If you intend to begin with a personalised celebration cake and baking business from home, then you’re toward the start of an energising adventure because this step by step guide will enable you to get moving. The journey will take you through the preparing from home to really selling your cakes, and this is what you have to know.
To start with a personalized home-based cake business:
- You first need to register yourself as self-employed
At the time of starting your cake business, you have to get in touch with HMRC and tell them that you intend to be self-employed so that you could come under the tax regulations to avoid any legal circumstances. You have to do this even though you will maintain your home business as part-time or in case you have another job.
To get registered as self-employed, which is the least complex business structure, letting the HMRC know that all you have to do with regards to registering your business. On the other hand, if you intend to start a limited company, and the procedure, in this case, is more complicated. You will get detailed requirements at HMRC.
- Make sure to act upon the regulations with regards to baking from home in the UK
At first, it can appear frightening when it comes to complying to the standards; however, they’re straightforward to stick. To begin with, you should consider getting a certificate of food hygiene, in particular attending a level 2 course in case you’re new to working with food. This way, you can begin in a decent method with regards to understanding the standards you have to follow.
As an outline, your kitchen and premises should be clean and kept in excellent condition. It is required to have a habit of following excellent food hygiene procedures in your kitchen, which include safety against infection and pest control. In any case, your home baking business won’t be considered with comparable standards as a major commercial site such as a restaurant.
The standards are listed by the food regulation agency with regards to guidelines for food preparation sites, and these include:
- Floors & Walls: these are required to be in excellent condition, well maintained, sanitized, and in good condition of repair.
- Ceilings: these are required to be in excellent condition, simple to clean, and no sign of mound, condensation and peeling paint and plaster.
- Windows & Doors: these are required to be in a position which makes them easy to clean and disinfect, and constructed in a manner that dirt can’t take place. Moreover, insect-proof screens are required that can be effectively removed for cleaning.
- Sufficient Accommodations for Cleaning Equipment: in this case, there should be adequate space for cleaning, disinfecting and storing utensils, which include equipment with the availability of hot and cold water.
- Adequate space for washing food: when it comes to washing, sink and cleaning equipment is required, and a sink for washing hands separately. In case you have a ground floor toilet, there should be no issues on condition that it’s not very far away, all these spaces are required to be kept clean and disinfected.
On the other hand, to make things perfect, you are required to have a separate fridge for your personal food. In case, this is not possible, and then you should be able to distinguish the food that is for your business and your own use. Furthermore, you should make sure that pets stay away from the kitchen and food preparation areas. Children should also stay away from the kitchen at the time of baking.
Lastly, ensure you’re up to speed with regards to food labelling guidelines to provide allergen information.
- Your premises need to be registered
At the time of starting your personalized cake business, this is another regulation you need to be aware of. As per this regulation, you need to get your premises registered with the local authority’s environmental service, and this needs to be done as a minimum of 28 days prior to beginning with business. However, the point to note here is that the premises registering process doesn’t cost anything, and your registration application will not be rejected. In this case, the food preparation area in your premises will be assessed by the authority. You can use the food business registration tool to get contact details of the local authority. When it comes to delivering the orders, you can outsource this part for your birthday cake delivery London or your personalized cake delivery to your designated areas. Or you can have your own delivery service.
- Figure out the insurance coverage for your home baking
It’s essential to consider business insurance coverage at the time of setting up your personalized cakes business. In this case, there is a product liability insurance and public liability insurance, and normally it is sold together. In this way, you can be protected against any legal action initiated by an individual from the public for any harm.
For instance, you may have a case made against you in case that somebody becomes sick after eating your cake, or in the event that you hit a costly vase at the time, you’re delivering a cake to a client’s home. There’s likewise insurance coverage with regards to your stock and tools, in addition to employers’ liability insurance in case, your business will have any workers.
- Inform mortgage lender or landlord (in case there is any)
In case you are in a rented home, then you have to get approval from the landlord to be able to establish your business. Even so, as per the law, the landlord can’t refuse or delay their permission without any reason. In case you have your own home, you may require to get permission from your mortgage lender to be able to set up your home-based personalised cake business.
- Consider ways to stand out from the crowd
You should be aware of the fact that there’s a significant number of personalised cake making businesses out there; in this case, you should consider the ways to stand out from the crowd. You have to present your exclusiveness in specific categories such as children’s party cupcakes, wedding cakes, vegan or gluten-free bakes. You can also let your customers buy fantasy cakes online.
- Make your online presence priority
You make an item that looks delightful, so photographs will be vital. Set up a user-friendly website with essential details regarding your business. This information could include what you do, where you’re situated, and the number of people can place an order, and display a lot of mouth-watering photographs.
Likewise, it is necessary to set up accounts on social media channels. In this case, the most prevalent ones are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to represent your business, and make your online presence felt by sharing stunning photographs. It’s additionally essential to connect with other people through social media, so you should spend a few minutes every day liking and commenting on other people’s posts, and following related accounts.
- Engage with people and market your business
In spite of the fact that you’re setting up your personalised cake business from home, it’s smart to get out and engage with people to let them know regarding your business and build up popularity in the neighbourhood. In this case, you can also apply for a stall at local events; this includes food markets and celebrations. Free samples work best at the time of promoting business. Furthermore, flyers and leaflets are useful tools when it comes to promote the business locally.
- Keep a record of your transactions
Based on the fact you’re setting up your own business, you have to monitor the transactions, mainly income and expenses to be able to provide with this information at the time of filing your tax return.
Click here to get detailed information with regards to tax-deductible expenses to work out the expenses you can deduct. Keep in mind that you have to keep your receipts because HMRC may ask you to provide with the proof from your expenditure. You can also take advantage of using small business accounting software to automate this part of your business.
- Start marketing the business
You need to consider marketing strategies so that people can find your awesome cakes. At the same time as appearing with your cakes in events that are organised locally, and utilising social media to get to the potential customers, come up with out of the box strategies.
In case your speciality is wedding cakes, it could be a good idea to put flyers in a wedding dress shop, or build up an association with a local wedding venue, for instance. In case you’re making vegan cakes, maybe you can get approval to put flyers in a neighbourhood vegetarian restaurant.
Please note: the regulations in this post are intended as a guide. The best practice is to get in touch with your local environmental health authority in case there’s anything you’re not sure about.
Do you have any further questions regarding starting your home baking business? Please ask them in the comments below.
