The cost of starting your own cake decorating business is a lot less than you might think, especially when compared to more traditional brick and mortar businesses. Since your first step should be to create a service from your home you can save on overhead costs, such as rental space, larger equipment and of course, staff.
To start your business from home you will just need the essentials including basic equipment, baking supplies and of course elbow room! You should also designate an area that you use for your baking supplies.
Extra storage space goes a long way in this business, believe me!
Step-by-step guide to starting your cake decorating business: Click here for help.
How should you begin?
My first step was decorating birthday cakes for families in my community. I placed a few ads in the local classified and put up some bulletins on the shopping mall entrance boards.
Within a few days I had calls from potential clients, and within a week I had over 11 orders. I catered to baby and bridal showers as well.
These cakes will be the main source of your income at first, however as you grow and take on the wedding industry you will see your business really soar!
Personally I focused on birthday cakes at first, until I honed and improved my skills.
While every cake is very important wedding cakes tend to be the center point of the event, since it is a very large part of the reception process. In addition, wedding cakes are highly photographed especially as the newlyweds cut into it.
For this reason I treaded carefully and only focused on wedding events after I had been in business for a couple of months.
As a cake decorator you must realize your responsibilities are enormous.
If you are confident in your craft, I encourage you to accept wedding clients right from the start, however if you aren’t, do as I did and start off catering to smaller events because once word gets out that people enjoy your cakes, you will be stunned at how many orders you will receive!
Please don’t be intimidated by the importance of a wedding cake. Every single baker in our situation is nervous as heck at first. I can’t tell you how many cakes I destroyed attempting to get it perfect the first few times.
Skill comes with time and if you believe in yourself and your abilities, you will develop a style that is unique and just as good as some of the most world renowned in the industry.
In addition if practice makes perfect, you will have lots of that soon enough! =)
Without a doubt there is a huge market for beautifully decorated cakes however in the early phase of your career you will be required to do a great deal of self-advertising.
This can be time consuming and in some cases, you might get bored of the repetitive aspect of it all but once this footwork has been done, it will be so much easier to continually market yourself.
Developing your own brand (and reputation) is the first step in introducing your new service to your community.
A good promotional strategy will help you focus on your current market, get the most out of your advertising efforts and ensure that a consistent, high quality image is maintained.
You want to get the word out quickly and as affordably as possible while ensuring you are still effectively targeting your potential customers properly, right?
Perhaps you have heard that marketing your product is the key to success in any business, cakes or otherwise.
So, to create the best advertising campaigns that you can you have to put yourself in the shoes of the customer you are targeting. This is the very fundamental of marketing regardless of what industry you are in.
You must ask yourself a few important questions such as:
Why would a customer come to me and not a competitor? What am I offering that is unique?
What discounts, coupons, special incentives can I offer my potential customers to jump start my business by having them give me a chance, rather than continuing to go to the local bakery?
How can I stand out? What can I do differently that a customer would appreciate? (faster turnaround times perhaps, free birthday card package if it’s a birthday cake you are decorating, etc.).
Your promotional package should highlight the benefits of using your service, and showcase why you are different. You have to stand out in order to gain as many new customers as possible.
Simple things can make a huge impact on how your customers view you. As suggested above, if you are decorating a birthday cake, throwing in a free package of candles or a bag of balloons is low cost but different.
Put your own personal touch on your packages and you will see incredible results.
I took the “grass route” method when marketing my business because I didn’t have a huge advertising budget to work with.
I had to be innovative and figure out how to reach as many people as possible the most affordable way that I could. It would have been far easier if I had the ability to broadcast on the radio, or set up ads on our local community channel but in my case, that wasn’t possible when I first started.
Since I had such a restricted budget I paid particular attention to every single method I used to ensure that I didn’t waste resources on the things that weren’t really yielding any new sales.
Here are some of the ways that I advertised my cake decorating business.
Local Newspaper Advertisements
It cost me $40 to run an ad for two months in my local newspaper. I then branched out to cover newspapers in other communities because my ad was so effective that I was then generating revenue from my decorating business to cover the cost of additional ads.
The first step is to create a list of every newspaper in your area (and surrounding areas if you are in a smaller city or town).
Find out if they have a website if possible because if so, it makes the process even easier and faster.
Once you have your list, find out what their ad prices are. Target the ones that are more affordable at first, because even though they may have a smaller readership, you can see how effective your ads are (and if they need tweaking) without spending a lot of money.
When you advertise choose the longest available campaign that you can to make sure it runs (and it seen) by as many people as possible.
One ad, one time will not yield nearly as much as if people see your ad multiple times, a proven strategy that Internet marketing gurus have tested throughout the years. In fact, they say it takes the average person four times viewing an ad before they remember it.
My Ads Went Zoom Zoom
I know it might sound tacky but because I was on a shoestring budget I decided to try out the car magnet idea. It worked like a charm and didn’t cost me that much at all.
Just make sure that you have a website before you try this technique because people will NOT remember your phone number. They are far more likely to remember your website address instead.
The company I used was Iprint, and their website is available at http://www.iprint.com/
Refrigerator Magnets
Turn your business card into a refrigerator magnet.
The magnets can be given to each customer when they pick up their cake (along with other “plain” business cards to give to the guests at their party).
See: http://www.4imprint.com
Bridal Gown and Tux Shops
Visit bridal gown and tuxedo shops in your area and request permission to display your business cards on their counter top or bulletin board. Purchase inexpensive, clear cardholders in which to display your cards.
Ask the shop owner for permission to display a beautifully decorated dummy wedding cake in their store.
Other Wedding Vendors
Speak to the owners of other shops in your area that cater to the wedding and special events industry.
Ask about placing your business cards in a prominent location in their shops and possibly creating a display similar to the one described above, using their items along with a bridal cake. Also ask about collaborative advertising in the newspaper.
Other businesses to consider include hair salons, nail salons, day spas, jewelry stores, etc.
Other Places for Cards and Displays
Below are other businesses and groups that you might consider asking for permission to display business cards:
Children’s party places and hosted events
Sports Events
Craft Stores
Daycare Providers
Beauty Salons (I got a lot of business from these)
Baby stores (baby showers always have cake!)
Lingerie Shops (or anywhere else that brides-to-be go)
Just remember there is no shop that has customers that won’t need your services.
If you are a bake regularly you probably already have most of these baking tools in your kitchen, however if you don’t, rest assured that most of the baking supplies are relatively inexpensive, and some of them can be purchased at a later date whenever you receive a custom order that requires them since otherwise they aren’t used that often.
Here are the tools that I made sure I had when I started my cake decorating business.
A heavy-duty mixer is a must. This will quickly become your new best friend. It’s an essential piece of equipment for the cake decorator and something you can not avoid buying.
The Kitchen Aid 5 quart Artisan stand mixer is perfect for the job. They are not cheap however they will save you a lot of time, so it’s well worth the investment. If you shop around you can usually find them on sale, so be sure to hunt down a bargain for this item before you buy one.
Cake Turntable
Sturdy turntables are a necessity. There are several styles and designs available for the sugar artist.
From the basic small plastic version, to a reversible one side rectangular and the other side round with an elevation of about 6 inches, to the motorized elevated turntable. There are many sizes, designs and prices to choose from.
A better quality turntable is best since that way when you get into heavier tiered cakes you will not have to purchase a new turntable.
Baking Pans
Good quality basic shaped pans.
As you are acquiring your equipment buy the best quality pans you can afford.
Buying good pans does make a difference. Don’t buy the bargain versions if you plan on using them for a long time. Multiple sets of the basic shape pans will allow you to bake in a shorter amount of time. One 14″ pan must cool after baking before you can wash it, refill it and bake again.
Note: Measure the inside of your oven before buying the larger size pans. The other shapes such as hexagon, square, rectangular and etc. are not requested as often in the wedding cake business so I only keep 2 sets of each of those.
Versatile Shaped Pans – The ball, petite doll pan, horseshoe, and others can be used for many things. The ball pan can be used for all kinds of balls, soccer, basketball, baseballs, and etc.
Half of the ball pan can be used for a baseball cap, a domed top on a building, or maybe even rounded top on a wedding cake. That little pan is very versatile.
Make sure the pans you purchase have 90-degree sides and corners. If you will be doing cheesecakes, purchase pans with removable sides.
Cooling racks
Large heavy duty cooling racks are a necessity.
Separators
As your business grows and you start to create wedding cakes you will need separators.
Choose wisely in deciding on the type of separators you want to use. The most stable of set ups is the type that the legs go through the cake and rest on the plate below. Again storage space is important along with the look you want.
Angled spatula – For applying and smoothing icing.
Piping (or pastry) bags
For creating borders and other decorations.
Couviers – For changing tips easily.
Digital Camera
A really good camera. Learn to take really good close up pictures of your cakes. When you are trying to establish yourself in your community as a sugar artist these pictures will show your customers just what you can do.
Other Items to remember:
Greaseproof paper
Tissue paper
Foil
Icing scraper or comb
Icing ruler or comb
Serrated knife
Decoration for top of cake
Pillars (if required)
When you are really ready to make a go of cake decorating as a business, you need to determine exactly what you can afford to invest and stay within your budget.
Typically the biggest investment you will need to make is in an electric mixer.
Once you complete your research and purchase a mixer, you will probably also realize that there are a host of other wonderful items that could be used in your decorating business.
When getting started with a cake decorating business, there are so many things to remember and so many documents to keep track of. Be sure to set aside space in your house in addition to your kitchen, specifically for the business.
The tax advantages may be significant when operating a home Office. A cake decorating business really isn’t the kind of business that requires a storefront, at least in the early stages. As you grow, you may want to consider that route.
A home office does not have to be glamorous, but it does need to be exclusively used for business and it does need to be comfortable.
