# the good, bad, ugly



## pastrycake (Sep 11, 2005)

I have been toying with the idea of owning a bakery..perhaps specializing in cupakes or just various cookies and homemade every day cakes. I don't have the patience or detailed for wedding cakes. I can hire a cake decorator for that right? I have little real experience in baking, finance, or marketing. I need reality check. should I partner up with someone with experience in the beginning? are cupcake shops just trendy since they are popping up in affluent areas and not around me. Most bakeries are wedding focus and not fresh baked goods. Perhaps there are reasons for that.. more profitable. I am concern that people are more willing to get their baked goods from grocery stores so I may end up with unsold goods every day.


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## chefpeon (Jun 14, 2006)

You definitely need a reality check. 
I suggest you do this by interning or getting a job in a bakery and you will see how things work. 
It's NOT like baking at home. Not even remotely.
It's hard work with long hours and even more so if you own your own place.

Yes, cupcake bakeries are trendy. They will go away at some point.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Remember the Hula Hoop? In this economic enviorment forget it. Even experienced bakers are finding it difficult to keep shop open . Watch Cake Boss on TV. You cant get $5.00 to $10. for a cupcake per person but you can for a wedding cake.


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## chefelle (Feb 17, 2007)

I echo the sentiments of both Ed and Annie.

I am a patisserie owner and operator. I do a full from scratch, hand made product line with the finest quality ingredients. If it wasn't for wholesale dessert accounts and wedding cakes I'd have to shut my doors.

Hiring staff to do things that you don't want to do isn't really an answer. Labour costs can kill a bakery....and definitely eliminate any profit margins you might make. If you hire a cake decorator to do wedding cakes only....they are going to want a hefty amount of money per hour.....and wedding cakes take ALOT of time and space....your profit margin would go right out the window. 

In order to stay in business...and get people through your doors...sometimes you have to make product you have no interest in whatsoever. For example...I definitely wanted to do from scratch croissants, brioche, and focaccia. But I had no interest in traditional breads and rolls. I found out pretty quickly that while there was a market for what I wanted to make....I had no choice but to give in and make the traditional breads that the public demanded. I had to start making cookies...and not fun and interesting cookies but your run of the mill peanut butter, chocolate chip...and so on and so on. I appeased myself by making the best breads and cookies I was capable of making. If I was going to do it...I was REALLY going to do it and do it well. These were concessions I had to make in order to build and maintain a customer base. People were square nuts in this area.....if I didn't make squares then I didn't get to sell my madeleines, my fancy cakes and cupcakes, my gateaux, and my choux paste creations. It was all a tradeoff. When you own your own business you indeed do have a boss--THE CUSTOMER....and they determine what you make and don't make. Because if you stick to only what YOU want to make...you may end up throwing out alot of wonderful product and putting a for sale sign on your door. 

Ed is right--in this market profit margins are very, very slim...and you NEED experience in all aspects of running a business and restaurant in order to make it.

Not to discourage you...but I had everything going for me going into this venture...I had commercial baking experience, a strong business background...I KNEW what I was getting into. And STILL in the end I feel I was unprepared for the realities of owning and running my own bakery. 

Another thing that people fail to realize is working as a chef can consume your whole life....but when you are a chef/owner....you REALLY have no life. Seriously. You don't own the bakery....the bakery owns you.

I would not recommend owning a bakery to anyone. And the pastry chef who trained me...a brilliant man who owned and operated a very successful and award winning bakery tried to tell me the same thing. I love what I do....but there's a huge difference between working as a pastry chef FOR someone (and that's an extremely demanding and difficult job in itself!) and owning and operating one. Finances are usually such that as an owner you can't afford to hire additional staff so you have to wear all hats yourself. Some you may be good at...others you may not...but regardless you have to GET GOOD AT IT. It's far more than just showing up to work and baking...which by the way for me means 15 hours of straight baking alone EVERY DAY. That's just the beginning of the work. And that's the beginning of the work with one full time staff member and one part time to help me. 

I don't have any children...but I do have a husband and two dogs. I rarely see them. I usually stumble home long enough to get a few hours sleep and go back to the shop again. 

Please...I don't mean to discourage you or sound negative. But you asked for a reality check....THIS is the reality of what you are considering.

Okay...back to wedding cakes now....


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## chefelle (Feb 17, 2007)

By the way--the reason why I opened my own bakery was because there were no jobs for pastry chefs where I live. I worked the only pastry chef job in this area for a year before being laid off due to the fact that due to poor economic times the owner could no longer afford me. So I opened my own bakery and created my own job. IF there was a decent paying pastry chef's job here on the island...or within driving distance...I'd close my shop in a heartbeat and go and work for them.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

VERY WELL SAID!!:roll:. Here in Palm Beach, they are always looking for good pastry chefs,There are a lot of private country clubs here.


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