Question for the bread makers-thoughs on bread making for income

12 years ago

I am new to this, so please bare with me.

These hard time have found me desperate to make what little money I can out of anything. I don't have much, but I do have an ample supply of white flour, whole wheat flour, and corn meal that I need to do something with.

I am looking for advice as to how one would go about starting or conducting a "home business" making breads, what breads may be popular or easy to sell, and information on the practicality of this idea (ie. start-up cost, legalities, distribution (door to door or internet sales)).

Thank you for your time and effort, any information would be useful!

Allie

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Comments (8)

iowagirl2006
12 years ago
Maybe your local Extension office could be helpful.

I do know you will need to have a State inspected kitchen and some type of insurance if you are planning to sell to others. I know the rules really vary from state to state though.
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schoolhouse_gw
12 years ago
Also if you have a Co-op, local farm market, or an indoor year-round farm market. We have one called Local Roots that accepts baked goods in addition to produce. Like iowagirl mentioned, pretty sure a licensed kitchen is in order though.
Good luck.
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Allie707
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks everyone! That gives me a good direction to head in!
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azzalea
12 years ago
It's really difficult to start up a home business--you have to be properly registered, you have to keep impeccable records, charge and pay the appropriate taxes. And when you decide to do something in the food line? Multiply the red tape by ten.

You'd probably better start with the health department. In many jurisdictions, it's not legal to bake/cook food in a home kitchen for sale--if that's true where you live, you'll need to find an approved commercial kitchen to rent--and that's going to cut into your profits.

Look, I hate to be a wet blanket, but I've done the home business thing--many years ago, and it didn't involve food. It turned into a nightmare. You have to do every little tiny thing by the book. Perhaps check in with the agency that promotes small businesses in your area.

Or what about contacting a restaurant or two, to see if they might be interested in paying you to come to THEIR locations to bake your bread for their use--you might have to do that in the middle of the night, when they aren't preparing meals, but it might be an interesting solution. Pack up some samples of your best wares and visit some of the local independents.

Good luck, but please be sure to do all your research before jumping into something that could end up costing you more than you'll make.

And hey, if you're good at creating recipes? I'd highly recommend considering recipe contesting. That costs you next to nothing, and can bring in truly big bucks (I've made up to $25,000 for a single recipe, some contests pay even more).
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tami_ohio
12 years ago
You might also check with the cooking forum. But you have been given great advice above.
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sue_va
12 years ago
If my DGD were available I would ask her to give you some ideas on what is involved, but she and her DH are at this time spending the night at Pentagon City and will fly in the morning to Sandals for a week's vacation.

There are a lot of hoops to jump through, but she did it just a year ago and now has a very successful cupcake business.

Start with the legalities.

Sue
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susanjf_gw
12 years ago
trust google to find a site, lol

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.ehow.com/how_7855663_sell-homemade-bread.html
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Chi
12 years ago
It's highly dependent on your state. I've looked into it myself for my baking. Some states are much more lenient than others. I used to live in MA and all you needed was your kitchen to pass inspection, but now I'm in CA and not only do you need an entirely separate kitchen that no one else uses for any other purposes, but it can't even be touching your main residence. It has to be a completely independent building that isn't used for anything other than producing your good, so needless to say that isn't realistic for everyone.

Otherwise you're looking at renting a kitchen as someone has mentioned, which can get very expensive. Between that and having to price your goods on the lower end since you don't have any reputation or client base yet, your profits are probably going to be pretty low.

I have heard you can sometimes avoid the home licensing if you sell through farmer's markets in some states so that might be worth looking at. Usually your county board of health will have a few pages of information on it as it's a pretty popular question. Good luck!
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Question for the bread makers-thoughs on bread making for income

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iowagirl2006

schoolhouse_gw

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Allie707
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azzalea

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Question for the bread makers-thoughs on bread making for income

Comments (8)

iowagirl2006

schoolhouse_gw

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Allie707Original Author

azzalea

tami_ohio

sue_va

susanjf_gw

Chi

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Allie707
Original Author