CAKE making business is no trifling business as celebration-freak individuals across the globe will testify.There’s nothing more exciting than a good cake as part of life! In fact, everyone craves to celebrate and be celebrated always, while the little children, and even adults, make a room for good cakes in their fridges and tables.
According to Euromonitor, the British cake market was worth close to £1.8bn in 2007, a figure which was forecast to grow by almost five per cent by 2012.
Those who realise these facts, and have penchant for the business, would not hesitate to explore the goodies in the business, making millions year in, year out.
An expert cake maker, even the novice, could make good money when people are marking birth, anniversary or wedding, or a company just wants to give its staff a nice reward for meeting a particularly tricky target, among others, as a good cake will always be present in the celebration of the most important achievements in their lives.
Who is an ideal cake maker?
Making cakes isn’t all butter icing and hundreds and thousands: as veteran in the industry will tell you. Keeping your head above water in the industry will require organisation, a good head for figures and a certain amount of artistic flair.
Lynn Oxley, who has been running Oxley’s of Morpeth and its accompanying website, Cake Perfect, since 2003, says a good business brain helps. “Most of the traits you need to set up a cake-making business are the ones you need to be a sole trader in any industry,” she says.
Like any business, hard work and good organisational skills will help it to flourish. “We work very, very long hours and it’s very tiring, because you’ve got to hit delivery times spot on,” Oxley explains in one of his books.
Catherine Knight, owner of Cate Bakes Cake, added that a cheerful disposition is a requirement. “You often deliver to birthday parties so you can’t be moody. Cake making business is not a job for the healthily-inclined. “You need to like eating. You have to taste what you’re making, so you can’t be afraid of eating sugar.”
Training
Cake making is a popular business, so to compete, you’ll need to make your cakes look as professional as possible. Training in all aspects of the industry, from sugar-craft to marzipan techniques, is essential if you want to be able to compete in an increasingly packed marketplace.
You can get classes for one to two months, with fees ranging from N20,000 to 100,000. The training fee is determined by the aspects of cake making and how deep you want to learn about it and who is teaching you. You can as well learn from friends and relatives. The learning process in cake making is on-going. After acquiring the basic training, you can continue to learn online.
Start-up cost
Your start-up costs will depend very much on how big an operation you wish to run. As with all businesses, the fewer overheads you have, the lower your expenditure.
The first cost you will be faced with if you decide to run your business from anywhere other than home is the cost of premises. The price of premises can vary. Other most essential equipment are mixer, the smallest size costs N6,000 to 6,800; turntable costs N4,000; small oven goes for 18,000; palette knife costs N400; pippry bay costs N150; nozzles costs N1,500; icing comb costs N250; wooden rolling pin costs N2,000, while candle rolling pin costs about N6,000. Your next decision will be whether to employ staff to help out or not.
Reputation and marketing: Marketing yourself and building a sellable reputation for yourself is easier in cake making business. The most important thing that will sell you is your expertise. Once very good at it, then create your initial portfolio, offer to make cake for friends and family members almost at the cost of the ingredient you will need for the baking, which include flour, sugar and the rest.
You may also go a step further by offering business cards to each client, distribute fliers, open a promotional blog or website, set up social networking accounts, broadcast the cakes you have made on social network sites and even your blackberry.
Cost and potential earning: Your charge is determined by your expertise, the value you place on your services, your location, the financial status of your clientele and your strategy. The good news is that you can charge two to three folds of the total cost of production, which must include the overhead cost.
Cakes are often intricate, and take hours to make. It’s so labour-intensive. You might have to spend four or five days on some beautiful wedding cake, and that’s inevitably going to be incredibly expensive, but you have to be realistic and if that’s what it costs, that’s what it costs.
Note that your expertise will endear you to so many well-to-do individuals and organisations, which will track so hundreds of thousands into your account on a monthly and millions on a yearly basis, as you can make an average of three cakes per week.
Always ensure that you collect a deposit to commit your customer, as many customers may ask you to make cake for them and may not come back, after you’ve spent your money and dissipate your energy on it. Fix a percentage as your deposit, which must take care of your expenses, while the balance will be your profit.
According to Euromonitor, the British cake market was worth close to £1.8bn in 2007, a figure which was forecast to grow by almost five per cent by 2012.
Those who realise these facts, and have penchant for the business, would not hesitate to explore the goodies in the business, making millions year in, year out.
An expert cake maker, even the novice, could make good money when people are marking birth, anniversary or wedding, or a company just wants to give its staff a nice reward for meeting a particularly tricky target, among others, as a good cake will always be present in the celebration of the most important achievements in their lives.
Who is an ideal cake maker?
Making cakes isn’t all butter icing and hundreds and thousands: as veteran in the industry will tell you. Keeping your head above water in the industry will require organisation, a good head for figures and a certain amount of artistic flair.
Lynn Oxley, who has been running Oxley’s of Morpeth and its accompanying website, Cake Perfect, since 2003, says a good business brain helps. “Most of the traits you need to set up a cake-making business are the ones you need to be a sole trader in any industry,” she says.
Like any business, hard work and good organisational skills will help it to flourish. “We work very, very long hours and it’s very tiring, because you’ve got to hit delivery times spot on,” Oxley explains in one of his books.
Catherine Knight, owner of Cate Bakes Cake, added that a cheerful disposition is a requirement. “You often deliver to birthday parties so you can’t be moody. Cake making business is not a job for the healthily-inclined. “You need to like eating. You have to taste what you’re making, so you can’t be afraid of eating sugar.”
Training
Cake making is a popular business, so to compete, you’ll need to make your cakes look as professional as possible. Training in all aspects of the industry, from sugar-craft to marzipan techniques, is essential if you want to be able to compete in an increasingly packed marketplace.
You can get classes for one to two months, with fees ranging from N20,000 to 100,000. The training fee is determined by the aspects of cake making and how deep you want to learn about it and who is teaching you. You can as well learn from friends and relatives. The learning process in cake making is on-going. After acquiring the basic training, you can continue to learn online.
Start-up cost
Your start-up costs will depend very much on how big an operation you wish to run. As with all businesses, the fewer overheads you have, the lower your expenditure.
The first cost you will be faced with if you decide to run your business from anywhere other than home is the cost of premises. The price of premises can vary. Other most essential equipment are mixer, the smallest size costs N6,000 to 6,800; turntable costs N4,000; small oven goes for 18,000; palette knife costs N400; pippry bay costs N150; nozzles costs N1,500; icing comb costs N250; wooden rolling pin costs N2,000, while candle rolling pin costs about N6,000. Your next decision will be whether to employ staff to help out or not.
Reputation and marketing: Marketing yourself and building a sellable reputation for yourself is easier in cake making business. The most important thing that will sell you is your expertise. Once very good at it, then create your initial portfolio, offer to make cake for friends and family members almost at the cost of the ingredient you will need for the baking, which include flour, sugar and the rest.
You may also go a step further by offering business cards to each client, distribute fliers, open a promotional blog or website, set up social networking accounts, broadcast the cakes you have made on social network sites and even your blackberry.
Cost and potential earning: Your charge is determined by your expertise, the value you place on your services, your location, the financial status of your clientele and your strategy. The good news is that you can charge two to three folds of the total cost of production, which must include the overhead cost.
Cakes are often intricate, and take hours to make. It’s so labour-intensive. You might have to spend four or five days on some beautiful wedding cake, and that’s inevitably going to be incredibly expensive, but you have to be realistic and if that’s what it costs, that’s what it costs.
Note that your expertise will endear you to so many well-to-do individuals and organisations, which will track so hundreds of thousands into your account on a monthly and millions on a yearly basis, as you can make an average of three cakes per week.
Always ensure that you collect a deposit to commit your customer, as many customers may ask you to make cake for them and may not come back, after you’ve spent your money and dissipate your energy on it. Fix a percentage as your deposit, which must take care of your expenses, while the balance will be your profit.
Passion for cake earns me cool money, recognition - Layade Adeola, CEO, Exquisito Cakes
THE mother of layade Adeola, the Chief Executive Officer of Exquisito Cakes, located at 38, Awolowo Avenue, Bodija, Ibadan could not have known that she was initiating her daughter into cake business, which would earn her cool cash, when she was putting her through baking and cooking as a small child.
Adeola confessed that: “I developed a keen passion for cake making as a child while doing it with my mother at home. So after my secondary education, I went to properly learn it, because I had concluded to make a business out of it. I was so interested in the business that I would not have attended university, but for my parents.
The graduate of Psychology from University of Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, further her training in the cake business at Slaltery Manchester, BSG Skill School, with a lot of short courses with Tombi Peck, Atlanta among other celebrity cake makers abroad, started the business in Nigeria training students.
Adeola, a member of the Inter Nation Cake Exploration Society (ICES) revealed: “Since I got the basic training in making cake from my mother while I was seven years old, I have been making cake for people. But because of the standard at which I wanted to run the business, I kept on attending classes both in schools and trainings, to acquire more knowledge in the business.
“I started cake making business in Nigeria, training people the business, because my travelling abroad made me to lose all my clients in Nigeria. I got about two students for the two-week training.
“My first student paid N18,000 for the two-week training. I was able to buy the basic equipment with the money. So I started cake baking business with N18,000 about five years ago. Now I make cool cash, with individuals and corporate organisations, home and abroad, on my clients list.”
- Written by Olaoluwa Mimiola
Source: Tribune
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