my wife wan to start a cake and bakery business
and asking me to fork out $$$$

this bakery business really can do??
how much modal do i need to invest

anybody here running bakery business
need some info

i work as account clerk in a well known bakery company before
u need more than 1 baking machine,second hand machine cost a bomb also
cost of a bread is around 90% of your selling price
u need a long time to get turnover
but after few more years,get back your machine costing and all equipment cost,your profit equal to 90% of the selling price
mean u need to be suffer for few years for no profit...after that u will be fine
good luck

This post has been edited by ultramanbabe: Mar 27 2008, 02:20 AM

Good to have people like u who respond to this post,may the TS have a clearer idea of wat to expect.

like those buns
are there companys that sells and provides service to normal cake shops
like we buy n sell

but cake do ourself like hire ppl to do
for a start need around 100k??
i did some research too like u said the equipment cost alot
if 100k kenot kenot

This post has been edited by hickups: Mar 27 2008, 02:56 AM

lol your wife serious wan or not?

as the guy said, profit wont come in for the first few years *maybe / early part. she really into it?

i think she would have to do all the dirty work herself first.

not so easy as baking buns kua.

lol serious i think
she will be going for baking classes

blur blur me

well as in any business, u have to hang in there until can make profit.


so i guess good luck to u if u do venture into it.


all the best buddy.







p/s - when u finally start, let us know where your shop is. maybe we can come support

bakery is for the pro's. i suggest ur wife go get some experience in a bakery shop first.

DO U KNOW unsold fresh bread for few days will go towards the dustbin.
i often seen those bakeries dump lots of those unsold breads. its a big waste of money....

TS, for me I think it might take up to 3 years to recover my RM150k for my laundry business, I just started a month ago

it's a tough business to do nowdays.
if she is just for fun...i suggest her to bake as a hobby.
she needs to understand more on business risk.
somemore money is you keluar

Actually ur wife can consider doing the business online. Take online orders & deliver them. Target clients like spa/companies/events that order for functions etc. This way, u only bake when u have orders, so everything is fresh from the oven. Can promote to friends & families & ask them to refer more clients. This is lower risk & lower cost.

for me as a beginner in business, the hardest part is MARKETING !!!!!

Agreed ! Building up the customer base foundation .. needs time and effort ..

Yes indeed, I walked for 10 km from house to house and from shop to shop, throughout downtown danau kota !!!! distributing my flyers

This post has been edited by am_eniey: Mar 27 2008, 10:28 AM

Basic & simple way of marketing ... Keep it up, Bro ..
Same goes to my station also .. I will keep in touch with those owners of food stalls, shops and residents as well .. to secure my customer base ..

Yes, building ur network of customers take the right effort & time.

Basically, there are 2 ways of marketing

1. Direct marketing
2. Word-of-Mouth marketing

Direct marketing include putting up advertisements, flyers, commercials, signboards, yellow pages

Word-of-Mouth is when ur satisfied clients talk about u. They tell their family & friends to try ur service. This is the best marketing u can get because money can't buy referrals.

Many new biz owners fail to make use of Word-of-Mouth marketing, they only concentrate on direct marketing which mostly will go to waste because the target market is wrong.

I'm a member of an international referral organization, where members meet every week to educate each other on our biz & our target market. It's a very structured meeting with it's own training & system. If u'd like to attend as an observer, pls pm me as no advertisements allowed here right.

i've remember reading an article that in NYC Manhattan, due to lotsa skyscrapers, hence the high density of population. they have a drop off point over each building for suits and other clothing. register an account with it and everyday, they drive to every building to unload the clothes in the morning.

and when the people finished their work by 5, viola! it's returned in sparkling clean and ironed condition back to the drop off point.

i'm not sure how possible it is in msia for this market, but definitely can be tweaked a little.

thank you very much guys..i have a clear picture now
i will need to some research 1st

1 more thing is that this bakery business need start modal around 100k??

Bakery owner reporting in.

RM100k may or may not be sufficient. But at this moment, your wife attendance to class, how is it going? has she learn how to bake already? Making cakes? Decorating cakes? I would stress it's best you taste it first and have friends taste it. It's really tough to satisfy everybody's tastebuds but you could have a majority. Secondly, baking in bulk and mass production is cost saving but altogether different from what you learn in simple baking classes. You need go have classes from recognized baking institute.

If there is no talent in cooking/ baking, it won't work out. Mayb the dough wont rise, the cake would be disasterous, etc. We had lots of trial and error and I couldn't recount how many flours and sugar I've wasted. And imagine flours and sugar price is so unstable.

A decent over cost around 30k while a dough mixer would be around 10k, remaining for renovation?

well not a few days,
for king's cake shop bun will throw away every night, deli also do that. i personally work before with them.
no matter what u make remind yourself what u have learn u cannot sell them well outside because is too common.
machine itself cost a bomb roughyl 100k which i came across a person who is telling me.
for me i yet to go for class for baking but i learn it and try and error that will cost you some money as well.

for now should forget about shops first(rent) that will cost u a lot. when u want to rent usually the owner will ask for advance payment maybe 2 to 3 month rental first. depand on location as well.

i would suggest what target segment you want to choose from. who are ur client

i can help your wife link up to one of the well known bakery businesses in Malaysia, she can take a course there, work there to gain experience or to sign up with one of their franchise-like business. If interested just PM me.

basically if she really has the passion, its worth while to do the biz. the only main committment is that she must stick to it for more than 3 years.

does this idea suddenly come out or she has been talking about it long time already ?

onwer of this post,as u mentioned about your wife go for a class/course then goin to open a bakery shop,waw,high risky ya
all the bakers surrounded me who work for few years,full of experience or maybe back from overseas,not because for a class/course
normally all the junior just complete the course,after that,will only can be assistant in this field
dont think baker is easy ya
look at all the bee's,berry cake house,king's, bread story's boss,they re learning baking since young..

bakery r...
very challenging field

Maybe franchising will do best.. many choices, Secret Recipe? haha

this reply, make sense and is the thing which all learners should take into consideration, especially RENTAL, unless u inheritated a shop.

---

Added on March 28, 2008, 10:43 am franchise ? how much will secret recipe franchise purchase cost u ? how mucg loyalty fees and other fees cost u annually ? think about it before suggest.

This post has been edited by tpl66: Mar 28 2008, 10:43 AM

Agreed !
Can start up the business locally at home .. small and simple before proceeding on to a higher level. You can start by giving free samples to ur friends, relatives or even look forward for a medium to spread the news and words ... to improve the publicity of your piece of work.

Yes, I agree with starting small & test the market first. You must have a ready supply of customers waiting to support you BEFORE you even think of starting a business. There must be a need for your products/services. That means, you need to do sufficient homework & marker research. If you come up with something that is unique, but doesn't suit the local tastebuds, it's also a waste of time & effort.

True !
Getting a number of supporters on behalf is a good stepping stone for you to start off your business basically .. normal range of buns & bread are a must already .. but in the meantime, spend some time and effort to make it slightly more unique and better from time to time .. to improve the sales & boosting up the market demand and interest ..

Your cake is nice. Good also being your guinea pig.

hey hey, i wanna have free tasting too!!!

hmmm this bakery business abit hard also
if can find a good chef better =)

since your wife and you have no experience in this field and you/she is not going to give up, if you have enuf money, y dun u guys franchise shop like breadtalk or breadstory,she can make her own pastry prodoct inside one,somemore u no need to headpain on promotion or wat....

nice way..
but make sure the bread really nice..^^

Don't need 100K, make and sell to restaurants, bakeries etc. If they really taste good, you won't have problems selling them

yes, i can;'t agree more

yes home make and see where can sell
will do that 1st for time being
looks more safer

This post has been edited by hickups: Mar 31 2008, 01:52 PM

My friend has been operating his cookies business for years at home. He converted his kitchen into a bakery. He has quite a number of clients. He supplies to supermarkets.

Another lady in my neighborhood specializes in cakes. She also operates from home. You'll save on the rental. You can always buy second hand bakery tools instead of new ones. That will help you to save some money.

yea juz like Secret recipe when 1st started...
they juz make the cake..
even they win prize they also duno..
then they start growing rapidly

Finding chef is hard and finding a good chef is even harder when they are dishonest, etc. Best if you have the experience and wont get cheated. Also in case the chef doesn't want to work for you anymore, what happens? close shop?

yes, best sugggestion. Especially for kuih Raya