How to Become a Pastry Shop Owner

Pastries

If you love to bake and create works of art out of sweet treats, you should consider opening your own pastry shop. Starting any small business can be rewarding and challenging at the same time. The key is to have the motivation and desire to work hard and to have a well-executed business plan. Your business plan will serve as your essential guide during your business start-up process and after you open your pastry shop doors.

Things You'll Need

• Required permits
• Cooking and baking supplies
• Marketing materials

Instructions

1. Your first step is to determine what type of physical format and business model your pastry shop will resemble. You must decide if you want to work in a storefront, takeout stand, café, sit-down restaurant or from home. Also, you must determine your location and how your customers will access your business.

2. Depending on your business model, you will need to research what local permits are required. You will need to apply and receive building, business and food permits and know their renewal policies.

3. You must consider what type of business structure you want for your pastry shop depending on your specific needs and desires. The main four types of business ownership structures to choose from are sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation and limited liability company.

4. 

   Open a pastry shop.

   You must decide what are going to be the key assets of your business and how you are going to protect them. This will include your pastry menu, "signature" items, recipes, name, logo, trademarks, patents, website address and confidentiality agreements.

5. As with your business plan, funding is very critical and must be researched and addressed early and accurately. You need to be selective and smart with your source(s) of funding so that you will have the support needed for the long-term success of your business. The following are key sources from which to receiving funding: friends, family, grants, angel investors, bootstrapping, debt financing and venture capitalists.

6. You must have your logistics in order so that your accounting books, contracts and money are all managed properly. It is important to have professionals you can trust, such as accountants, bankers, lawyers and insurance agents. You must also create good working relationships with companies and people who will provide you with ingredients, equipment, merchandise and various other services.

7. Another important factor to running a successful small business is to have people who want to be a part of your team. They should be people who, along with their help, want to see your pastry shop succeed. It is vital that you realize the importance of mentoring, retaining and keeping your star employees motivated.

8. 

   Pastry

   The final step to determine your start-up success is to begin marketing your pastry shop. You must do quality market research and find out who your customers will be and what their purchasing habits and behaviors are like. Various types of marketing include public relations, grassroots marketing, online marketing, affiliate marketing and traditional advertising.

References

• Start-up Nation: 10 steps to open for business

Resources

• Small Business Administration