From Hobby To Start Up

Where to start?…….. no really! that’s what everyone always asks lol.

We often put it off for so long because of fear but its really not that bad honestly. Were going to give you some hints and tips below of how to get started, where you can find information and answer some of the most common questions we’ve been asked.

FOOD HYGIENE TRAINING-

To start your business you have to hold a food hygiene level 2 certificate, inexpensive to do, doesn’t take much time and its a legal requirement as you will not be able to get insurance if you do not hold this. We did ours through the company i’ve linked below and I would also highly recommend taking the food allergy course also.

REGISTER YOUR KITCHEN-

Where it all began.

Whether you’re setting up at home or taking on a premise, you need to contact your local authority and fill out a food business registration form (link below). Within the next few weeks of filling this form out you will receive a reply saying your kitchen has been registered and from that point you can actually start trading, even before you’ve had your inspection.

Did you know that the food standards agency also offer a service where you can pay to have one of their advisers visit prior to you inspection to make sure you have everything in order. whilst this is probably not that necessary for a home business, if you are looking to open a premise we would highly recommend its worth every penny of the £300 for piece of mind. Open a premise I legit no joke! you want to get it right.

There is a huge amount of information online and The Food Standards are definitely not your enemy! Cake businesses are very low risk but they are more than helpful with any queries you may have.

INSURANCE & PUBLIC LIABILITY

A MUST HAVE!! Please don’t think just because you do it from home, that you don’t need it, you do! for you and your customers. Make sure you read ALL your terms and conditions, that you have all the correct liability coverage but with a reasonable excess. We’ve a couple of links below, note not all insurers cover certain premises so you may have to have a shop/ask around.

NOW YOU’RE OFFICAL AND READY FOR REAL LIFE CUSTOMERS!!

We’re rooting for you!!

But how are you going to get people to see your business?

Well thank god it’s 2019…….we live in a digital age where people are just clicks away from seeing your business online and the best part is IT’S FREE!!

When we started OH MY CAKERY we just had a logo id knocked up on WORDSWAG (not ideal I later found out as the resolution was shit but it worked temporarily) a FACEBOOK & an INSTAGRAM page and the bookings flowed, you just gotta know how to work them……..im not going to lie marketing your business is a full time job but when its free you’ve got to use them to the best of their ability. What we’ve found out is that both platforms work very differently, so work them like you’ve got 2 different audiences.

Get your friends and family to shout about your new business on their personal pages, get them to spread the cake love, interact with as many people as possible, use hashtags, get on your stories and maybe throw in a couple of competitions/giveaways to people tagging & sharing your pages.

COUNTING STARS!

When you work from your home kitchen they will make an appointment to come and inspect your kitchen, where as if you have shop/premise its a surprise visit.

Well that is enough to get you started on your baking entrepreneur journey, we will be doing a more in depth blog post for anyone looking to take their home business into a premise and how to build a brand.

GOOD LUCK CAKE LOVERS.