cake bakery business plan

Bakery Business Plan Template

Business Plan Outline

Bakery Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your bakery’s business plan.

We have helped over 100,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their bakeries.

A bakery business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your bakery. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan, and details your financial projections.

How To Write a Bakery Business Plan & Sample

The following information will provide a description of what to include in your bakery business plan along with links to an example for that section:

Next Section: Executive Summary >

Bakery Business Plan FAQs

How can i complete my bakery business plan quickly & easily.

Learn more about writing a successful plan by using this bakery business plan template .

Where Can I Download a Bakery Business Plan Template?

Get a downloadable bakery business plan template here . 

What Are the Main Types of Bakeries?

A bakery can be retail or wholesale. A retail bakery sells baked goods directly to customers, while a wholesale bakery typically sells products to other businesses, like restaurants, grocery stores, specialty shops, and cafes.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Bakery?

Bakeries are most commonly funded with personal savings and bank loans. Credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding for bakeries.

Learn More:  Seeking Funding from Angel Investors vs Venture Capitalists

What Are the Main Sources of Revenues and Expenses for a Bakery?

The primary source of revenue for bakeries is its baked good sales. This includes deliveries and online orders. Sometimes bakeries also earn from bulk orders from wholesalers or special occasions.

The key expenses for bakeries are rent, wages and salaries, ingredients and packaging.

What are the Steps To Open a Bakery Business?

Opening a bakery business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to open a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Bakery Business Plan - The first step in opening a business is to create a detailed bakery business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your bakery business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your bakery business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Bakery Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your bakery business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to open your bakery business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Bakery Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your bakery business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your bakery business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful bakery business:

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fork and pencil

How to Start a Bakery (with Business Plan)

Whether you dream of opening a donut shop or a boulangerie, starting a bakery allows you to serve niche markets and express culinary creativity without taking on the financial burden of opening a restaurant. You can even start your bakery business from home before investing in a commercial space. While bakeries are comparatively accessible foodservice businesses, they present unique challenges. From writing a bakery business plan to getting funding and filing for permits, we walk you through each step of opening a bakery.

How to Start a Baking Business

A Bakery Display Case with Lots of Colorful Pastries

Whether you're passionate about creating decoratively frosted cakes or artisan sourdough loaves , you must create an action plan for turning your passion for baking into a business. Discover the steps of opening a bakery below.

1. Choose a Bakery Style

While there are many bakery business models , they all fall under one of two umbrella categories: retail and wholesale. Retail and wholesale bakeries make similar products, but they have different needs and customer bases.

Opening and Operating a Retail Bakery

Retail bakeries are the most common type of bakery; they sell baked goods and loaves of bread directly to customers. Retail bakeries come in many different forms, and they often specialize in a particular type of baked good. They require both front- and back-of-house space.

Types of Retail Bakeries

Discover the most popular retail bakery business models below:

Opening and Operating a Wholesale Bakery

The other main type of bakery is a wholesale bakery. Rather than selling their products directly to customers, wholesale bakeries market their baked goods to businesses like grocery stores, restaurants, delis, and cafes.

Because wholesale bakeries have to meet the demands of commercial customers, they are typically larger than retail bakeries. Wholesale bakeries don't need to have a front-of-house or a desirable, high-traffic location. However, wholesale bakeries must produce high volumes of baked goods. This requires a large space and lots of baking equipment, resulting in higher startup costs.

2. Write a Bakery Business Plan

Cake Baker Frosting a Cake

The first step in opening your new establishment should be to write a bakery business plan . The business plan is an integral part of starting a bakery business because it lays out what type of bakery you want to open, how it's going to be structured, what sort of products you're going to sell, marketing strategies, and financial projections. There are seven main sections to a bakery business plan:

Your business plan serves as the foundation for your business, and a strong plan can help you get funding and make the process of opening a new bakery easy.

3. Obtain Loans and Startup Capital

When starting a bakery, there are many costs that you'll need to consider, such as leasing a commercial space, getting insurance, outfitting your space with equipment, hiring and training staff, stocking your kitchen, and paying for utilities. As a result, you'll need to have a significant amount of money available to cover these costs. Additionally, it may take a few months after opening for your bakery to become profitable, so you'll need cash on hand to cover costs for several months after opening.

If you’re wondering how to open a bakery with no money, you'll need to take out loans . There are three common ways business owners get funding: commercial loans, business lines of credit, and small business loans.

Cost to Open a Bakery

Bakery startup costs range between $10,000 and $50,000. The vast startup cost price range reflects the diverse array of bakeries. How much money you need to start a bakery depends on its location, equipment, staffing requirements, and menu items.

4. Lease a Commercial Bakery Space

An Empty Commercial Kitchen

Once you've secured funding, you can start looking for a commercial space for your bakery. The type of commercial space you need depends on the type of bakery you're opening. For example, if you're opening a food truck bakery, you'll need to purchase the truck and you may want to look into renting space in a commissary kitchen.

Retail bakeries will want to look for a space in a central location close to their target demographic that also has a front-of-house area. Because wholesale bakeries sell their products to businesses rather than customers, they can be located farther from the city center or populated areas.

Best Place to Open a Bakery

The best place to open a bakery is at an accessible location near your suppliers and your target demographic. Regardless of the type of bakery you're opening, there are universal considerations for where you start your bakery business. Consider the following in your bakery location analysis:

Once you've found a suitable location for your business, you can hire a lawyer to draw up and negotiate a lease with the landlord . To protect yourself from any potential issues when negotiating a lease, be sure to specify the length of the lease, any raises in rent that might be included, who will pay for potential renovations, and any utilities that are covered.

5. Obtain Bakery Licenses and Permits

The foodservice industry is heavily regulated on a federal, state, and local level, and there are some bakery licenses and permits you need to start your baking business. The types of permits you'll need will vary depending on your location, so be sure to check your local laws and regulations to see if there are any specific laws that apply to your new business.

6. Order Bakery Equipment

Baker using a large commercial mixer

The equipment that your bakery will need depends on what type of baked goods you will be preparing. For example, you may need specific pastry supplies to create French pastries . While the specific equipment may change depending on the size and type of your bakery, there are several purposes you need to fill:

Bakery Smallwares

In addition to your large equipment, you must stock your bakery with smallwares, such as mixing bowls, storage boxes, whisks, bread knives, and aprons. We compiled a list of essential bakery equipment to ensure you don't forget anything.

You can download the opening a bakery checklist PDF below:

7. Layout Your Bakery

After securing a location and deciding what equipment is needed to start your new bakery, you can plan your bakery kitchen organization. If your bakery has a front-of-house area, you will need to design a floor plan. Learn how to lay out your bakery kitchen and storefront below.

Commercial Bakery Kitchen Layout

Every bakery kitchen requires four sections: cleaning, storage, food preparation, and meal cooking. Bakery cafes and bakeries with a front-of-house area will also have a service station, where they deliver food to customers. The ideal bakery kitchen layout is determined by the space and the placement of water and gas lines. Organize your bakery kitchen so the four sections flow together and measure your space to make sure you have enough room for your bakery equipment before finalizing your kitchen plan.

You will want to lay out your kitchen based on the logical flow of food through the baking process. This starts with the storage area and then goes to the food preparation and meal cooking sections. Once you’ve prepared your baked goods, you can serve them to your customers, package them for display, or ship them to online customers. Finally, your dirty dishes, pots, and pans will end up at the cleaning station.

Commercial Bakery Storefront Layout

Some bakeries will have a front-of-house area where customers can browse their selection of baked goods. Optimizing your bakery floor plan for ideal product placement and customer comfort prompts purchases.

Bakery Layout

There are four main bakery layouts, each with its own unique benefits.

8. Hire and Train Bakery Staff

A Bakery Storefront with Chalkboard Menu and Assorted Baked Goods

The size of your staff will depend on the scale and style of your bakery. A locally owned and operated bakery with just one location is likely to have a short chain of command. Retail bakeries must hire and train front-of-house staff to take orders and work the cash register. However, most of your bakery staff will work in the back-of-house, preparing your baked goods.

Your bakery should have at least one or two employees that have formal training or bakery experience to oversee the actual baking process. You may also want to hire unskilled workers for washing dishes, mixing ingredients, packaging products, and doing other tasks that don't require previous experience or expertise.

Some bakeries will also need professional pastry chefs and personnel to complete delicate and specialized tasks. For example, bakeries that bake wedding cakes should look for experienced cake decorators. Bakeries that offer artisan breads should consider hiring someone who specializes in bread baking.

9. Market and Advertise Your Bakery

Before you open your bakery to the public, you must conduct some marketing and advertising campaigns to get the word out and create buzz. You can break your bakery marketing strategy into five general steps:

Many of these tactics apply to retail bakeries, but marketing tactics differ for wholesale bakeries. Wholesale bakeries should focus on competitor analysis and research where local restaurants and grocery stores source their baked goods. Then, they can reach out and try to make a deal.

10. Host a Grand Opening

The final step in opening a bakery is to host your grand opening and welcome customers to your business. A successful grand opening can get your new bakery off to a good start and help generate loyal customers. You should advertise your grand opening to create interest and alert your target audience that your bakery is open for business.

One great way to get customers in your bakery for your grand opening is to offer discounts and specials. For example, you can offer discounts for the first 100 people to visit. Another option is to give customers who order a dozen cupcakes one cupcake for free. You can also offer free samples to encourage customers to make purchases and expose them to more of your products.

Do You Need a Culinary Degree to Open a Bakery?

You don’t have to have a culinary degree or a bachelor’s degree in business to own a bakery. However, having hands-on experience or academic knowledge of both the baking and business management aspects of owning a bakery will help you succeed. Having a formal education may help you attract investors and banks to garner the startup capital you need to open your bakery. Consider getting a certification from the Retail Bakers of America (RBA). The RBA certification verifies your knowledge, skills, and abilities without the hefty time and financial commitment of culinary school.

Starting a bakery presents unique opportunities and challenges from starting a traditional restaurant. Creating a detailed business plan, following it precisely, and keeping your documents organized will help get your business off to a good start. Reference back to our guide to ensure your bakery launch goes smoothly.

Related Resources

cake bakery business plan

Cookie Sheet Size Chart

Baking sheets are versatile cookware tools for everything from broiling meats and roasting vegetables to baking bread and confections. Baking sheet materials differ to accommodate a broad range of oven cooking projects. Whether you operate a bakery, steakhouse, or gastropub, owning baking sheets of various sizes and rim depths is essential to your operation. In this piece, we explain what the various baking sheet sizes are and provide a helpful sheet pan size chart. Shop All Commercial Baking Sheets Jump to our printable sheet pan size chart below . Baking Sheet Sizes There are five industry-standard baking sheet sizes. Full-Size = 18” x 26” 2/3 Size = 16” x 22” 1/2 Size = 13” x 18” 1/4 Size = 9 1/2” x 13” 1/8 Size = 6 1/2" x 9 1/2” A bakin

cake bakery business plan

Deli Cases and Bakery Display Cases Buying Guide

A refrigerated bakery case or deli case can be a great way to increase sales in just about any food service operation, including coffee shops, convenience stores, grocery stores, and restaurants. Deli cases and bakery cases often look very similar from the outside, so how do you know which one is right for you? This guide will go over their types and features so you can choose the best unit for your business.

cake bakery business plan

Types of Donuts

Before you can start a donut shop , you must choose the types of donuts you want to offer. By definition, donuts are small, fried, sweetened dough cakes, typically shaped into a ring or ball. You can classify the many cultural and regional donut varieties within one of 10 distinct types. We’ve created a guide to help you understand each donut category and expose you to the varieties they contain. From international delicacies to standard donut shop fare, feast your eyes on a wide selection of donuts. We've also provided a printable donut infographic below for easy reference. Shop All Donut Shop Equipment Donut or Doughnut? Doughnut is the original spelling used to describe America’s favorite baked good , whereas donut is an abbreviation. Mo

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Bakery Business Plans

Did you know each of these plans was created in LivePlan? Learn More

Delicatessen and Bakery Business Plan

The Bronx Deli and Bakery will bring a slice of New York to Willow Creek, offering sandwiches, baked goods, and top-notch coffee.

Dessert Bakery Business Plan

Rutabaga Sweets is a hospitality company dedicated to providing high-quality desserts in a comfortable atmosphere for clients who seek a fun "gourmet" experience outside restaurants.

Specialty Baker Business Plan

Morningstar Bakery is specializing in wheat-free and gluten-free breads, pastries, and baked goods.

Bakery Business Plan

Jolly's Java and Bakery is a start-up coffee shop and bakery located in southwest Washington.

Do you have a knack for baking? Special bread or dessert recipes that your friends and family are always chatting excitedly about? Ever wanted to open your own bakery but just don’t know where to start? Check out these sample bakery business plans and get inspired to start building your own bakery today.

If you’re looking to develop a more modern business plan, we recommend you try LivePlan . It contains the same templates and information you see here, but with additional guidance to help you develop the perfect plan.

cake bakery business plan

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cake bakery business plan

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1. Choose What Kind of Bakery You Want to Run

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COMMENTS

  1. Bakery Business Plan Template & Sample (2023)

    Bakery Business Plan Home 1. Executive Summary 2. Company Overview 3. Industry Analysis 4. Customer Analysis 5. Competitive Analysis 6. Marketing Plan 7. Operations Plan 8. Management Team 9. Financial Plan Start Your Bakery Plan Here Bakery Business Plan You’ve come to the right place to create your bakery’s business plan.

  2. How to Start a Bakery (with Business Plan)

    Plan your bakery. With Michelle and Barbara’s help, let’s get the planning process started. 1. Select the kind of bakery you’d like to open. One of the first decisions you’ll have to make is the kind of shop you want to open. To do this, you’ll want to assess your talents, budget, and goals.

  3. Cake Shop Business Plan

    3+ Cake Shop Business Plan Examples 1. Cake Shop Business Plan Template Details File Format MS Word Google Docs Pages PDF Size: Download 2. Standard Cake Shop Business Plan business.umt.edu Details File Format PDF Size: 2 MB Download 3. Cake and Bakes Shop Business Plan nawbosa.org Details File Format PDF Size: 211 KB Download 4.

  4. Bakery Business Plans

    Check out these sample bakery business plans and get inspired to start building your own bakery today. If you’re looking to develop a more modern business plan, we recommend you try LivePlan. It contains the same templates and information you see here, but with additional guidance to help you develop the perfect plan.

  5. Bakery Business Plan

    A bakery business plan is a written outline of a bakery business’s overview, baked products, marketing strategies, and other vital info. Owners of bakery businesses use it as a guide on how to run their operations successfully.