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Consumers today start their research online and make purchasing decisions based on what they find. 77% of purchasing decisions for consumer packaged goods start online.
What does this mean for a home-based bakery? Creating a website to sell baked goods online is just good business sense.
Building a website is one of the most important things you can do for the success of your business. You might think that you don’t need a website because you have a small home-based business, but that’s not the case!
Creating a website for your home-based bakery will help:
Did you know that e-commerce sales are projected to grow by nearly 14% in 2021?
E-commerce stores are popping up all the time and helping small businesses skyrocket their sales beyond the confines of a brick-and-mortar store.
Adopting a direct-to-consumer business model for your home-based bakery is a big step! You’ll be able to reach new consumers with your goods and provide treats that fill a sweet niche in your state. A website is a must-have addition to your home-based food business.
With a great website, home-based bakeries can share their unique menus, show off their products through photo galleries and videos, list ingredients, and provide convenient ways to order their goods online.
Baked goods stores online are an e-commerce niche with a ton of growth opportunities. Help your bakery brand stay at the top of shoppers’ minds and the top of Google with a modern website to sell baked goods.
Don’t you want a piece of that opportunity pie?
Before you can add your e-commerce bakery to the list of places to sell cupcakes and cookies you'll have to make sure that your home-based bakery meets all legal requirements.
Kitchen requirements for a home baking business may vary by location and state laws. You may need to conduct a home kitchen health inspection or receive a certification, but you may not depending on where you live.
These are the typical steps a home-based bakery should follow when they’re looking into how to state selling baked goods from home.
An important rule to keep in mind is that, in general, pets are not allowed in the kitchen or the household of your business. This is likely one of the most common kitchen requirements for a home baking business. If you have pets in your home, you will probably want to find a licensed commercial kitchen for your baking needs.
State requirements for home-based bakers can vary greatly. Some states do require a baking license for at-home businesses, while others do not. As you’re establishing your home-based bakery, you will need to research information about home bakery permits or home bakery licenses in your state.
Florida’s cottage food laws are handled by the Department of Agriculture. Approved cottage foods include:
Home bakeries in Florida are allowed to sell goods within Florida but not across state lines. As of 2021, Florida home-based bakeries can sell cottage food goods at venues, through in-person delivery, by mail, and via the internet.
To maintain your home bakery license in Florida, you must:
If you’re ready to get a home bakery business license in Colorado, you will need to consult with the regulations from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. Colorado’s 2012 Cottage Foods Act allows limited types of food products to be directly sold to buyers without needing a license or inspection.
Baked goods that are allowed include:
Home-based bakeries in Colorado need to meet the following requirements to remain in operation:
California cottage food laws allow bakeries to sell the following baked goods prepared at home:
You will need to meet the following requirements before you can legally sell baked goods from your home:
Not all baked goods are created equal. Though the laws are different from state to state, there are some easy sweets to make and sell that have the seal of approval pretty much across the board. So while it might be tempting to try to sell cheesecakes online because you make amazing cheesecakes (and who doesn’t like cheesecake?), your best bet is to narrow down your menu to “non-potentially hazardous” baked goods.
What are “non-potentially hazardous” baked goods? These are nonperishable food items (shelf-stable) that do not require either heat or cooling to remain safe to eat. The definition of “non-potentially hazardous” foods differs by state, but there are quite a few foods that are allowed by cottage laws nationwide.
If you need some home baking business ideas to get your bakery off the ground, you should consider including these “non-potentially hazardous” food items on your menu:
If you want to take an even more strategic approach to your home-based bakery business, you might consider what baked goods you can make that have a high probability of selling.
According to Statista, there are the top five best-selling bakery items from last year:
Notice how four out of the top five are generally allowable by cottage food laws! Based on this list, some of your likely most profitable baked goods could be bread, cookies, granola bars, and pastries/donuts.
Let’s dive a little deeper and look at the most profitable baked goods for businesses according to Bake Magazine.
You can use this information to make better-informed decisions about your own home-based business. It’s also important to do your research. Start asking questions like, “what baked goods sell best?” and do competitor research to scope out your competition.
Don’t try to make too many goods at first, and focus instead on creating demand for one or two of your bakery items.
Every regulation for your home bakery business is different, but there is one rule every home-based baker should follow: establish your bakery with a website.
Your website is a perfect opportunity to turn your small bakery into a thriving business that doesn’t rely on a brick-and-mortar location to get sales. Once you’ve ensured that your home-based bakery meets all state and local laws, it’s time to build the perfect website.
How to start a bakery business from home:
By selling your homemade food online, you’re meeting new demand for consumers who want yummy baked goods they love to satisfy their cravings without having to find a brick-and-mortar bakery.
The Cake Whisperer
My business would not be the same without my Castiron website! It is an easy setup with lots of customization and tons of support! I am so glad I set up my shop last year before the holidays — it really helped increase my sales!
The Whimsical Cookie
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Castiron provides me a professional site to my customers increasing my credibility and value while giving me the tools to effectively market and manage my business in an easy, user-friendly manner.
Wesley's Treats Hallie's Sweets
Castiron has made my cottage bakery shine, and my business easy to manage. As a platform they care about my business as much as I do.
Explore our tools for free during a 14-day free trial. Start building your website, create your custom order forms, even start taking orders and payments... then decide if it’s for you.
Easy to start, created specifically for local, handmade food: Castiron’s website builder was created to help you grow. Create a website in minutes with our templates, sell where and how your customers want to buy, and look professional without being technical. Keep customers coming back with email marketing tools, customer records, and more.
Food entrepreneurs, this is your moment. Your community is more and more conscious about what they buy and where it is from. They want food made with love. With ingredients they can pronounce. And they want to support their community while doing it.
Castiron is the best fit for your food business because we're not a one-size-fits-all tool. Selling local food is different from pre-packaged warehouse products. Whether you sell cooking classes, need local pick up, utilize pre-sales to plan inventory, or need a fully custom order form — we got you.
No code required. Add pages, sell your products, build order forms, and show off your beautiful work. We'll handle the tech so you can focus on growing your food business.
Never track down a payment or oversell products again. Real-time inventory tracking and secure payment processing make life easier for you and your customers, and our order form builder makes managing custom requests a breeze.
With our marketing tools, your email marketing can go on autopilot. We make it easy to promote your latest products, announce custom order availability, and stay connected with customers.
