bakingtipsandtricks

What info are you looking for?

Do you dream of starting a home bakery, but then thoughts of self-doubt like these start flooding your mind… “People aren’t going to think my baking is worth it. All the other bakers are better than me. I’m not good enough.” Truth is pretty much ALL home bakers get these thoughts! You’re not alone! In this post you’ll learn how to beat self doubt so you can be free to pursue your baking business goals. Click through to get the tips now… #homebaking #selfdoubt #homebakery #bakingbusiness #baking

Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)

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Do You Have What it Takes to Open a Retail Bakery?

Do You Have What it Takes to Open a Retail Bakery?

**Guest content further down by Tina McJunkin from The Cautiously Optimistic Kitchen**

Welcome back to PART 2 of my Retail Bakery Series! If you missed my last post, I strongly encourage you to read it. I had the privilege of chatting with Tina McJunkin from the cautiously optimistic kitchen about the 4 LIES Home Bakers Believe about Owning a Storefront Bakery.

She shared her TRUE story of what it was like to run her own Retail Bakery for 2 years. Her story is absolutely incredible! It has really brought a HEAP of perspective and truth about the realities of owning your own bakery.

If you’ve read last week’s post and you STILL feel that opening your own Retail Bakery is a dream you want to pursue, today’s post is for you!

Tina has put together some questions for you to figure out if you have what it takes to open your own Retail Bakery.

Please note that Tina & I are NOT doing this Retail Bakery series to trample on your dreams, but rather because we want you to make INFORMED decisions and be successful!

Over to Tina 🙂

Dearest Home Baker,
I have been right where you are now.

Dreaming and obsessing over all the things I would do if I had my own cute little cake shop. How I would decorate the front of house and how I would charm every customer with a free sample as they strolled in the door. How people would FINALLY take me seriously as a baker!

Oh yes, I’ve been there.

I’ve also been on the other side of there.

I’ve actually owned and operated a real life Retail Bakery. And that, my friends, is why I’m here today. You really NEED to think about these things before you take the leap and dive in!

So… do you have what it takes to open a retail bakery? Let’s find out!

1. Do You Know WHY You Want a Retail Bakery?

I know you dream of doing this, but why are you REALLY doing this?

Do you want to make more money than you are now? Or maybe you want the fame of having a wildly successful bakery?

Is it because you want to be busier with more customers? Do you just want all that cake stuff out of your house and to stop taking over every spare inch you can find to shove more supplies?

Could it be because you want the opportunity to hire employees and delegate some of the work so that you have more time for your own family?

Do you have what it takes to open your own retail bakery? Here are 6 questions for you to answer so you can know for sure!

If you are only opening a bakery to satisfy your daydreams, you may need to think about the next few things first.

2. How Much Time are You Willing to Sacrifice?

Operating a retail bakery will take ALL of your time. I truly mean that.

As the owner, you will work 24/7/365.

Not. Even. Kidding.

If you have a storefront you will absolutely be busier than in your home bakery. Not only will you need to spend time on actually making cakes, you will spend time on so many more admin & logistical issues like:

The book work, paying bills, ordering supplies, taking inventory, hiring/firing/managing employees, handling advertising, answering calls/emails only you as the owner can respond to, creating recipes/menus, shopping, etc., etc.

It’s everything you are already doing in your home bakery, but 100 fold. So take the amount of time you spend working on your cakes now and multiply that by 100. Now you have how many hours you will work in a week.

You might think it’s impossible to work a 130 hour work week, but I’m telling you now that it’s very real and imminent when you own a Retail Bakery.

3. Do You Have a Plan?

I don’t just mean a plan of how things are going to look and how everyone is going to think your yummies are the best in town. I mean a real deal business plan.

If you are going to finance this venture, you will be required to have a plan anyway. But even if you aren’t financing you MUST have a plan!!

You Need a Plan for ALL the following things:

Know what your operating hours will be.
How many employees you will need and what schedule they will work.
If you will purchase ingredients locally or if you will use a food service.
Have your menu and recipes ready and flawless.
Have business cards and brochures printed before you ever open your doors.
Know exactly how much your items, supplies, packaging and ingredients cost per unit.
Know exactly how much your overhead will cost you.
How much will your workers comp insurance, unemployment insurance and liability insurance cost?
Will you pay sick days or maternity leave?
How much will you pay out in salaries, sales taxes, business licenses, and deposits?
Call the utility office and ask what an average bill costs for the unit you are going to operate in.
Is your building already set up for a food service business?
Will you need to get permits or build out your building?
What is the cost of your equipment?
How long will it take the Health Department to allow you to open once you’re ready?
Shop around for internet, phone, advertising, insurance, etc.
KNOW HOW MUCH THINGS ARE GOING TO COST.

There will be even more things added to this list as you get deeper into it and it is absolutely essential that you have a SOLID plan.

All Home Bakers DREAM of having their own Storefront Bakery with a line of eager customers wrapping around the block! But it's not the party we imagine it to be. Here are 6 questions for you to answer and figure out if YOU have what it takes to open your own retail/storefront bakery. #homebakery #bakingbusiness #cakebusiness #retailbakery

4. To Finance or Not to Finance?

How are you going to fund this venture?

If you are going to finance your bakery yourself you will need to have that business plan ready. There are different types of loans you can get, so be sure you research them all. You can find tons of free information on small business loans and other funding options on bank websites.

Decide if you need a down payment, collateral, or if you will be using credit cards. Also, be sure to think about how you will handle the financial situation if you are not able to make those payments.

How is that going to affect other aspects of your life? Are you using your home or vehicle as collateral and will you lose those items? Are you about to sink your entire life savings into this? Will you be maxing out those credit cards?

Once you decide on how you will finance your Retail Bakery’s start up don’t forget about those operating costs.

Be sure you have some kind of financial cushion for slow times!

Whether that is a personal stockpile of cash you have set aside, a line of credit, or one credit card you held back from maxing. Whatever it may be, just be sure you have it at the ready. You will need it – even if you’re 100% sure you won’t.

5. Are You Ready to Be a Boss?

Are you really prepared to be a boss?

Now look, I’m the first to admit I can be considered to be a bit bossy (Or so I’m told by my younger sisters, my kids, my husband) I’m the eldest child in my family, what can I say, I come by it honestly, right?

But here’s the kicker. I may be great at being bossy, but I’m a terrible boss!!!

There’s more to being a boss than bossing. You’ve got to be able to manage people. You need to be prepared to interview, hire, delegate, and even fire people.

Trust me it’s much harder than it sounds. You also need to be able to be respected (and be respectful). You need to be taken seriously, you need to be fair, and you need to be able to set standards that you expect to be met by all your employees.

Also remember that you are their employer, not their friend. You must keep those two relationships separate, even if you’re friendly with your employees (and you definitely should be!). If you don’t you separate the two you will never be able to manage employees to the best of your ability.

One other thing you will realize pretty fast is that YOU are the employee of the month – actually of the year!

You will need to know how to perform EVERY job and be willing and able to do them. If you have an employee call in sick, be prepared to jump into that position.

Be prepared to work every position at once because sometimes you just might have to!

There may be times when it’s slow enough that you need to decide if it’s worth it to pay another person to do a job you can actually do yourself.

Holidays and weekends are another time when you get to work but may decide to let your employees enjoy the time off. You will need to consider these things when you are deciding on how much time you’re willing to put in as well when you are creating your business plan costs.

6. Are You Ready to Develop a THICK Skin?

Once those doors open, you are now considered a professional. If you are still working on those decorating skills and you’ve only been doing this just a little while, no one will be considerate of that. As soon as you establish yourself in a brick and mortar store, the customers will expect you to be an absolute expert.

There won’t be much room for error.

Everything you do will be under scrutiny.
Everything your employees say and do will be under scrutiny.
Anything and everything that goes out your door will be criticized and picked apart.

The fact is when you grow your audience you open yourself up to more opportunities to be placed under the microscope. Not everyone will like your work. Heck, not everyone likes your work now. But when you open a retail bakery, you lose that personal touch.

People aren’t afraid of hurting your feelings anymore if they aren’t completely pleased. Now they’re racing to social media to let the entire world know how awful you are, all without ever letting you know they were unhappy. It’s just reality.

The thing is that it will bother you. It will ruin your weekend when you get that first call complaining about your work.

The first time, the next time, and the last time will all hurt the same. Just be prepared and know that unfortunately not all people have the decency to treat others as they would like to be treated.

There are plenty of people who are ready to spew whatever junk comes to their minds. So you have to decide how you will handle the situation when it comes – because unfortunately, it WILL come.

Do you have what it takes to open a retail bakery? Every Home Baker carries this dream in their pocket at some point! Here are 6 questions for you to answer so you can know for sure if opening a storefront bakery is the right step for YOU! #cakebusiness #bakingbusiness #homebakery #retailbakery

So there you have my six things you definitely need to think about before opening a retail bakery.

Now that you’ve thought about these 6 questions, have you considered baking from home may be just where you need to be?

Tina

Thank you so much for sharing these questions with us Tina! If you haven’t read Tina’s full story on the Reality of Owning a Retail Bakery, you can read it here.

I hope Tina’s questions have brought some clarity, perspective and shed a lot of light on your baking journey – as it has done for me!

If you have any questions, please comment below and either Tina or I will respond.

Chat soon

Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

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What info are you looking for?

Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)

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4 Lies Home Bakers Believe about Opening a Storefront Bakery

4 LIES Home Bakers Believe about Opening a Storefront Bakery

**Guest content further down by Tina McJunkin from Cautiously Optimistic Kitchen**

This 2 PART SERIES I’m starting today is probably the most important one I have shared with you to date. It’s not a fun one, but it is ABSOLUTELY necessary.

The reason why it isn’t going to be fun for you to read is because it will address a BIG and sacred dream you probably have. I know you have this dream because I had this dream too for 5 long years.

For 5 years I used to pin beautiful images to a Pinterest board I named “If I had my own little bakery“.

MANY (in fact MOST) of my readers confirm for me every week that this is a home baker’s ultimate dream…

To own your very own storefront bakery.

This dream in itself CAN BE a good dream to work towards, but honestly we all have unrealistic pictures and expectations in our minds about what this kind of life looks like on a day to day basis.

Over my years as a full time home baker, I’ve been through a lot and the ideal of my own retail bakery started to lose its glossy veneer. I can honestly say that I absolutely LOVE being a full time HOME BAKER.

It feels like having your own retail bakery is the ultimate GOAL in baking. A heap of my clients, friends and family still ask me: “WHEN are you going to open your own Retail Bakery??”

My immediate, content answer is “No, thanks” 🙂

Because I am truly happy where I am as a full time HOME Baker.

And a lot of this perspective came from reading a post by Tina McJunkin from The Cautiously Optimistic Kitchen.

SO I ASK OF YOU TODAY TO BE OPEN AND LISTEN TO TINA’S STORY BECAUSE SHE HAS BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT!

Here’s what Tina has to say about her baking journey. She was a Home Baker, just like you and me, but for the whole 2 years she baked from home, she always dreamed of owning her very own retail bakery.

Here is Tina’s TRUE Story

Most every home baker dreams of having their own retail bakery. It’s something you start thinking about the very moment someone loves a cake you baked for them!

On television and online you see the financial industry, business card, credit card, and website designer commercials showing all of the smiling business owners talking about how great it is to have their own store.

You see the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube pages, videos and posts all touting how it’s the way to go and you won’t regret your decision if you go for it!

Want to have your own Retail Bakery? This is the side of the story that no one else is talking about. Most every home baker dreams of having their own retail bakery. Here is the TRUE story and the realities of owning your own retail bakery - because I want you to make INFORMED DECISIONS.

But is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

Well… that’s going to be for you to decide. But for me, the short answer was NO.

Today I’m going to share my experience with you. This is the side of the story that no one else is talking about.

I Decided I was Ready for My Own Retail Bakery.

After nearly two years of baking from home I was ready to open my very own retail bakery. I had built a pretty good clientele of loyal customers and felt my skill level was up to par (haha!).

All my days and nights I spent dreaming – obsessing about what I would name my shop, how I would decorate the front of house, what my logo would look like, and how customers would come strolling in one after the other from opening time until closing time.

Although, the biggest dreams I had were how much money I would make, how much room I would free up in my home, and all the extra time I would have to spend with my family! <sigh>

Boy was I wrong! About most of it anyway. There is so much more to having your own retail bakery than you realize.

**I want to say right now, this is the story of MY experience. So many others have opened their own retail bakery and loved it. In such cases it was the absolute right decision for them. My goal is NOT to bring you down and stomp on your dreams.**

I am only here to share the realities of owning your own retail bakery with you because I want you to make INFORMED DECISIONS.

It can be the greatest experience you’ve ever had, but it can also be heart-breaking. A Retail Bakery can be exhausting and it is absolutely challenging.

There are many people with a mind and spirit made for business. I unfortunately realized I was not cut out for this type of thing. I made a lot of mistakes and my biggest mistake was my IGNORANCE about HOW to actually operate a retail business.

So here’s my story. Please read it with an open mind.

I will share my story in light of 4 Misconceptions I had about owning my own retail Bakery.

1. I Believed a Retail Bakery Would Make More Money

The truth is I paid every penny out to others.

I did not profit a single cent even though we “made” six figures the first 9 months we were open. Yes, 6 figures. But NONE of it was in my pocket. It cost us several thousands to open the bakery plus the huge burden of overheard.

The electric bills alone were $500-800/month in the moderate size unit we were in. I also had to hire employees (please don’t think you can do this alone!). Paying sales taxes, unemployment taxes and insurance, and salaries (now the employment laws are getting even crazier), advertising, liability insurance, and credit card processing fees took huge chunks of money every month.

I needed to constantly add new items and run promotions to keep walk in business, as people are bored very easily, and it’s exhausting! ALL food businesses do it so don’t expect to be the exception.

Even if you opened a CAKE shop like I did, people will expect you to be a full service bakery.

It was the right thing for me to open my own retail bakery because I was obsessed with the thought. OBSESSED I tell you. I couldn’t think of anything else. I thought this was what I was meant to do and had total misconceptions of the "storefront bakery dream"... #homebakery #bakingbusiness #retailbakery #cakebusiness

With all the new orders I had to buy more ingredients/packaging to keep up which was more money out the door. You will probably need to add something to bring customers in if you aren’t a full service bakery, like an ice cream parlour, lunches, or even sell merchandise in your store.

There are busy seasons and slow seasons in the cake world.

I didn’t take into account that the summer and winter would be so slow!

I never had any issues before booking up in my home bakery during these times of year. But I also only needed a fraction of the business to operate.

When you have employees and overheard you need steady orders and walk in traffic ALL year long! Take advantage of busy times (Valentine’s Day, Graduation and Wedding seasons) and promote lots of specials.

It is an absolute MUST that you raise your prices drastically from what you are charging at home. Don’t be surprised when your loyal customers aren’t happy about that.

Not everyone realizes how much money it takes just to keep the lights on and they will not understand why you raised your “great” prices from back when you were the “cheap” cake lady!

2. I Thought Customers Would Be Kind

I have to be completely honest with you.

I didn’t want to deal with people EVER again after I closed my shop.

Even though there were many, many, many more satisfied customers I dealt with than unhappy customers, those very few unhappy ones made a huge impact on my view of the world. People change as soon as you have a store front.

People expect WAY more from you and are not afraid to tell all of social media about when they are not happy about anything.

They will even expect refunds for their own mistakes that they made while ordering. They become much pickier.

They become hateful and quick to judge without giving any thought to the fact that this is how you feed your family. It is just fact that not every single customer will be happy and love your work. I completely understand that. I am a consumer too!

But so many people forget that you are just a woman chasing her dreams and rather than speaking with you about any issues they will just run your name through the mud instead. That’s the reality of this digital world we live in today.

When I did have a customer approach me with an issue it was ALWAYS dealt with. You cannot ignore unsatisfied customers. You MUST take every measure you possibly can to turn the situation around. People remember the single negative review and will scroll right past the 1000 positive reviews you may have.

I was sure to be quick with a sincere apology (even if it wasn’t our fault) and I offered a refund as well as a replacement for the product. When customers came to me unhappy I can gladly say they left with a changed attitude and I nearly always saw them back in my shop as a repeat customer!

I unfortunately wasn’t always given the opportunity to make things right and that really got to me. It really hurt when people chose to be negative and stir up conflict without ever addressing the issue with me.

Not only was this difficult to deal with, but I lost the personal encounters with my customers.

They just became an order form that my employee filled out. And I had to hope they got all the info and wrote everything down correctly. I also had customers that refused to deal with any of my employees and only speak with me because they were long time clients.

The thing is, I didn’t have time to deal with customers personally because I was busy running the business end of things.

3. I Thought I Would Have Much More Free Time!

Except in my own retail bakery, I was now the boss. I was not only responsible for my own quality of work but I was also responsible for my employees quality of work and customer service.

Finding good, reliable employees can be extremely challenging! No one cares about your business like you do.

Even when you have a good staff you will still work

EVERY.

SINGLE.

DAY.

I worked 80+ hours a week and had no time for my children.

I kid you not, I missed an entire year of my children’s lives. I cleaned out some boxes awhile after we closed our shop and found so many school papers and order forms for school pictures I had never seen before!

I wasn’t able to take time off or go on vacation. I had to worry about bad weather and not being able to be open during winter. Winter and Summer are extremely slow times of the year for bakeries.

You also can’t just not take orders or not go to work because you are tired or don’t feel up to making cake that day – which is something you can always do in a home bakery setup!

4. I Thought I Had the Right Mind & SPIRIT for Business

Owning a business is so, SUPER stressful – especially a busy and successful business.

I was STRESSED OUT WHEN…

We were so busy that I didn’t go home on Friday nights because we had to get orders finished for Saturday morning.
We sold out of cupcakes in our case every day the first week we were open and had to disappoint customers.
Every time a customer picked up a cake because I was terrified their order may not be right or they may not like it. If they didn’t like it I was stressed that they would run straight to Facebook and let the masses know without ever telling me.
My other decorator needed to take off work frequently.
I couldn’t take even a Sunday off because I had to buy supplies for the following week from a local store.

I WAS STRESSED.

ALWAYS.

The bucket loads of STRESS eventually took a toll on not only my relationships but also my health.

Thank the great Lord above for giving me a truly amazing husband. Most relationships probably wouldn’t have made it through the effects of the stress we endured, but my husband not only hung in there, he carried me through. He is my rock and I learned to love him in a completely new and deeper way.

It took another year and a half after we closed up shop for my mind to begin to heal. My body on the other hand decided to blow its adrenals and damage not only my thyroid but it’s entire endocrine system. That is a battle I’m still fighting.

I clung to God like I had never done before.

My spirit was broken and I prayed NON STOP.

That’s not an exaggeration. If I was awake I was talking to Him. He pulled me out of the lowest place I had ever been and He brought me back to life. I got to know Him like I had never dreamed possible. I promise you, He is there for you. Don’t blame Him when you are in a bad place, turn and RUN to Him!

Realizing my mind, body and spirit couldn’t handle the stress any longer (I was truly on the verge of a nervous breakdown) and after operating a storefront for nearly 2 years, we closed up shop.

I wasn’t sure when we closed our doors if I ever wanted to bake another cake. The plan was for me to completely quit and I was going to return to the work force.

I was actually called and offered a job I hadn’t even known existed. After much prayer and lots of discussion we decided that I would decline the position and stay home. But that meant continuing my cake business. I realized in that moment I wasn’t finished.

With God’s help, I knew my mind would heal and I would be able to love my work again.

And I do.

There Was a Silver Lining Though

I can’t say that it was all bad.

I learned how to bake/ice/decorate a cake in less than a few hours as opposed to an entire day! I tweaked my recipes until they were just right. I learned how to bake a dozen cakes and only dirty a few dishes in my kitchen instead of messing my entire house!

I did gain new loyal customers.

Most importantly I learned that I would much rather work from home and pick and choose my customers.

I would much rather be home working all night instead of across town until 3:00am to only be back at 7:00am.

I learned that sometimes you already have all you need right where you’re at doing exactly what you’re doing.

So that was my experience.

Here’s My Advice

Do what God is leading you to do.

I know that it was the right thing for me to open my own retail bakery because I was obsessed with the thought. OBSESSED I tell you. I couldn’t think of anything else.

And the Lord knew that if I didn’t see all of these things on my own I would never stop thinking about it. That I would never learn the valuable lessons I learned and I’d always wonder if I could have or should have done it.

So He let me do what I thought I wanted and find out that I already had what I wanted. Let’s say, I had to learn things the hard way…

I hope that my story has helped you take a closer look at what it means to have your own retail bakery.

Tina

Thank you so much Tina for sharing your priceless story on Philosophy of Yum!

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO OPEN YOUR OWN RETAIL BAKERY?? In my next post you can discover the truth for yourself 😉

I hope Tina’s story has brought some clarity, perspective and shed a lot of light on your baking journey – as it has done for me!

If you have any questions, please comment below and either Tina or I will respond.

Chat soon

Aurelia 🙂

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Do you need a license to sell baked goods from home?

Do you need a license to sell baked goods from home?

Hey! Important note: The Home/Micro Bakery licensing process varies in each country AND in each state/province around the world.

I’ve been helping home bakers (mostly from the USA, but all over the world) create Home/Micro Bakeries with consistent orders since 2018.

We’ve never run into a situation where a home baker has no option to sell anything in any way to anyone.

In many cases, they limit WHAT you may bake and HOW you may sell it. But they hardly ever forbid it entirely. If there’s one thing I can tell you for sure, it’s that you’ve always got options to MAKE it work!

This post will give you an overview of the process, but you’ll also need to take responsibility to double-check the Cottage Food Laws in your country (you’ll get many resources in this post to get you started!).

My goal is to put your mind at ease, and show you that getting your Home Bakery licensed and legal isn’t actually that complex! You’re gonna be just fine, I promise 🙂

Why You Need a Home/Micro Bakery License

If you live in the USA, it’s important to note that every state and city/town has its own Cottage Food Laws!

But lucky for you, The Institute for Justice spells out the laws of each state on their site (it’s super thorough and they break it all down) >> click here to check it out.

At this point, ALL 50 STATES allow direct sales.

This is freakin’ FANTASTIC news! Because it means that once you’ve got your license, you can sell directly to anyone.

Some states don’t allow wholesale baking (baking for coffee shops, restaurants, or anyone else that resells your baking) or online orders (selling through a website).

BUT direct sales include:

… selling to friends, family, colleagues, etc.

… selling to offices, bnbs, and hotels (It’s legal because they don’t resell your baking! They’re the best repeat clients ever. My free email course, Repeat Order Ready, goes deeper into how to get repeat clients like these).

… selling directly to customers at food/farmers’ markets (mostly legal, but double check your Cottage Food Laws).

In South Africa (where I live) they won’t really hunt you down and fine you if you do not have the correct documentation – we are a third-world country after all. In other countries, they might fine you though.

The main reason for getting a home bakery business license and certificate is that it’s ETHICAL and LEGAL. I wouldn’t want to bake goods for the public in my kitchen if I knew something wasn’t up to scratch. Would you?

The municipal standards for health and safety are there to protect us and our clients.

Most food markets also ask for your Home Bakery license before you’re allowed to sell there. If you don’t have it and an inspector decides to pay a visit to the food market, both you and the food market owners could get into a lot of trouble – a severe fine or even being shut down. Whoops!

Certificate & License Required for Home Bakery

Home/Micro Bakeries typically need to apply for 2 different documents.

A Certificate of Acceptability (Name Might Vary) from the Health Department:

This certificate refers to the condition of your food preparation facilities, in other words your home’s kitchen. An environmental health and safety officer will visit your home to inspect your kitchen and bathroom facilities.

They typically look out for the following criteria:

They’ll naturally expect a very clean kitchen, so clean your entire kitchen, from top to bottom. Remember to clean inside your fridge and cupboards as well.
Kitchen counter tops are non–porous. This means that they don’t absorb any substances during food preparation. For this reason, your countertops should always be treated to be waterproof. They don’t have to be stainless steel, they should just be waterproof. If they are not waterproof, they will absorb food and become infested with bacteria. Not cool.
Adequate washing facilities. You don’t need a massive dishwasher or 3 sinks. They just check that you have running hot and cold water and at least 1 basin – preferably 2 though.
Bathroom facilities– quite obvious I guess. It is important that you have a bathroom for staff to use away from the kitchen.
Adequate storage and packaging. You should have airtight containers to store baked goods in overnight and also for transportation to restaurants and food markets. When it comes to packaging, the standard cake boxes from a packaging store are totally fine.
Adequate refrigeration. Sometimes they’ll check to see how cold your fridge is. It should be 4°C/40°F or lower.
Hairnets and Aprons– also quite obvious. Also have plastic, non-latex gloves for handling your bakes when packaging them.

Some countries require you to label and weigh all your baked goods. Don’t let this intimidate you. Print out stickers for all your products. You can create pretty designs for free on Canva.

You don’t need to buy those super expensive electronic food scales to weigh your bakes. Just use an affordable digital kitchen scale. It’s the best $15 – $20 you’ll ever spend!

If you have large cakes you need to weigh that don’t fit on the scale, just place a small chopping board on top of the scale first and then you can add the cake on top of that. This way it will fit onto the scale and you’ll be able to weigh it accurately.

home bakery licenses

Hawking in Meals Business License:

This license refers to producing goods on one premises and transporting them to a different premises to be sold there. This is typically what Home Bakeries do, since we don’t have a restaurant or café at our own homes.

Whether you supply goods to restaurants, cafes or delis or sell your goods at food markets, this is a license you really need to do so LEGALLY.

The same Environmental Health and Safety Officer will ask to see your food transportation containers. They should be airtight and watertight with lids.

An Inspector may also visit you at any food market you do. There are also some additional criteria you will have to meet if you plan to prepare bakes at the food market itself and not at home. You can download all the additional guidelines for informal food trading.

Applying for Home/Micro Bakery License

Use Google to find your city’s main Municipal Office. Phone them and ask to speak to someone in the Environmental Health and Safety Department. Explain the nature of your business (*important* Tell them you won’t be working with meat at all!) and ask them what licenses and certificates you will need to apply for.
Decide which day you want to go to your municipal offices. Be sure to double check their office hours – in South Africa they are only open for like 5 hours a day! Take your Identification Document along and a black pen.
When you arrive at the Municipality Building, ask staff to direct you to the Environmental Health and Safety Department.
Wait in line – yay. When it’s your turn, explain the nature of your business clearly so that they can give you the correct application forms.
Complete the forms and pay the fee. In some countries & states it’s not too expensive, but in others it will cost more. But think of this in terms of investment. Getting this license will ENABLE you to make money from your baking. Thus, the license will essentially pay for itself and so much more!
The Environmental Health and Safety Department will the contact your closest Environmental Health and Safety Office. They will then contact you somewhere in the next 2 weeks to set up an appointment for inspection.
Make sure your home is nice and clean and all your pets are outside during the inspection. Be friendly and show the official your kitchen and bathroom facilities. Be available so that you can answer any questions they may have Also have your hairnet and apron on standby so that you can show them to the official. Once they are satisfied they will leave.
The environmental health and safety office issues your Home Bakery certificate and license. The Municipality will phone you to come and collect it, but they also offer to post it to you if you live far out of town. The whole process takes about 2 – 4 weeks from start to finish.

Note that the Home Bakery Certificate and License are linked to your specific baking premises (your home). If you move house you will need to apply for these documents all over again.

I scanned my Home Bakery Certificate and License the moment I receive them. It’s always handy to have them on file in case the physical copies get lost! Which tends to happen in our home… to MANY official documents… like our marriage certificate!

Home Bakery Businesses do need a few Certificates, Licenses and Insurance to operate legally. But they are all very easy to get and aren't expensive at all! Here's all the info you need, with step by step instructions, to get your required Home Bakery Business documents. #homebakery #bakingbusiness #cakebusiness #homebaking

Home Bakery Business Registration

It is not compulsory to register your Home Bakery’s name if you are a sole proprietor. Sole proprietor simply means that you (1 person) are the exclusive owner of your business. If you bake from home you are a sole proprietor by default until you decide to register your business as a CC, LLC, etc.

Some countries and states will require you to register your business as an LLC or Pty (Ltd) before you are allowed to start selling your baking.

You’ll need to do some research to find out how things work in your country and province/state.

Home Bakery Insurance

This also varies greatly from county to country. I’m aware that folks in the USA sue people for almost anything if they have the power to do so. In South Africa we can’t really be bothered.

I don’t believe insurance is necessary for a Home Bakery – no matter what country you live in. If you are worried that someone may sue you because they had an allergic reaction to your bakes, then include a thorough disclaimer on your Home Bakery’s website or Facebook page.

You can check out my Home Bakery’s disclaimer. Just copy it and sub in your own Home Bakery’s Name and details where applicable.

Obviously you should have household insurance to protect your entire home against theft, fires or floods. All your home bakery equipment will automatically be included in that. One of the many perks of baking from home!

And that’s it my friend! Please let me know if you have any other questions by commenting below. I’ll be more than happy to help.

Chat soon

Aurelia 🙂

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6 Ways to Stay Inspired & Motivated in Your Home Bakery

6 Ways to Stay Inspired & Motivated in Your Home Bakery

Ever heard that quote by Confucius: “Choose a job you love, then you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”?

Well…

He was lying.

He may have been a deep genius, but he was still lying.

Truth is that no matter what work you do, there are some days when you just won’t feel like doing it.

My high school Math teacher had this hilarious line she pulled out of her archives whenever we complained about our schoolwork: “Ons is nie in die hemel nie, ons is in Afrika.” Which translates to: “We are not in heaven, we are in Africa.”

But whether you live in Africa or not, ANY work will inevitably be difficult on some days. And some days are worse than others.

There are always random days when the inspiration is low and your pillow is just SO FLUFFY.

Then there are other days where you have energy, but just feel a bit “meh” and baking doesn’t seem so great and before you know it it’s 3 hours later and you STILL haven’t started (because you just keep scrolllling and scrolllling on Instagram – like me)!

And those days a client asks you for something new and NOTHING comes to you.

If you’re like me, you may even have had weeks where you just keep steam rolling on, FORCING yourself to keep going… Please tell me I’m not alone?

So even if you work on a rose plantation, some days just aren’t that rosy.

Today’s post is all about sharing practical tips to help you on such days to get you out of Baker’s Block and restore your baking inspiration!

Warning: Some of these tips may be quite confrontational and intense (especially the first 2), but I’m sharing what has undeniably worked for me.

Freedom and Inspiration usually involves laying down our pride in one form or another.

More often than not, baking inspiration returns after applying tips number 1 & 2, but I’ve included 4 others as well for desperate times 😉

So here we go 🙂

1. Rest and W(h)ine

Because we are bakers and we overwork ourselves (more often than not), I simply HAVE to start with this tip.

When we are tired and worn out, we can’t push ourselves to keep going for too long. It’s so weird, but over time, society has started branding REST as “laziness” or “idleness”, but that is completely false.

I read this amazing article by The Guardian about rest and productivity.

Alex Soojan-Kim Pang wrote a book about the importance of rest and its power to actually BOOST productivity beyond belief! Here’s a quote from the interview that hit me straight between the eyes!

“’More hours equal more productivity.’ This is an assumption – a mistake – that we’ve been making for a very long time. And now there’s more than a century’s worth of research that OVERWORKING ourselves is bad for people, organisations and also BAD FOR PRODUCTIVITY. It’s something that can be sustained for periods of a few weeks but after that you start creating more problems than you solve.”

When we are overworked, there is zero inspiration.

Important note: Intentional rest is not watching Netflix or playing Xbox. Stay away from screens. Research has shown that physical hobbies help our minds to recover from exhaustion much faster.

Due to my physical reality, I am not able to do any exercise, but talking a leisurely walk in our neighbourhood does WONDERS for my mind and mood! Barefoot is even better!

When I take a walk, I also try to focus on what I SEE, rather than what I think.

I’ll focus on the delightfulness of the breeze, the beautiful singing of the birds, the movement of the trees in the wind, etc.

If I stay inside my head for the whole walk, I don’t feel any better by the time I get back to our apartment.

Other options can be reading a good novel, playing cards or a board game with friends/family (laughter is the best rest!), a picnic, a nap, playing with your cat/dog, drinking a glass of wine while listening to your favourite music, a walk in nature or even just in your neighbourhood…

If you have more ideas, please share in the comments below!

2. Processor (Mind) is Overloaded

I’m busy reading a psychology book called “I’m ok, you’re ok” which deals a lot with our thought patterns about ourselves and others. (I’m quite a nerd yes, but bear with me – I promise I have a point!)

Dr Harris likens our minds to computer processors. When there’s too much for our minds to process (conflict in relationships, harsh self-criticism, bitterness, unforgiveness, overwhelm of emotions) then we LITERALLY CANNOT BE CREATIVE. It is impossible, because there’s no processing power left at all.

In fact, we can actually only be efficiently creative and inspired when there’s nothing negative and overwhelming for our minds to process.

Tips to get your creative juices flowing again in your baking and restore your inspiration!

You may have noticed that I’ve been totally absent on my Instagram Account the last 2 weeks. It was not intentional at all. I just had some conflict going on with a friend.

This conflict was occupying my mind 24/7! Constant analysis – back and forth on repeat. As soon as it was sorted out, I had the ability to start experimenting with my baking again and resuming my writing and posts 🙂

Bottom line:

Sort things out with your loved ones. Forgive.
Have grace for yourself in every area of your life – let your thoughts about yourself be kind.
Journal, take a walk, talk to a friend or do whatever you need to do to PROCESS your emotions and not ignore them.
Our emotions don’t magically disappear, we need to deal with them in order to free up our minds’ processors for creative productivity.

3. Listen to Success Stories of Other Entrepreneurs

Before I dive into this tip here’s something CRUCIAL you need to know about your inspiration & motivation…

As business owners we no longer have the luxury of WAITING for inspiration to strike. It’s our responsibility to make sure we stay inspired and motivated.

In our business journeys we need to GIVE and CREATE a lot, which drains our inspiration very fast.

The longer you carry on with your Home Bakery, the more inspiration and motivation you’ll need. And if you wait for it to “come to you”, it’s like you’re waiting for a warm day in the middle of winter! It’s just NOT going to happen.

Don’t let yourself (and your business) be at the mercy of random inspiration and motivation.

Take responsibility to keep yourself inspired and motivated – EVERY WEEK!

And here’s one of the best ways:

Now, even though I’m personally not aiming to be a millionaire or have a GIANT business, there’s so much value to glean from the successful entrepreneurs who have gone before us.

The “How I Built This” Podcast has transformed my perspective of what’s POSSIBLE for unqualified entrepreneurs like you and me.

When we see what’s POSSIBLE, we start looking at our circumstances very differently.

I’ve made a habit of listening to one episode of the How I Built This podcast one specific night per week while I cook dinner. Podcasts are cool like that because you can listen to them on the go!

Even if I think “nah, I don’t need inspiration this week”, I STILL listen to an episode and afterwards I’m ALWAYS grateful I did.

So, whenever your inspiration/motivation meter is low, listen to an episode of this podcast.

Better yet, commit to listening to an episode on a specific day and time every week. This way you’ll STAY inspired and avoid hitting a “low”!

You’ll leave with gleaming eyes and a heart BURSTING with excitement and courage for your own business journey!

4. Go Eat your Favourite Dessert

Weird little fact… I hardly ever eat anything I bake. Sure, I taste the cake scraps (which is not much since I figured out how to bake perfectly level, flat, cake layers), or a bit of left over ultimate frosting. But I sell all my goods in batches so there are never extras.

And on top of that, things just taste better when someone ELSE makes them for you, am I right? 😉

When I’m in DESPERATE need of inspiration (because I’m super frugal and don’t like spending money when I can make something myself), it does wonders to go and eat one of my favourite desserts that remind me why I’m baking in the first place…

For people to experience the euphoria of sensational FLAVOUR & QUALITY.

Struggling to stay inspired and motivated in your Home Bakery Business? You're so not alone! It honestly happens to every Home Bakery owner. Here are 6 things you can do when your motivation meter is on empty... #homebakery #homebaking #bakingbusiness #cakebusiness #bakingtips

In general I’m more into simple bakes, done exceptionally well. Unless it’s a cinnamon doughnut… I’ll eat it ANY way I can get it. (Fresh and warm is obviously best, but fortunately I’m obsessed with them so even yesterday’s cold cinnamon doughnuts will still make me happy. I’m cheap like that and it’s fine by me!)

So my go-to favourites in Cape Town are Pasteis de Nata by Hoghouse Brewing Company (totally mentioning it first for a reason!!), Flourless Chocolate Cake by Fork Tapas & Pincho’s Bar, a fresh croissant by Woodstock Bakery or Rosetta Coffee Ice Cream by The Creamery.

Every once in a while we need to spoil ourselves with an amazing treat that makes us SMILE involuntarily. It tends to spark our inspiration back into flame!

5. Watch Unique Sweets

I’ve mentioned Unique Sweets a hundred times before and I’ll mention it another hundred times! You seriously cannot be an Artisan Baker without watching this show at least every 2 weeks.

There are few things that make me as excited about baking as Unique Sweets does.

Every episode inspires me so much! There are always such unique eateries on the show with the most amazing passion, ideas and creativity.

I always keep my notebook handy when I’m watching an episode because I know that I’ll be inspired with at least 10 new ideas – without a doubt!

Of course it’s also inspirational to watch bakers that are inspired themselves. It’s so contagious!

6. Go Buy Amazing Seasonal Ingredients

We all have our best-selling bakes. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but baking the same things over and over and over again can definitely throw a wet towel on our inspiration.

I bake for 3 local coffee shops every week, so I play brownie-brownie quite a lot in my kitchen. Needless to say, it does become a bit monotonous at times.

The best antidote for this inspiration sucker is to go out and buy amazing, fresh, seasonal ingredients. Go to the grocery store; take a good look at all the seasonal fresh produce. Pick one type of vegetable/fruit and commit to baking something with it.

An even better idea is to go to a local farmer’s market (WAY more inspirational than a grocery store!) and chat with the vendor.

They’re SO passionate about their fresh produce! By the end of the conversation you’ll be excited off your rocker to bake something with the fresh blackberries you just purchased.

New, fresh ingredients bring back the wonder of baking in moments.

7. Bonus Tip! Stop & Smell the Cookies (Gratitude)

This is a tip I try to apply every single day – even when I’m not lacking inspiration.

It’s quite shocking how many days you can just carry on, on auto-pilot, without appreciating the incredible BEAUTY of BAKING. And when that happens, our joy and inspiration quickly flies out the window.

Fellow Home Bakers, let us never forget how profoundly blessed we are to be ABLE to bake.

Let’s not take it for granted; whether we bake full time, part time or just as a hobby. We are BLESSED to be able to enjoy the wonder of baking.

Whenever I forget this and start complaining about the long list of things I have to bake on a particular day, I try to intentionally focus on the beauty of baking.

Like that moment you pour the thick, gloopy, shiny brownie batter into the pan.

Or the moment that chocolate ganache comes together and you realize that there isn’t anything else this luscious on earth!!

Another favourite is the sound that baked goods make when they come out the oven.

And the aromas we get to inhale… All day… Come on… WE ARE SO BLESSED!!

Name another job that satisfies all of our 5 senses on a daily basis? We get satisfied on every level: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.

Whenever I turn into a spoiled, ungrateful brat in my head, I just remind myself of these facts and focus on them throughout the day.

It doesn’t take long at all for the inspiration to return when I start paying attention and being grateful.

Those are my favourite tips for maintaining my Inspiration & Motivation in Home Bakery 🙂

Let me know in a comment if you have a favourite tip or any other tips that have helped to restore your baking inspiration!

Chat soon

Aurelia

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Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

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How to Plan your Home Bakery’s Weekly Work Schedule

How to Plan your Home Bakery’s Weekly Work Schedule

A few of my students have asked me for tips on how to plan your home bakery’s work schedule to prevent burn-out, but still make a substantial income AND spend time with my family.

As humans, we can’t speak about our work schedule without including our family responsibilities in the conversation!

There’s one struggle that EVERY home baker faces more often that we would like to… This struggle is none other than overworking ourselves.

The struggle gets especially hard to micromanage when you are baking part time on top of a normal day job, right?

To be more thorough and provide more perspective, I realized that I need to hear how other home bakers schedule THEIR work week because I can only speak as a full-time baker & wife, but not a part-time baker and mother!

So I’ve asked some of my amazing Instagram friends (7 of them), who also bake from home, how they plan their home bakery’s work schedule.

Some are single, some only bake part-time, and some have up to 4 kids ranging from infants to college students!

I’ll first share what they had to say and then lastly include my own schedule, plus a summary of key points that I’ve picked up across the board.

And to help you plan better and be more efficient, I’ve created a free Weekly Planner for you to download and use in your own business! Here’s how to get it:

1. Join my free Resource Library for Home Bakers,
2. download the planner and
3. print it out 😀 Simple.

Lindsay from Freckle & Flora Home Bakery:

Check out Freckle & Flora Home Bakery on Instagram!

“I use my baby girl’s nap times for any admin during the day (and to shower 😂) but that gives me about an hour to reply to emails etc. And then my ‘work’ day starts at 18:30 once she is in bed for the night.

As most of my orders are due for the weekend, lately I’ve been trying to have Mondays – Thursdays as my actual baking days. Fridays are decorating and detailing days.

Unfortunately, I often end up working the day away on Saturday and Sunday while my husband is home and able to take care of my daughter. But we are trying to get it done during the week so those can be family days.

I love focusing on macarons and cookies because they have a longer shelf life.

Macarons I can prep up to 3 months in advance so they are perfect to work on when I have extra time or really allow getting ahead and managing my time as I please.

Decorative cookies are definitely the most time consuming but they are my Home Bakery’s biggest attraction.”

Nicole from Bake Toujours:

Check out Bake Toujours on Instagram!

“I have two days a week where my kiddos go to school. I usually try to fit all production into those days. I have a production sheet and inventory sheet and just see what’s low and plan for the week accordingly.

I try to do my bakery shopping when I grocery shop for the house, but sometimes I need to run errands and do production that same day. Then I’m usually pressed for time and map out a plan to do a few things each night once the kids go down.”

Candice from Eat More Cake:

Check out Eat More Cake by Candice on Instagram!

“I’m married, but don’t have any kids yet. I do an inventory check and shop on Sundays. Mondays – Wednesdays I prep ingredients and make frosting. Thursdays – Fridays I bake.

Saturdays I decorate and do deliveries. I do everything in the evenings since I work full time during the day.”

Dusty from Dusty Rose Cakes:

Check out Dusty Rose Cakes on Instagram!

“It’s a very hard balancing act, for sure!! I’m a mom to not only an 18 month old, but also a teenage son and a daughter in college. I also run a cleaning service for two hours every morning.

I write out my baking list on Monday mornings and make sure I have everything for the week. Then I get baking and planning the week’s orders.

I can do 4 bakes per day and I try to be done by Wednesday. Thursdays and Fridays I make buttercream and start decorating.

I try to get all my prep work done before bed time. Then after I get my daughter down, I decorate. I usually have everything done by 21h30, then I can chill and watch Netflix, do yoga, or spend time with my boyfriend.”

Tam from Sweetly Sifted:

Check out Sweetly Sifted on Instagram!

I am married! At the moment I work out of our apartment. My husband wears noise-cancelling headphones when the mixer is on and I keep him sane with cake scraps and Netflix ✌🏻

As I work full time as well, I usually have a week-long work plan with baking on Mondays usually, prepping any décor on Tuesday and Wednesday buttercream and fillings on Thursdays and decorating anytime.

I rest in between, whenever I can! Sometimes I think I am crazy for taking so much on but I love it!

I always make sure that I limit pickups on Fridays and Saturdays only, leaving some of Saturday and all of Sunday for me and husband to have together.

I have Mondays off work so I usually spend the whole day prepping planning answering emails and baking cakes, cupcakes, making cookie doughs, macaron shells, etc…

Astrid from Astrid’s Home Bakery:

Check out Astrid’s Bakery on Instagram!

“For me, it’s easier… I’m single! Hehe, so I have a pretty flexible schedule. I tell my clients that orders need to be placed a week in advance, so that gives me the chance to plan ahead, buy any supplies and try out recipes (if I am doing something new).

I also like to bake one day and decorate the next day. I usually rest on Sundays as I’m very involved with my church.

So, that’s pretty much how I manage my time. I do take last-minute orders but only if I know I have the time.”

Learn how to plan your Home Bakery's weekly work schedule for optimal efficiency and profit, without burning out or neglecting your family :) Includes input from 8 different Home Bakery owners! #cakebusiness #homebakery #bakingbusiness

Amie from Hot Hands Bakery:

Check out Hot Hands Bakery on Instagram!

“I split my time between freelance digital marketing and baking. Mondays – Fridays I usually work on the computer for the first half of the day and bake in the afternoon.

Usually I end up baking one night during the week and one day during the weekend.

My husband mostly works at home when he’s not traveling, so we just coordinate schedules. Sometimes we’ll take a day off during the week together and work Saturday, etc.”

Aurelia from Philosophy of Yum:

Check out Philosophy of Yum on Instagram!

Yep, so I’m married and a full time Home Baker! Over the past 6 years of baking full time at home, I have come to realize a sobering truth:

If I’m overworked, it is MY fault and no one else’s.

I used to bake for every day of the week because I was afraid my clients would move on to another bakery if I turned them down. And the biggest motivation for baking every day is obviously that I didn’t want to lose out on money.

I baked this way for 3 years and completely exhausted myself… It was not pretty.

If I had to list all the family and friends I turned down for BBQ’s, picnics, birthdays, dinners, etc., this post would be like 10 000 words long. It’s so bad and sad.

My husband played a KEY role in this area. I was so mad at him for not understanding my obligation to bake every day.

By God’s grace, He often surrounds us with people who love us more than we love ourselves.

I decided to stop baking for Sundays and eventually for Mondays as well. This meant that I was off the whole weekend. The exact days my husband is off as well.

What happened to my clients? They just started planning ahead. In fact, my new work week made my bakes appear more exclusive! So rad!

What happened to my profit? Well, after I learned how to stop undercharging for my bakes, my profit is seriously almost exactly the same as when I worked 7 days a week.

What happened to my quality of life? It’s a million times better!!! I now actually have ENERGY and HEALTHY relationships and TIME. I finally have a LIFE.

So guys, don’t fall for it. YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE. You are your own boss, so you need to learn to be a KIND one.

I now have a timetable (which I HAVE to stick to ALWAYS). I bake for 2 coffee shops for Tuesdays and Fridays. I bake for a local deli for Wednesdays. And the rest of my business comes from direct clients. I bake for Saturday mornings, but by noon it’s all done.

With direct clients, it works great for me to do all my baking the day before clients collect. And then I decorate everything the morning of their collection. But I do take care to prep all the decorations the day before, i.e. making sauces or jams, making chocolate decorations, chopping nuts etc.

So I work Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday mornings, Thursdays, Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. So I basically work 4,5 full days a week and from noon on Saturdays I am (very intentionally) free the whole weekend!

I permit an exception at the end of each month, since folks over here love spending money on bakes when they get their pay checks!

During such a week I will work the whole Wednesday & Friday as well, but not on the weekend.

Resting on weekends with my husband, friends and family has increased my quality of life DRASTICALLY!! In fact, it has also helped me to recover from my work week better so now I bake with a LOT more speed and precision during the week.

And yes, I have thanked my husband and apologized repeatedly for being such a near sighted workaholic.

The Most Important Thing in Home Bakery Time Management:

Let’s be honest here. We LOVE baking. We gravitate towards it and it’s not going to stop any time soon.

My first step towards a balanced, healthy work life was to ACKNOWLEDGE that I can’t just carry on and hope that my work life and family life magically holds together. It doesn’t work.

I get it, there’s always stuff that NEEDS to be done. But taking at least 1 day where I have NOTHING to do with baking, has increased my passion & work performance drastically.

>> Don’t abuse your passion, rather set rules in place to maintain it.

You NEED to set up a schedule for your work week (including at least 1 day of TOTAL REST) and stick to it NO MATTER WHAT.

If YOU don’t respect your rules, then no one else will. Don’t make exceptions. It’s never “just this once”. If you allow clients to twist your arm once, they will do it again.

Just last week someone phoned me last minute and asked me to bake a gluten free cake for them for the next day.

My policy is that orders need to be placed at least 3 business days in advance. It is plastered all over my website. These folks were too late, so I politely said no, but then they even offered to pay me more!

PAUSE and digest for a minute, no matter how nice and persuasive they are!

By now I’ve learned how to politely decline, but in the beginning I had to spell out the consequences for myself:

# Aurelia, if you do this, then you will be working till 10pm and start working again at 6am.

# If you do this, then you won’t be able to spend any time with your husband tonight.

# If you do this then you will be teaching the client that it is totally okay for them to bribe you! You will be teaching them that you can be won over when they wave an extra $10 bill in your face.

# Do you really want to be someone who is manipulated by sweet speeches and money?

And what was my conclusion (in my mind)?

NO! I don’t want all those things to be my reality!

Spelling out the consequences for myself gave me the perspective I needed to politely decline orders that cross my boundaries.

A few of my students have asked me how I plan my home bakery's work schedule to prevent burn-out, but still make a substantial income AND spend time with my family! For a more thorough post & perspective I've included the work week schedules of 7 additional home bakery owners, as well as my own. #homebakery #cakebusiness #bakingbusiness

So once again, here’s the most important thing:

If YOU don’t respect your rules, then no one else will.

Don’t make exceptions. It’s never “just this once”. If you allow clients to twist your arm once, they will do it again.

In the end, something will suffer. And if YOU suffer, your husband, kids and friends will also suffer.

I sincerely hope that this post has given you some clarity and perspective on how to plan your Home Bakery’s work schedule!

If you have any questions or concerns, just comment below and then we can chat about it.

Chat soon

Aurelia

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Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

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4 Biggest MYTHS About Starting a Home/Micro Bakery Business

… Do I need a license to sell my baked goods from home?

4 Biggest MYTHS About Starting a Home/Micro Bakery Business

A Home/Micro Bakery Business is a brilliant way to earn money from home while doing something you love (mayyybe leaning a bit more towards “obsessed” 😉)… baking!

I’ve had my own successful Home Bakery Business since 2013 (full-time for 6 1/2 years with a full-time income too) and it’s been one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.

Every job (whether you work for yourself or not) has its ups and downs, but I’m SO exceedingly grateful for my little Home Bakery!

In 2017 I realized that so many passionate bakers have talent, but they don’t pursue their passion/dream of starting their own Home Bakery because of FEAR…

Fear that they don’t have what it takes to create a successful Home Bakery Business.

They look at Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. and only see bakers with gorgeous kitchens, expensive equipment, and perfect baked goods, and then assume they need to “fit that mould” to also be successful. They fall for the MYTHS.

These Home Bakery Business Myths Are:

MYTH #1: You need a qualification in pastry or baking for your baked goods to be “good enough to sell”.

MYTH #2: You need a qualification in business/marketing to create a successful small business.

MYTH #3: You must be able to make whatever clients want to be successful. (Like fondant cakes, sugar flowers, Anna & Elsa figurines, etc.)

MYTH #4: And then also this belief that you need heaps of capital/money (or investors) for expensive kitchen equipment, branding, packaging, advertising etc.

All of these beliefs are TOTALLY false.

They hold home bakers back unnecessarily, and today I’m hoping to expose these myths once and for all.

I’m exposing these myths because I keep coming across amazing, passionate, GIFTED Home Bakers that lack confidence because they don’t fit the brief listed above.

It breaks my heart, because they don’t need to feel this way.

There’s another way!

BUT FIRST, let’s start by breaking down the myths. Sound good?

MYTH # 1: You need a qualification in pastry or baking for your baked goods to be “good enough to sell”.

There’s this old mind-set still hanging around in society that makes life and growth quite difficult. It’s the belief you need to formally study and have some kind of qualification before you can work in a certain field.

Over time, some new shortcuts have been created (like short courses) which aim to condense your learning experience into a shorter span of time.

Although I love the idea that you don’t need to put aside YEARS for these courses, they still have major flaws.

I’ve wanted to do a thorough course in Pastry for 5 years now. Unfortunately, all the options would require of me to set aside a minimum of 6 months to complete the course. 6 Months of FULL TIME study.

This means no work and no income plus a mild expense of $ 5000. How is this sustainable or even possible?

My friend, this is a different time. The online world has opened up doors for all of us to learn almost any skill and excel at it.

You don’t need to study a formal, expensive course for your Home Baking Business to succeed. AT ALL.

If a cake tastes amazing and rocks your world, then no one cares if the baker has a qualification or not!

You can learn and grow into the BEST baker you can possibly be without any formal training. I’ve developed 5 FUN weekly habits over time that keep me sharp and constantly evolving as a Home Baker.

These 5 Weekly Habits Include:

1. Watching an inspirational dessert show. Shows like Unique Sweets, Great British Bake Off, Zumbo’s Just Desserts etc. NOT decorating shows. Watch shows that focus on flavour! I always keep a notebook handy to write down which new flavour combinations I’ve learned, which new techniques I’ve learned and how I could implement them in a bake I’m comfortable with – like brownies.

2. Conquer something technical that has EPIC flavour (typically spaced out over a month, with research on the specific bake every week). Perfect Baked Cheesecake, Flawless Cupcakes, Perfect Lemon Meringue Pie… these are all very technical desserts, yet I’ve managed to master them through extensive ONLINE RESEARCH and then practicing baking them. It’s all you need. Really.

3. Eat something that gives you a YUM-high! Hard Work, right? 😉 Eating YUM-high food/treats is essential to keeping your flavour edge sharp in your baking. Eat something every week that inspires you! It doesn’t have to be expensive either. Get to that baked thingy that everyone in your town/city is talking about!

4. Follow GREAT bakers (not decorators) online. You will learn something NEW every time. I still do.

5. Use seasonal ingredients for inspiration. Fresh, seasonal ingredients can inspire you to create bakes you’ve never tried before. Search online to see what other herbs/spices/nuts go with that seasonal vegetable or fruit.

It's a TOTAL lie that you need a baking degree/diploma to create a successful Home Bakery! You can start your business this week while you keep working on your baking skills in the background. Your baking doesn't have to be "perfect" before it'll mean something to people. If it's delicious, you can sell it! #homebakery #cakebusiness #bakefromhome #bakingbusiness

These habits have grown me into the baker I am today without ever needing to pay a cent for training.

I’ve explained the core concept of each habit, because I don’t want to be stingy, but if you want to, you can download the full, free, 5 page guide in my Free Resource Library. I’m confident that you’ll love it!

Another super effective strategy to Grow as a Baker (for free) is to volunteer at any restaurant/eatery/bakery/suppliers that do anything related to baking. This includes breads, pizzas, doughnuts, pastry, cakes, etc.!

You get to learn, hands on, on a schedule that works for you. Since you are volunteering and providing them with free labour, they can’t exactly make demands on your time. I recommend doing weekends or like every second weekend.

This way the restaurant/bakery gets FREE extra labour and you learn for FREE – TOTAL win-win!!

I’ve explained the basics without being cryptic, but if you want to read more on this strategy of mine you can download my full guide from the Free Resource Library.

MYTH #1 BUSTED!!

MYTH #2: You need a qualification in business/marketing to create a successful small business.

Once again, my friends, this is a different era.

The online world has opened up doors for all of us to learn almost any skill and excel at it. You don’t need to study a formal, expensive course in business for your Home Baking Business to succeed. AT ALL.

The web is absolutely TEEMING with online entrepreneur & business coaches who are giving away a WEALTH of info – often for FREE.

I’ve learned all I need to from these peeps. Their free stuff has made me a savvy entrepreneur with a successful Home Baking Business even though they never speak about baking.

If you have a little bit of money to spend on this, it will definitely help though. I HIGHLY recommend “The $100 start up” by Chris Guillebeau.

This book has genuinely smashed my concepts of business and redefined my home baking business’s focus. It’s really inexpensive and amazing.

So yes, it’s paramount that you learn about business and entrepreneurship, but you don’t need to do a formal, expensive course at a university or institution.

MYTH #2 BUSTED!!

Myth #3: You need to be a master at fondant, sugar art and themed designs for your home baking business to succeed.

Now this is where I get very VERY feisty.

As any “normal” baking nerd would do, I’m part of a few Baking Facebook groups. On these groups you typically see folks posting these AMAZING wedding cakes with mountains of fondant work, sugar flowers and modelling chocolate details… They are works of art.

One day I posted a photo in the one group of the types of cakes I do. A rustic, purist, cleanly presented carrot cake.

This Carrot Cake Recipe has generated $5000+ in sales for my home bakery business. I asked in the group if anyone does cakes like these because everyone’s work seems so “wedding-cakey” or “themed”.

Everyone’s responses SHOCKED ME.

Here’s what the fellow Home Bakers said on the group:

“I love baking cakes like yours for myself, my friends and family. But in order to make a living from baking I have to make fondant cakes.”

“LOVE these kinds of cakes, but fondant cakes are what customers want, so that’s what I do most of the time.”

My heart sank!

Is this is truly what most Home Baking Business owners believe??…

It does not have to be this way. I would just curl up in despair if the only way to make a living off baking was to make fondant, themed cakes.

Here’s why…

In general, ANY creative enjoys creating something that THEY actually want to buy themselves. As soon as you start just creating for “whatever anyone wants”, you quickly get frustrated, bored and burned out.

“In order to make a living from baking I have to make fondant cakes…” But it’s not what she enjoys doing at all. She feels she HAS to do it.

TRUTH IS that there’s a WHOLE other market today that is into QUALITY and FLAVOUR. This is what I’ve discovered & experienced over the last 5 years of building my own Home Baking Business.

FLAVOUR and QUALITY (taste) create more concrete memories than sight. It’s been scientifically proven.

When more of your senses are involved in an experience, a more solid memory and rich the whole experience.

If you eat a cake with an awful flavour (includes both your taste & smelling sense) and texture, the only sense that the memory can stand on is SIGHT.

SIGHT does not create a very solid memory to begin with since it is a sense we use 16+ hours per day.

BUT if you eat a cake with a glorious flavour (includes smell) and beautiful, fresh texture then you already have 3 senses involved in the experience and memory!

That’s why the desserts and bakes from our childhoods are forever seared into our memories.

You absolutely DO NOT need to make fondant cakes to have a successful Home Bakery Business! Learn how I've been baking, full-time, for 6 years without EVER touching fondant! Click to learn how you can do it too... #homebakery #bakingbusiness #cakebusiness #homebaking #baking

I’ve NEVER heard anyone say: “oh do you remember when we ate that green fondant?! It was the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten in my life!” “Yes! And those silver deco balls, how divine!”

Nope. Never.

Over the last decade, the cake decorating scene has exploded on television and social media. It was always there, but shows like Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes, Charly’s Cake Angels etc. opened up an exciting new world to the public and bakers.

Overnight, super decorated, fondant cakes became the new beacon for “baking”. People were loving them on TV (and social media) and demanding them from their local bakers!

Now, I am not saying there’s no need for cake decorating (that would be foolish and ignorant). It’s an amazing art!! I’m just saying that the cake decorating “hype” has gone completely out of control and created this stigma that

BAKING = DECORATING and DECORATING = BAKING. This is FALSE.

You can be an amazing cake DECORATOR, but this does not make you a great BAKER.

In the name of “You eat with your eyes!”, super pretty, BUT terrible tasting, dry, tough, stale cakes have been served to the masses for years now.

I have been on the receiving end so many times… I’m sure you have too?? It totally sucks. It ruins everything.

Bottom line: lines have become blurry and the concept of actual BAKING has been severely compromised by an exterior decorating obsession.

Ultimately, WE ACTUALLY EAT WITH OUR MOUTHS, NOT OUR EYES.

And, believe it or not, there’s a whole market just waiting for someone to produce DELICIOUS cakes, FULL of FLAVOUR, that give them a yum-high and leave them in a daze. Great, full on BAKING. This is what I’ve done and you can totally do it too!

Now obviously the cake needs to be neat and presentable, but all this means is clean lines. A neat finish on something HONEST, HOME MADE and AUTHENTIC.

You never need to make sugar flowers, or spend hours kneading purple fondant, or bake a cake a week in advance so that you have enough time to put the 1000 modelling chocolate ornaments on the cake IF YOU DON’T WANT TO.

So yes, I’m going to say it OUT LOUD:

You CAN make a comfortable living as a home baker without EVER baking a wedding cake or a themed cake!

MYTH #3 BUSTED!!

Myth #4: You need loads of money and investors to start a Home Bakery Business

SO, totally and completely false.

When I started my home baking business I had almost nothing. I had a $10 hand mixer, 2 cheap plastic mixing bowls, 1 square tin and 1 muffin/cupcake tin (and a $5500 student loan to pay off, lol!).

That’s it! That’s all you need.

I didn’t even have an oven, so I baked at my (then boyfriend) husband’s student house and then decorated the baked cupcakes back at my own student house. You can make it work!

I know there are so many gorgeous kitchens on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, blogs and magazines, but don’t fall into the comparison trap.

A big, beautiful, fully kitted-out kitchen is not essential for your home bakery’s to succeed. Resourcefulness matters so much more than resources!!

Remember, this is good, honest HOME BAKING.

When your mom or grandma made your favourite birthday cake, could they manage without the $1000 KitchenAid Mixer? Was the cake delicious and memorable, even though they mixed it with an old little hand mixer?

I’m betting YES.

It's a TOTAL LIE that you need heaps of money and fancy, expensive kitchen equipment to start a Home Bakery Business! All you need is a hand mixer, the oven that's already in your kitchen and a mixing bowl - that's it. Click through to start building your own full time Home Bakery Business. #homebakery #bakingbusiness #cakebusiness #cupcakebusiness #homebaking

Focus on the quality of your bakes, not the aesthetics of your kitchen and I promise that your home bakery business will be successful.

Beautiful branding and packaging can also be a very tempting expense. If a wrapper is beautiful, but the candy tastes bad, will you ever buy it again? No.

Just go for simple packaging to start off with. You can seriously get away with 50 cents per cake box. To add a personal touch, get a logo stamp made for $10. It looks super rustic and cool!

OR you can use my super cheap method for making your boxes beautiful.

A simple, affordable logo design solution is to do a trade exchange with a local graphic designer. Creatives really look out for each other and are keen to help where they can! Offer them a cake in exchange for a logo.

If they are super good, maybe offer them a $100 voucher/credit at your home baking business. It’s a wonderfully enriching experience working with any other creative! Give it a try 🙂

The last area where big spending can be super tempting is advertising for your home bakery.

Take it from someone who’s been selling their home baked goods since 2013…

Advertising only amplifies what’s already happening in your business. It’s like pouring fuel on a fire.

But if there is no fire to begin with, you just end up with a pile of wet logs.

Here’s what I mean: If you’re already struggling to attract enough customers, advertising will only amplify that struggle.

You’ll be wasting your money.

If you want to learn how to market your Home Bakery Business in a way that attracts customers (without paying for ads), then you’ve gotta learn >> the 4 Essentials of Marketing Your Home Bakery.

MYTH #4 BUSTED!!

I hope this post has been helpful and that it’s set you free to take your Home Bakery idea seriously. The world is hurting. It NEEDS comfort. And your delicious home baking can give that comfort.

What’s next?

Now that you’re ready to take your Home/Micro Bakery idea seriously, you probably have a new list of questions popping up in your mind!

Like,

… How much should I charge for my home baking?

… What should I name my Home Bakery business?

Just click on whichever question you’ve got, and you’ll get super practical tips for those.

Comment below if you’ve got any other struggles or doubts about starting your own home/micro bakery business, and I’ll reply asap!

Hugs & donuts,
Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

Follow on Instagram

POPULAR BAKING TIPS

What info are you looking for?

POPULAR BAKING TIPS

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← All my BEST Home Baking Resources to Help You Grow Your Baking Skills and Home Bakery Business The Most DELICIOUS, Ultimate Vanilla Frosting →

All my BEST Home Baking Resources to Help You Grow Your Baking Skills and Home Bakery Business

by Aurelia Lambrechts | Baking Tips and Tricks, Home Baking Biz Tips, Recipes

Hey there, home baker!

... Have you been thinking about turning your passion for delicious home baking into an income, but just don't know where to start?

... Or are you maybe struggling to attract enough customers and wish you had proven strategies that WORK to get more customers and consistent orders?

... Do you want to make a stable income from your home baking so it can be a profitable side-hustle, part-time, or full-time business?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, I've got just the thing to help you on your baking journey 🙂

It's a...

FREE Home/Micro Bakery Resource Library with:

✅ a Baked Goods Pricing Calculator,
✅ guides to help your business stand out from your competition,
✅ a Home Bakery Business Plan Template to help you get organized,
✅ top-secret recipes from my home bakery, and more.

I created it because when I started my Home Bakery there was ZERO information to help me. With these resources, I'm sure your journey to a successful Home Bakery will be less stressful than mine was 😊

A collection of free downloads to help home bakers start and grow a Home/Micro Bakery Business

I share many resources, baking tips, and LEGIT recipes from my own Home Bakery Business on my blog, but there are some documents I don’t want to share with just anyone…

I’d rather share them with a passionate home baker, like you, who will benefit MOST from these documents.

These documents are very exclusive – with all the secrets behind my 6+ years of full-time (fully booked) home baking. You cannot find them anywhere else.

In my Free Library, You Can Expect to Find:

🧁 Philosophy of Yum (my Home Bakery)’s TOP secret recipes.

Typically recipes that were baked literally 1000 times over and have generated thousands of dollars in sales. I haven't shared these recipes with ANYONE before now.

All the recipes come with gluten-free variations too!

🧁 Home Baking Business Resources to help you attract customers and repeat orders.

This includes free Workbooks, Templates, Guides, a Pricing Calculator, a Weekly Planner, and Tips to make your Home Bakery Stand out in the crowd, get more consistent orders, and make a stable income for you.

🧁 You'll get tools and tips to help you become THE BEST HOME BAKER YOU CAN POSSIBLY BE.

If you use this info, I guarantee your business will grow like never before. It’s how I have grown into the baker I am today without ever paying to study desserts/pastry/baking/chef etc.

🧁 You'll also get resources to push you further as a Home Baker...

Like learning HOW to develop your own recipes. The aim is to equip you and give you tools so that you can explore and create your own UNIQUE bakes.

→ So… Are you ready to turn your passion for Home Baking into a legal, profitable business?

Click the button to request your invitation to the Library. Let's do this!

Request Library Invitation

I'm SO excited for you to dive into the resources! 🥳

Aurelia

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂