Starting cupcake business from home

[Tina's cakes]

Hi I am in the research phase of starting my own business.
I've looked into hygiene certificates contacted the local council.
Been trying out lots of recipes , my hubby is sick of them, being my chief guinea pig.
I've spoken to a web designer she can do a logo flyers business cards as well for about £900.
I thought I would buy equipment as needed. I have found a few suppliers.
I wanted to sell high quality cakes. I'm booked on three courses one of them being a business course. I wondered if there is anything I have forgotten.
The big question is marketing
Who and how apart from my website
I intend to do childrens parties as well, I'm a nurse so I am crb checked
Any help at all would be appreciated, I'm totally new to this

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Hi Tina and welcome to the site.
Try using the Search function,top right of the home page.Type 'cupcakes'.
Quite a few threads there,like this one http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=298836&highlight=cupcakes
Good luck with it.

PS When and why did cupcakes turn into decorated muffins?

 

[Socio South West]

It sounds like you have the production side of it taped... Its just identifying your target market and gettting your product to it now to get a return on your outlay and a reward for your enterprise.

As I am sure you are aware, the cup cake market is very competitive at the moment, so you need to be well on top of everything, and quick efficient service that will win you those very inexpensive word of mouth referrals, so useful for any small business, will be vital.

 

[warnie]

This is a very saturated market, we stock them ourselves but sales are no where near what they used to be. I've also lost count of the amount of people who have asked us to stock their cakes, as it can be an easy low cost business to set up.

To make just your £900 back would require you to sell 1800 cakes if you made 50p profit on each. That's not including your equipment you need to buy, gas, electric, NI and public liability. It soon adds up. My advice would be to work out your margins against your costs, including what wage you need to take from it, and work out how many cakes you will need to sell each week to break even. Also a biggie with cupcakes is factoring in waste, as they don't keep for long, maybe a few days.

 

[Gecko001]

Someone once said on this forum that the only people making money in a gold rush are the people selling the shovels.

Perhaps starting a business selling courses to people wanting to start a cupcake business from home would be a good business to be in.

PS. On the positive side for the OP. Get out there and start selling. Business is all about doing.

 

[benfiquista]

Hi I am in the research phase of starting my own business.
I've looked into hygiene certificates contacted the local council.
Been trying out lots of recipes , my hubby is sick of them, being my chief guinea pig.
I've spoken to a web designer she can do a logo flyers business cards as well for about £900.
I thought I would buy equipment as needed. I have found a few suppliers.
I wanted to sell high quality cakes. I'm booked on three courses one of them being a business course. I wondered if there is anything I have forgotten.
The big question is marketing
Who and how apart from my website
I intend to do childrens parties as well, I'm a nurse so I am crb checked
Any help at all would be appreciated, I'm totally new to this

There is also the delivery side of it, an online presence is essential and what if you start getting orders all over the place? Speedy delivery is a must and you must include in the calculations all the costs associated with it, together with all the rest.

 

[AHVincent]

Hi Tina,

I'm a Canadian and I'm always surprised to know how much you guys have to pay for everything in the UK...

There are much more economical ways to get this website done because of the rise of brilliant CMS platforms like Joomla or Drupal that can handle eCommerce.

Send me a private message and I can give you a much better price than that as long as you have flexibility on the extent of customization your require.

Additionally, although cup cakes are competitive, if you have an edge you can gain some ground with clever online and offline viral marketing strategies.

 

[Gecko001]

Hi Tina,

I'm a Canadian and I'm always surprised to know how much you guys have to pay for everything in the UK...

There are much more economical ways to get this website done because of the rise of brilliant CMS platforms like Joomla or Drupal that can handle eCommerce.

Send me a private message and I can give you a much better price than that as long as you have flexibility on the extent of customization your require.

Additionally, although cup cakes are competitive, if you have an edge you can gain some ground with clever online and offline viral marketing strategies.

Shovel seller perhaps. (if you do not get it, see my post above)

 

[Jessie77]

Just a question not in the cupcake business how do you ship a cupcake with out it turning up a gooey mess

 

[ethical PR]

Hi Tina,

I'm a Canadian and I'm always surprised to know how much you guys have to pay for everything in the UK...

There are much more economical ways to get this website done because of the rise of brilliant CMS platforms like Joomla or Drupal that can handle eCommerce.

Send me a private message and I can give you a much better price than that as long as you have flexibility on the extent of customization your require.

Additionally, although cup cakes are competitive, if you have an edge you can gain some ground with clever online and offline viral marketing strategies.

Vincent - as you don't know the spec that has been agreed, you can't possibly say you would be able to offer a much better price.

OP - actually it is worth considering your website/brand/business card costs. One option is for you to have a look at developing a wordpress or similar which is free (or low cost if you use paid for templates). You would then have more budget to invest in marketing/PR for your business.

It's also worth getting two or three quotes for your brand/web work - chose a designer that has relevant experience, references you can talk to and has clear systems and processes in place for developing the design/site with payments against milestones and which covers off copyright issues. Sometimes good to have someone who is local if you like meeting up with your suppliers and are looking for a longer term relationship.

Cheapest is not always best - you pay for knowledge and skills and someone who understand how to project manage the design/technical processes involved.

 

[daveymck]

At this point I wouldn't be considering a website get yourself out to local markets and food fairs (if you can get in there is an abundance of cake sellers there) selling your cupcakes etc and a few examples of the higher end custom cakes you want to do(and photos of others you can do) and start getting orders that way, facebook page with some photos of said cakes and customers cakes as you do them and build up via word of mouth and customers doing likes on their cake on FB.

Obviously get some business cards and logo done but I wouldn't go mad on expensive ones at this stage or spending £900 on a website that at this point till you build up isnt going to help you make sales is madness imho.

For example https://www.facebook.com/KarensLittleCakeHouse?fref=ts

 

[weightllp]

All in all - food will always be a good idea.

£900 for a website and a couple of business cards sounds a bit 'stiff'. Even top expert marketing/it companies like byFiona, D&T, troXsol - etc, will only charge something like £500 for an 'all-in' business start package (incl. website). I used all of them before - worse experience was with 1&1 - (hope I haven't offended anybody here) that was a complete waste of time and money.

Those guys know what they are doing - and have all sort of advice and help and hand. Accountancy stuff, designers, - and most of all - connections. One of them even helped for nothing - in return for some shares. How cool is that?

Hey - if it takes off - I hope you send some cakes my way for the tip!

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

I wouldn't invest in a website yet, test your market out via Face Book and target nursery schools, parents, brides/hens etc first, there are loads of people making amazing looking cupcakes so you'll have plenty of competition.

That said, people are still buying them and you could do well if you try and nab a slice of the local birthday party market, but I really would hold fire on investing too much money in a cupcake only business now - it's kind of been done to death in my opinion. If you are determined to go ahead, try and come up with a recipe which is low calorie and target the "have your cake & eat it" market, that may have more potential and probably less competition.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Forget the web and the facebook selling they will be in such small numbers that once packaging and going to a post office cost is taken into account there would be no profit yet alone isp costs and payment fee's

You need numbers to make a living and unless you can get a supemarket to stock your cakes you will struggle apart from one other outlet which is your local wholesalers companies like Bookers who supply local companies withcatering supplies from food to equipment, they could by in large numbers and sell to all hotels Cafe's etc

How much does it cost you to make a dozen cup cakes and how much do they sell for around your area.Dont forget to include a wage for yourself in the calc say £6,000-£12,000 per year presumably not a full time job

 

[daveymck]

Forget the web and the facebook selling they will be in such small numbers that once packaging and going to a post office cost is taken into account there would be no profit yet alone isp costs and payment fee's

You need numbers to make a living and unless you can get a supemarket to stock your cakes you will struggle apart from one other outlet which is your local wholesalers companies like Bookers who supply local companies withcatering supplies from food to equipment, they could by in large numbers and sell to all hotels Cafe's etc

How much does it cost you to make a dozen cup cakes and how much do they sell for around your area.Dont forget to include a wage for yourself in the calc say £6,000-£12,000 per year presumably not a full time job

Would still look to use Facebook would be local sales building up reputation and referrals which lets face it is how most people find someone to buy a custom cake, would then be either delivering by hand (for a fee) or getting the person to pick up rather tan sending in the post.

Finding local shops that might want to stock is the other wholesaling route rather than hitting up major wholesaler, may be better margins and can control demand a lot better as gussing a home kitchen capacity is going to be time and resource limited.

 

[Tina's cakes]

Hi everyone, thank you so much for your replies great advice .
I work full time as a nurse so this would be a part time business, evening and weekends so supplying shops isn't what I'm looking for at present.

I'm thinking I would need a lot more experience to hold a start your own business workshop.

Website - I have shopped around and the cheapest price is 900 including logo design 250 business cards, letter heads and 1000 flyers.vyhe site would be a cms site (think that's right, meaning I can add and subtract things). Hosting 10 pounds a month. I thought this was cheap, your thoughts would be appreciated
I know someone mentioned Wordpress, I have looked but dont understand it.

 

[its CC]

You can get a website and all those services a lot cheaper.

 

[Tina's cakes]

Where do I get these websites cheaper I think this price for for a nine page website

 

[Daxo]

It will take you an absolute age to recover that £900 expenditure. I just wouldn't spend that money on it.

In truth I don't see this being anything more than a hobby which you MIGHT happen to make a bit of pocket money from. You're effort vs reward just won't be worth it however.

Since you have the time and inclination to engage in a commercial venture, why not have a sit down and have a good think about potential opportunities and go into something with more scaleability and crucially with more profit potential?

I do wish you luck sincerely, because you clearly have some "get up and go" about you, I just think that cupcakes is absolutely NOT the venture to engage in.

 

[its CC]

Search around a bit, on google or business sites. Alternatively you can check your private messages for one I would recommend.

 

[AlexandraS]

Someone mentioned up thread "low-fat" - well how about going where the money is going and going low-carb, high-protein. Ie the Atkins of cupcakes. Paleo food businesses are doing very well right now, although alcohol-based sugars make you poop. ;-). Check out for example that new low-carb, high-protein bread just gone to mainstream market at a fiver a pop.

 

[Tina's cakes]

Thank you for your honesty everyone I appreciate it. I know what your saying about a website but I tried about six companies and this was the cheapest I showed them a website which I wanted it similar to.
Not being good at computers I won't be capable of doing it myself

 

[benfiquista]

Someone mentioned up thread "low-fat" - well how about going where the money is going and going low-carb, high-protein. Ie the Atkins of cupcakes. Paleo food businesses are doing very well right now, although alcohol-based sugars make you poop. ;-). Check out for example that new low-carb, high-protein bread just gone to mainstream market at a fiver a pop.

That is the way to go, the future is healthy.

 

[Risky]

Someone once said on this forum that the only people making money in a gold rush are the people selling the shovels.

Perhaps starting a business selling courses to people wanting to start a cupcake business from home would be a good business to be in.

PS. On the positive side for the OP. Get out there and start selling. Business is all about doing.

This is soo true it's being overlooked by many startups. An extreme real life example of this is when merchants setup shop during the gold rush in the wild west. Whilst hundreds of thousands traveled to get gold and get rich quick the innovators saw there was so little competition and so much demand in selling food, materials and maybe even tutoring. They took advantage on something that was needed.

Cakes aren't needed, but recipes are.

I'd suggest looking into providing your services online just like foreign language speakers have conversations and correct people who are learning their language. Perhaps you should visit sites such as fiverr.com and offer recipes or top 5 tips for $5. Also find sites that allow you to advertise and sell your services for an hourly rate

 

[JonathanSEO]

Joke thread this. Glad some members are giving advice though rather just lame sales pitches.

Tina, I think you'd be wise to listen to Warnie, work out the numbers first. This will be very tough to make cash from.

And a website at this moment in time is going to be pointless here. All you will be doing is wasting cash. It's not going to help you make sales.

It could in the future but not right now. I know a guy who started a cake decorating business doing birthdays, weddings, celebration cakes etc. He started it from home, just firing out some mates rates cakes for friends. Word of mouth spread and he started doing more and more. Only once he'd started getting a steady stream of orders in did he get a website and it does very well for him. Granted his cakes can be in the £000 mark so far more than cupcakes but this is the type of route you need to take.

 

[platnumcn]

I feel that a website should be made, but it should not be made with the point of getting customers. It should be just a basic website to show what you can offer and the rates. Again, it can even have the scope of placing orders too.

Almost everyone today uses some kind of devices and getting information on their fingertips have become a necessity. I do not like going through pamphlets or any kind of paper ads. All i need is a business card from the seller, where the website is mentioned, which I can visit when I have time and find out what the seller has to offer.

You should not invest in SEO till the time you are well-established and people are already ordering stuffs from your site and you want fresh customers, who you have not got yet.

However, it is a must to have a website in this technologically driven world.

 

[Socio South West]

...... but I tried about six companies and this was the cheapest I showed them a website which I wanted it similar to.

Therein lies the problem. The lower end of the web design market is awash with bland repetitive designs and a total lack of imagination and concentration on the target for the website - just a collection of fancy gizmos and apps that are totally impractical for the aim of the site usually (There are exceptions.... it's just finding them) To get imagination and the right approach you need to pay more.

That said, The OP's figures suggest that by the end of year 2 with hosting there is an £1140 outlay on web and printing alone without any other expenses considered.

As a part time business, to earn a realistic reward for enterprise the scale of the business is going to have to be quite high, regardless of the margins you should achieve.
Other posts have suggested food fairs and local events, which will get you much more directly and more quickly to your local target market, and you should perhaps look again at how you intend to market the business if you want to reduce the chances of this business becoming a long term drain on your nursing salary, and remaining manageable in combination with meeting expenses.

 

[Tina's cakes]

I have looked into fairs, fetes ect the ones I contacted where about £130 for the table then I had some advice from a lady who runs her own company - cupcakes else where and she does not touch them as its hard to judge what u will sell and therefore be out of pocket

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Tine two sites that sell the same site in a box that may work out cheaper
www.sellerdeck.co.uk who sell you a shop in a box which you own and manage yourself quite easy to use and cheaper than the £900

www.actinic.co.uk basically the same software but you pay a low amount monthly rather than all in one go.

Both are ungradable which is good news and have great forums to help

Both made and owned by UK companies so support is good

Still agree cupcake does not need a web site but any other idears downlaod a copy for free and see how you get on

 

[weightllp]

Somehow this is getting into a mixture of 'I want something for free' and 'Let's advertise'. Fact is, there is no real money in cup-cakes - at least not if its done part time. Without any IT knowledge to keep costs down, no website, no marketing and let's face it: "Quite a lot of competition" - and, and....

We all know that this proposal wouldn't make it pass the entry form of any 'second class venture finance club' - even in remote and usually 'open to ideas' locations.

In more Dragon's style - 'I'm out'. I start wasting my time. <I probably get kicked out now...>

 

[Tina's cakes]

Well that's certainly honest

 

[Tina's cakes]

I'm not sure i understand your comment no website? No marketing?

 

[Socio South West]

I have looked into fairs, fetes ect the ones I contacted where about £130 for the table then I had some advice from a lady who runs her own company - cupcakes else where and she does not touch them as its hard to judge what u will sell and therefore be out of pocket

Sorry, but your contact has a narrow view: At food orientated events you have the chance to meet local people face to face, and in all likelihood buyers looking for suppliers: It's the very best chance to make contacts and network - very often other exhibitors are excellent sources of contacts and referrals.

What you sell on the day should not be relevant: Think marketing, not sales. Have your brochures and cards to take, and you are marketing directly to your local customer base.

If you monitor your website traffic, a significant percentage of those finding your site will be outside the UK and a further large percentage outside an area that can be reasonably tradeable for you. The way to get more local web traffic.... Pay for Adwords or similar - so even more outlay!

Your line of business is going to have a very high local bias, and you need to be targetting a good proportion of your marketing budget locally.
I still think a web presence can be useful, but the figures you have mentioned to date are out of proportion for what you are planning to do, at least initially.

 

[Gecko001]

Cupcakes puzzle me. I have visited one or two business forums and there seems to be a lot of posts from people wanting to start a business making and selling them. That is why I made my earlier comments about a gold rush.

Yet is there more demand for them these days than say 10 years ago when they were just something that your local bakery shop sold along with a variety of other in-house baked goodies? There is more campaigns about obesity nowadays than 10 years ago. They are a luxury food and we live in times that are more austere than 10 years ago. Thus they seem to buck the trends as far as I can see.

I am not an expert in cupcakes, as I rarely eat them and I am probably missing something. I suppose coffee shops such as Starbucks have boosted their popularity. That is the only reason I can think why their popularity seems to have increased.

Perhaps the OP needs to widen her range of products and not base all her business on cupcakes alone in case the market for them does not hold up.

 

[Tina's cakes]

Just want to say thanks for everyone's advice

 

[Concept Vehicle Leasing]

Hi There my sister does this for a living. Here is here site (http://www.thepipingbag.co.uk/) Contact her for advice. She had a great web designer, flyers etc. Good luck!

Hi I am in the research phase of starting my own business.
I've looked into hygiene certificates contacted the local council.
Been trying out lots of recipes , my hubby is sick of them, being my chief guinea pig.
I've spoken to a web designer she can do a logo flyers business cards as well for about £900.
I thought I would buy equipment as needed. I have found a few suppliers.
I wanted to sell high quality cakes. I'm booked on three courses one of them being a business course. I wondered if there is anything I have forgotten.
The big question is marketing
Who and how apart from my website
I intend to do childrens parties as well, I'm a nurse so I am crb checked
Any help at all would be appreciated, I'm totally new to this

 

[vvaannmmaann]

I would still like to know when cupcakes developed into decorated muffins?

 

[Tina's cakes]

Hi
Thanks for thank info that's great. Iv emailed her it says she's away until next month

 

[Tina's cakes]

The definition of a muffin is that's its similar to a cupcake but usually less sweet and undecorated. Hope this helps

 

[vvaannmmaann]

The definition of a muffin is that's its similar to a cupcake but usually less sweet and undecorated. Hope this helps

Ah you are clearly not a child of the 60's! Back then cupcakes were cakes cooked in cups and they had flat tops covered in icing.Like these.