Business Article - Bakeries - A Buying Guide
Something that has always lured people in and been the bane of many diets is the delicious smells of breads, cookies, and cakes coming from a bakery. When people catch the smell of delicious butter cookies wafting on the air from an open bakery door, it’s hard to resist the temptation to go into the bakery and buy some. And then there is the sight of those beautiful cakes in the window. Wedding cakes, birthday cakes, graduation cakes, cakes for all occasions, or no occasion at all.
When a person is walking down the street and sees a bakery or smells the delicious smells that are coming from it, it’s not hard to figure out why the bakery business is one that many people pursue. It’s a business that many people go to, because they are always going to need cakes for their weddings and graduations, people are always going to want to eat cookies and brownies, and it’s well known that a bakery is someplace that will always draw people in and keep them asking for more.
When an entrepreneur is considering purchasing a bakery, there are things that should be taken into consideration, and these will help the process go more smoothly and hopefully answer questions that there might be and help in making a final decision.
1. As with any type of business, the first thing that will need to be done is to secure the money that is needed for the purchase of a bakery. Depending on what type of baked goods the shop will sell, and how large the shop will be it can be something that is quite expensive when the costs of equipment and supplies are factored in. It’s not a bad idea to retain the services of a lawyer and an accountant – if a large loan is required for the purchase, they will want to know that you have them. It’s also a good idea to draw up a business plan to take to the bank when taking out a loan.
2. Although the main shop is going to be a bakery, that doesn’t mean that the bakery owner can’t branch out and attract more customers by offering a variety of temptations. More and more often bakeries are offering espresso machines. If the bakery is located in the right spot, it might not be a bad idea to also offer sandwiches as well as the usual bakery fare.
Think about it – the fast food restaurants offer combo meals and if the bakery has sandwiches and espresso as well as the cookies and cakes, it might not be a bad idea to offer customers combo meals as well. A sandwich, an espresso, and a cookie, brownie, or another type of pastry for one price. This is a good marketing strategy, because it reaches out to customers who may only be purchasing sandwiches from the bakery, and lets them know what other treats there are available.
3. Something that a person that is considering owning a bakery should consider is that not all bakeries cater to the general public. There are plenty of bakeries that sell only to wholesalers Instead of selling the items in the retail market, the bakery owner can also sell the items that they bake to places like sandwich shops, hotels, restaurants and other shops.
Wholesale places love offering their customers items that are fresh baked, but they don’t always have the knowledge, the skills, or the available people to bake them on their premises, so they will turn to bakeries to provide them with what they and their customers want and need.
4. Sometimes people who buy bakeries consider doing both retail and wholesale, but it should be mentioned that this can require a lot of work and contracts so that your business is going to succeed. As is mentioned in the beginning of this article, bakeries appeal to a person’s sense of sight and smell most of all. More often than not, if someone is drawing near to a place like Nabisco in Philadelphia, you smell the delicious odor of the crackers and other things baking before you ever see the building. It wasn’t too long ago that some of the grocery stores were using special pumps to spread the smell of freshly baked bread around the stores so that the customers would buy some. Why? Because people love the smell of freshly baked goods and find them hard to resist.
5. It’s important to remember that the visual appeal of the bakery does not stop with the baked goods. When customers come into a bakery, they want to see that it’s spotless, that the people who work there are well groomed, and that the bakery is well taken care of. This is important with any type of shop that sells food, but when someone is coming in to choose a cake for their wedding, they want to know that the cake that they purchase won’t have any extra ingredients in it that shouldn’t be there due to the bakery’s lack of cleanliness.
6. Be certain that the shop that will be housing the bakery has ample space for displaying your cakes and pies, especially wedding cakes. Wedding cakes are some of the most expensive cakes that a bakery will sell, and it’s important that any potential customers who enter the shop looking for a wedding cake can see the cakes that are available in fine detail.
Another big thing that bakeries are known for is impulse buying. When a customer smells those delicious odors coming from the shop, more often than not they are going to stop and buy something. Even if the customers only buy some cookies, pastries or brownies, the customers are still going to be in the shop and still be able to see what the shop has to offer. So it’s important that there is ample display space so that the customer doesn’t feel crowded when looking at what the bakery has to offer.
Of course, if the shop is going to be strictly wholesale, the space that would be used for displays should be concentrated on the loading facilities and the access to the road. When there are deliveries that are to be made, or deliveries that need to be picked up, it’s important that the vehicles have enough room.
7. When a bakery is going to be mainly dealing with wholesalers, the owner should keep a few things in mind. It’s not a bad idea to offer potential clients tours of the facilities or free samples. Most potential wholesale customers want to be able to see the shop that their baked goods come from and what the goods taste like. For most people, food is something that is a passion and that the baked goods that are purchased are going to look good as well as taste good, and it’s going to be something that their customer are going to enjoy. Although it may seem like a lot to give out free samples, most bakery owners don’t have a problem with it because it ensures that the clients will be happy with the quality and won’t ask for a refund.
Now that we have gone over the steps of buying a bakery, there are just a few more things that we want to touch upon so that any future bakery owners are aware of what the may find themselves running into.
1. Owning a bakery is something that requires a lot of work. Bakery shop owners work long hours and they have to employ enough people so that their employees aren’t overworked. Remember the Dunkin Donuts commercial that said time to make the donuts? That is something that isn’t very far off from the truth. Some of the biggest rushes for a bakery happen before the sun is barely up, as people come into the bakery to buy Danish and pastries for breakfast.
2. It’s hard to tell when the rushes are going to happen in a bakery, and the rushes fluctuate from day to day. There can be hours on end that there aren’t any customers in the shop, and suddenly the shop will be full of people. It’s something that is very hard to judge and therefor can waste money because the owner of the bakery doesn’t know when more staff will be required, and when less staff will be required.
Again, bakeries are something that have been drawing people in for many years, and bakeries are going to continue to do so because people love to eat cookies, cakes and brownies, and people are going to continue to get married. So owning a bakery is something that can be a worthwhile goal.
It’s important for any possible bakery owners to remember the things that are discussed in this article and be aware of what may happen when taking on this venture. But it’s also important to remember that there is going to be that look of pleasure in a person’s face when they are biting into one of those cookies that came from the oven of the bakery. There’s nothing like it.