Has anybody here tired baking desserts at home and selling them for a profit? How was it and what tips can you provide? I am planning to do this on the coming holidays. I will try to sell my goodies to friends, family, relatives, and in our neighborhood. What would be a cheap and salable product? I am thinking of red velvet cupcakes or cherry cheesecake in cups as a nice theme for the holidays (red and white for Christmas colors).
I have a friend who has started a baking business just a few months ago. She actually had attended a baking seminar and after graduation, she embarked on that cottage industry business of getting orders for her baking skills. She started with pastries and now she is doing wedding cakes. It is very rewarding for her because aside from doing what she wants, she also earns. Her only problem is the delivery because she uses a cab. Maybe if she has her own car, that would be more convenient.
I want to start a small baking business, but I have not the time for it; my idea is selling from home, having people coming to pick their baked good or as take out while on the go. However I'm actually living in a place with no direct access to the outside; I may need a home with a window looking out to the street for it, based on my ideal setting.
My mom's officemate sells cheesecakes and cupcakes to them. I must say, even forces them to buy, haha! No worries though, because her desserts are yummy and not that sweet, which is what we love. Anyway, I think selling baked goods is a good business idea because food is something that people will not get tired of. If you can, sell on offices, companies and schools as this places are full of people capable and willing to buy those goods. You can also cater to parties, events and such things. Use social media as a way to grab customers as well. Good luck!
I know of someone who has established themselves well enough that they sell and take profits of thousands of dollars just by selling brownies during the holidays. I think this is one of the better ideas to sell during the holidays because it's easy to pack and you don't have to worry too much about being delicate with transport. The downside is that they spend a lot of time making these and sometimes they keep the kitchen running for 24 hours just to keep up with the demand but of course it is worth it for the amount they get in return.
A home based cooking business sounds good. It would be nice to have a list of paces where you can sell your goods like parties, occasions, schools, ect. You could build a very good clientele after a while. The only downside would be if you didn't have a car. That is of course you make it mandatory to have them visit the home. Also, be sure to put down your business hours so you don't have people coming to your home all hours of the night.
If you want to start a home baking business you'll first need to find a market for your baked products. Don't start baking before you do that because the losses you'll make will be substantial. Someone I knew started a home-baking business on a whim made some decent profits initially but after a month he started making losses and had to throw in the towel.
Some friends of mine do this during the holidays, selling cookie trays. I don't know what their total profits were after buying all the ingredients, but they sold their cookie trays for around $35. The cookies were pretty good, as good as what I would get from the grocery store bakeries. The only problem was they made a batch of peppermint flavored cookies, and for some reason that peppermint smell got on all the other cookies in the tray. You can actually buy the plastic trays and lids dirt cheap at places like Gordon Food Service or most other restaurant supply stores. I think they're only like a buck or two. I would be careful with the pricing though - I know with all these cupcake cooking shows on TV these days, they may seem all the rage. But I've seen several cupcake shops in our area open and go out of business within a few months, and most of the complaints online were about how the cupcakes were way too overpriced.
My neighborhood friends mom was a great cook. She made homemade bread and cakes, sold them thru her church and on the weekends she would go to the local Farmer's Market and sell her bread. She would take orders and deliver them during the week. It was a great money maker for her and she was doing something she loved doing.
