Starting your own business doesn’t have to be complicated, nor does it have to be something mysterious—you too can develop the right strategies for you and your bakery to find success. What are the decisions you can make to improve your profits and your bakery’s overall success?
The best business strategies for your bakery include setting up your finances and keeping them organized, automating as much as you can, creating variety in both your business and your offerings, offering free samples and sales, using your website and social media, working with an online delivery service, working with your local community, and valuing your customers.
Developing these business strategies do not take a lot of work, but can give you success that doesn’t just last for a short time—if properly completed, you can experience those benefits for the long term. Read on to find out more about what you can do to make your business succeed.
Set your finances and keep them organized.
While this may feel like a no-brainer, one of the best ways that you can move your business forward is by keeping proper records and making sure you stick with your budget. Planning ahead is one of the best ways that you can strategize yourself into success, and it doesn’t take much to do so.
How can you plan ahead? Make sure you have enough funding in your budget in case of emergencies. One of the worst things that can happen to a small business is an unforeseen situation, especially one that costs money. Making sure you have an emergency fund in your budget for situations like that will help make sure that your business stays afloat during those hard times.
You should be keeping a budget for your business operations, but you should also include a detailed expense sheet outlining everything you expect to pay for each month. You can determine any sort of number or profit margin you need from there, but the key is having that information ready for you whenever you need it. Keep it up to date for the best attempt at success.
Automate as much as you can.
With our digital age, there are programs and apps on the market that can help you do all sorts of things for your business. Whether it’s using an inventory management system that organizes items by shelf life or a point-of-sale system that goes above and beyond your typical cash register, if you can save yourself time at any point, you can save yourself that stress and worry down the road.
If you find yourself unable to utilize such automation, whether it’s cost-prohibitive or you don’t have the space or electronics to do so, make sure you communicate with your employees. Whether it’s by all using the same spreadsheets or simply sharing the shelf life and the expiration dates of your items, as long as all of your employees know, you can benefit from your own sort of automated system.
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Foster and promote variety in your offerings.
One of the worst things that your business can do is not have enough variety to attract new and existing customers. Make sure you create a menu with a plethora of different items, and consider delving into other types of recipes, like gluten-free or vegan items. Any of these could a great strategy to bring in those customers, and you may find yourself meeting a niche that hasn’t been met in your area yet.
But your variety doesn’t always have to mean your offerings, either. There are ways that you can shake things up within your bakery, too—consider, if you have the space to do so, holding events or meetings. Consider shifting into a coffeeshop model where you offer music or open mic nights. You never know what could bring in additional customers, which is your ultimate goal when developing new business strategies.
Offer free samples or new and exciting sales.
This seems like another no-brainer, but it’s one of those tried-and-true business strategies for your bakery. Whether it’s to people coming into your business or even having an employee offer them to those walking by, you can make additional sales by simply attracting those walking by.
You can also add new sales or offerings to your menu, including any sort of combo meal. Are you also opening a coffee shop? Consider selling a coffee and a baked good for a reduced price. You can offer events where your items are sold at a reduced price, or you can provide sales to people within a certain demographic, like seniors before a certain time frame or veterans on patriotic holidays.
Utilize your website and social media following.
No matter what you’re doing, if you have a business, you have to have an online presence to get easy recognition. Using social media is a great way to get some recognition, as many of those websites and apps are free to use—but you need to provide the content for your business if you want to gain those followers or get those shares.
Make sure your website is up-to-date and created professionally. It’s possible for you to make your business website yourself, as long as you use a reputable source such as Wix or WordPress. You can also create your own social media pages, but make sure your branding is consistent between any page you create and your website. You can even cross promote your posts between different social media pages to make sure you get the most attention for your content.
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Consider using an online delivery service.
Websites and apps such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, and GrubHub have brought food and drinks to more households since their inception, and it’s up to you to get your bakery involved in something like it. Whether it’s a local version of the delivery apps or the apps themselves, opening yourself up to selling your items that way can add more and more to your profit and your bottom line. It’s not even that hard, and you’ll be reaching more and more customers with each delivery.
Work with your local community.
If you’re a small business, you’ll find out very quickly that in your community, there’s typically an official or unofficial group for the local small businesses. Utilize this group for assistance in any possible struggles you may have as you start your bakery, and they can also help you with advice as you navigate the first few years of your small business.
But it doesn’t have to stop there. Collaborate with a local coffeeshop to sell your items in their shop too, alongside their coffee offerings. Consider working with a local band or musical artist to start performances. Work with a local floral shop to offer items in your business alongside your cakes and cupcakes. There are ways that you can work with any other business, as long as you are creative and innovative with how each one of you can benefit from the collaboration.
Value your customers.
What’s the most important takeaway? Make sure you value your customers. None of these business strategies will be successful if you don’t value the opinions and patronage of your customers. Listen to them, determine what it is they like and what they don’t like, and even consider listening to their ideas. Even if you don’t develop the ideas they suggest, it does give them the feeling that they’re involved with the business that they continue to patronize and that they love. You can even offer free items to those who speak to you about what you can improve and what they like, meaning they will be even more likely to come back. Make sure they know how much they mean to you and to your business, and the other strategies will only follow.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Cakes tend to sell the most out of a bakery, while cookies, bread, cupcakes, sandwiches, and donuts follow. Consider adjusting your menu to reflect the most popular and most profitable products in your locale, as the most popular items can vary depending on where you live.
When it comes to starting your own bakery, there are mistakes to avoid—make sure you’re listening to your customers and shifting your offerings depending on what they want. Listen to customer feedback on what they want, but also make sure that you’re offering them at a fair price and keeping your items fresh. All bakeries need marketing, so make sure you start marketing as soon as you can.
There are many benefits to starting your own bakery, including showing off your passion for baking and the fact that it is a simple business model. You can find a niche in your community that needs attention all while working with your community at the same time.
To learn more on how to start your own bakery business check out my startup documents here
This blog post is provided for informational purposes only. The information contained is not intended to constitute legal advice or to substitute for obtaining legal advice from a qualified attorney.
About the author. Entrepreneur and Bakery Business Fan.
Hi! I am Shawn and I am a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online bakery business resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a bakery business owner, I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to retain customers, find good employees and keep the business growing all while trying to stay competitive.
That’s why I created Bakery Business Boss: I want to help bakery business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.