So dream with me here. You roll out of bed, put some slippers on, and start your 20 foot commute to your kitchen. And instead of greeting your exhausted work mates, you’re surrounded by sweets and baked goods, just how little you imagined adult life would be.
But don’t start composing your “I quit” email just yet. Let’s figure out how you can leave the 9-5 life and start selling baked goods from home.
Here are some tips on how to sell baked goods from home.
1. Check the Home Bakery Laws in Your Area
It depends where you live, but in the US, we have laws governing home bakers called Cottage Food Laws. These are laws that state what home bakers can sell, where they can sell their baked goods, and other requirements needed to start selling baked goods from home.
These laws will vary state to state and sometimes even county to county.
Find your state’s Cottage Laws by Googling “Ohio Cottage Laws” (or whatever state you’re in). This Cottage Food Law website is a good place to start, but make sure you also check your state’s Department of Agriculture and Health Department website.
2. Decide What Kind of Baked Goods You Want to Sell From Home
Do you have a special recipe that was passed down for generations?
Or cookies that EVERYONE asks you to make?
Make a list of the things you love to bake and your most requested items.
And you don’t need to start by selling everything. Pick a couple things you’re really good at and start there.
3. Decide Where You Want to Sell Your Baked Goods
Are you a homebody or do you like being around people? Some bakers run their home bakery businesses strictly from home, while others love to set up at events and markets to sell their baked goods.
Think of where you want to be selling your baked goods day-to-day.
Is there a farmers market nearby with people who would love your homemade cupcakes?
Does a local bakery make everything but macarons and would benefit from having a macaron baker wholesale to them?
Do you have a lot of cool boutiques where you could set up a pop up shop every month? (But Michelle… what’s a pop up shop? Check out my recent post: What is a Pop Up Shop?)
4. Start Marketing Your Baked Goods
Marketing your baked goods can be done in many ways. If you’re someone who wants to keep everything completely home based, here are some marketing tips for you:
- Collaborate with a shop that sells a complimentary product and do a giveaway.
- Do some sort of pairing. Example: You drop off macarons to a winery so they can do a wine and macaron pairing event for their customers.
If you are comfortable being around people while you sell your baked goods, try some of these marketing tips:
- Set up at a nearby farmers market. I recommend testing out a couple different farmers markets in your area but trying to show up consistently at each of them.
- Do pop up markets at shops/restaurants/cafes with similar customers. Example: If you’re selling allergen free cupcakes with no sugar/dairy/wheat, try approaching a juice bar or smoothie cafe and ask them if you can do a pop up market there.
5. Keep Up With Your Customers
Once you’ve tried a few of these marketing tips, you should have some customers by now.
Keep them coming back by continually getting your baked goods in front of them. You can do this by:
- Adding their emails to a list and sending emails with new flavors and instructions on how they can buy.
- Consistently showing up at farmers markets.
- Doing pop up markets at the same location every month.
- Posting pictures of your baked goods on social media.
6. Keep Growing Your Home Bakery
Once you figure out how to sell baked goods from home and you’ve got all the licensing stuff and labeling requirements figured out, the fun part comes.
You can get really creative with your marketing plan and tailor it to your goals for your business. If you want help with this, download my Free Home Bakery Growth Training Guide and Home Bakery Training here.