Building a website for your cake business is easy with Castiron. Create an online order form, accept payments, keep track of customer details, run your email marketing, and more with our food business management tools.
Try it for freeMany people are developing innovative ways to make a living, especially from home. If you want to operate your business from home, so you are available for your kids or save on the expenses of renting a store, then baking is a wonderful idea. Baking cakes from home to sell is one new area flooding with a lot of potential. It's the best choice for baking enthusiasts who cannot afford to start a physical bakery or have the resources to station a business.
Homemade cake business apps help talented bakers to find a ready market and share what they can make with everyone while earning a living. Apps for selling homemade cakes are the best way to ensure you get the right audience and take your cake business ideas to the next level.
But before you start reaping these apps' rewards, you need a great cake business plan. So first, you must take your time to learn how to start a cake business from home. Then, once you understand how to climb the ropes and your business plan is ready, you can consider signing up for an app to ss.
The best thing about these apps is that they have the best information on starting a cake business from home. In addition, they will offer all the guidance you need to sell cakes online. So, are you ready to get started with your cake selling app? Read on to understand more about how they work.
It would be best to start with a great online cake business plan to get your homemade cakes on the market. This will guide you on starting, running the business, and financing it.
A homemade cake business plan involves several things, including;
You need to know and understand your product line or focus area. For example, are you looking to focus on chick wedding cakes, kid's birthday cakes, or everything? Knowing your area of focus will help you develop a strong cake business description and give you direction.
There are dozens of online bakeries in your region; find their pricing, branding, and cake flavors, and try doing something unique for your brand. But, again, seeing and understanding what is already in the market will help you develop a niche that stands out from the rest.
Having a budget is also vital. Are you comfortable with the amount you are willing to spend? Are your numbers realistic? These are some of the questions that can help guide your budgeting plan.
Your cake business plan executive summary should contain all the necessary things you must do before you get down to the actual business. This will help you focus more on production and satisfying your customers. Take your time to check a small bakery business plan sample online to get an idea of how this works.
The best way to get your market presence is by using an app to sell your cakes. You will be thriving in no time with your passion and love for baking. Castiron can help you get started.
Castiron is a software platform purpose-built to help independent food artisans build and grow their businesses. As a home-based cake baker, Castiron could be the best place to start. It has a specific build design to help home-based food artisans or cottage cooks.
Castiron has some benefits which will be great for your business. With Castiron, you sit back and let the app work for you. Here are the benefits:
Castiron has the tools to help you understand how to sell cakes from home and build and grow a streamlined business. You do not need DM orders or send emails to customers whenever their orders are ready or when products are available.
While considering your area's favorite desserts or cake flavors, you will know how much to sell homemade cakes for, which is essential in planning a menu. This allows you to curate a menu that pleases your customers and keeps them coming back for more.
Castiron also helps you manage your entire sales process through their store. For example, you can easily track payments and will never over-sell products. You also get real-time inventory tracking and secure payment processing. Every business owner's dream is to make life easier for their customers and themselves. Castiron gives you a platform to achieve that.
If you are looking for how to sell wedding cakes, you do not need any codes. Instead, you add your logo and products and share your story by linking your shop to your online profile. This will help generate more customers as it gives you exposure. Castiron gives you a single place which you can set up by yourself super fast.
If you take custom order requests, you can build your order form directly in Castiron to collect all of the information you need to provide your customers with an order quote. From there, accept payment and message your customers directly in the Castiron platform!
After the setup, you will have a single place to manage all your sales and orders and even communicate with your customers, creating a strong customer relationship.
The best part is that Castiron is 100% free for artisans to use. They understand the importance of a professional digital presence. This is why it is the best option to go for, for your homemade cake business. The only charge they take is a small transaction fee paid during checkout.
Shopify, Yummit, Etsy, Squarespace, and Facebook marketplace are other platforms where you can establish your homemade cake business. However, none of those tools are built for bakers. Castiron is!
Most of the home-based operations in the US require a certain permit for operation. Each state has different laws regarding operating a home-based food business, and these laws are governed by these state and federal regulations. Bakery licenses and permits cost varying amounts across the country. Some of the requirements for running a home-based food business may include the following:
While running the business, cakes, dry cakes, cookie mixes, cookies, and bread are allowed. In some states, these business owners can only sell to individuals and not businesses like restaurants. Other states limit the sales to farmers' markets or bake sales. While most states need licensing, a home bakery license Texas is not mandatory.
According to a home bakery license Colorado, baked foods are not allowed under cottage food law. However, you are good to go if you rent a space in the local licensed commercial kitchen and settle costs for your bakery licenses and permits. Home baking license Illinois applies to all baked goods under the cottage food law. So you can get a license and enjoy selling cakes from home.
If you are wondering, can I sell cakes from home without a license in Iowa? The answer is no. Iowa allows home bakers to bake and sell cakes, cookies, biscuits, rolls, or bread but only with a valid license under cottage food law.
When venturing into an online business, you need a more established e-commerce platform to help widen your potential customer base. Without this, your online bakery website may not generate enough sales and traffic necessary to give you profits for your work.
Selling cakes on Facebook can work, but you must meet certain logistics, packaging, and licensing requirements. Regarding selling food on social media, Facebook is the most effective social media platform to use.
The number one reason is that Facebook is very popular. Therefore, the Facebook marketplace category for food is the best place to explore. The Facebook marketplace is fast becoming the new channel for businesses.
Selling food on the Facebook marketplace gives the customers a reach for what they need in their local area. For instance, if you sell a specific cake category, say wedding cakes, they can search and see your goods available in their area.
There are no channels to follow for how to report someone selling food on Facebook. Facebook does not monitor the Facebook marketplace. Therefore, you must develop a selling etiquette while interacting with your customers. The best thing about selling it on Facebook is that you can easily link it to your Instagram profile.
When Facebook or Instagram becomes unavailable, you should have a backup strategy to keep running. This means that as much as Facebook and Instagram offer the best marketing and selling platforms, they are still not 100% reliable. In addition, there are occasions when you might encounter malpractice, like if your account gets hacked.
Putting your entire business on Facebook can make you crumble when such an incident occurs. Ensure you always have a backup plan or selling strategy.
The online community is full of uncertainties. While it offers hundreds of ways to make money and get customers, it also has downsides that can easily sink your business. Therefore, it is always best to only use social media platforms for marketing and not a platform where you run your entire business.
Once you understand how to sell baked goods from home, you can use any platform or means to get your products to the customers. Always ensure you have a reliable delivery service to ensure your cakes reach the customers in perfect condition and on time.
While making your homemade cakes to sell online, you can include a cupcake menu. This way, when people search for "the best cupcakes near me," they find your brand at the top of the list.
Some states have a specific income amount that limits how much home-based bakers can make. Going beyond this amount can get you in trouble with your state authorities. Once you understand this, undertaking your business plan and even working on your marketing becomes easy.
While selling cupcakes and cakes online, you can add to your list a fudge business. Selling fudge online can also do great as cupcakes. You can also make coffee shop baked goods and work on making your goods stand out as the best-selling cakes in coffee shops. You must also learn how to keep cupcakes fresh and sell them in cupcake boxes.
When discussing cost, you must cover your marketing, packaging, ingredients, licensing, permits, and delivery. Once you understand this, you can know how much to price your cakes or cupcakes. This is essential if you are learning how to sell cupcakes at a farmers market or from home.
The Cake Whisperer
My business would not be the same without my Castiron website! It is an easy setup with lots of customization and tons of support! I am so glad I set up my shop last year before the holidays — it really helped increase my sales!
The Whimsical Cookie
Castiron provides me a professional site to my customers increasing my credibility and value while giving me the tools to effectively market and manage my business in an easy, user-friendly manner.
Wesley's Treats Hallie's Sweets
Castiron has made my cottage bakery shine, and my business easy to manage. As a platform they care about my business as much as I do.
Explore our tools for free during a 14-day free trial. Start building your website, create your custom order forms, even start taking orders and payments... then decide if it’s for you.
Easy to start, created specifically for local, handmade food: Castiron’s website builder was created to help you grow. Create a website in minutes with our templates, sell where and how your customers want to buy, and look professional without being technical. Keep customers coming back with email marketing tools, customer records, and more.
Food entrepreneurs, this is your moment. Your community is more and more conscious about what they buy and where it is from. They want food made with love. With ingredients they can pronounce. And they want to support their community while doing it.
Castiron is the best fit for your food business because we're not a one-size-fits-all tool. Selling local food is different from pre-packaged warehouse products. Whether you sell cooking classes, need local pick up, utilize pre-sales to plan inventory, or need a fully custom order form — we got you.
No code required. Add pages, sell your products, build order forms, and show off your beautiful work. We'll handle the tech so you can focus on growing your food business.
Never track down a payment or oversell products again. Real-time inventory tracking and secure payment processing make life easier for you and your customers, and our order form builder makes managing custom requests a breeze.
With our marketing tools, your email marketing can go on autopilot. We make it easy to promote your latest products, announce custom order availability, and stay connected with customers.