First, how were you lucky enough to find space? How much do you pay? What kind of limits do you have with your hours Feel free to share the good with the bad with all of us.

Never knew about this! INFO PLEASE!!!

I would like to know this too. How do you pay? Do you give them a percentage, or a flat fee per time, or monthly rent?

ooh yeah I would love to know this too!

very interesting topic...I'd love to know myself so here's a bump

Buuuuump

Lol...I can't believe no one has replied with info yet.

Here's the information I can give you...

I don't know if "lucky" is the word. It was a LOT of searching and the grace of God. I don't know how many people/ places I called (Churches, bakeries, donut shops, some schools, etc). I kept hearing no, no, no. I thought it was impossible and the only people that could really find a kitchen were the ones with connections.

Finally one day I was driving home and saw that a bakery was opening up down the street from my house. I actually told myself it was pointless to call since they would probably just say no. Two weeks goes by and I keep passing by this place and finally jot down their email address and email them as soon as I get home. The lady and I emailed back and forth about 3 times. She had questions about pricing, insurance and hours. Once we hammered that out she said OKAY!!!

Regarding the hours, she's open 9-5 M-F and a half day on Saturday. She said I could come any time while she's open. Which was going to be difficult since I work a full time day job. But I knew I would make it work. Now we've become good friends and she has given me a key to the shop and said I can come whenever!

Regarding the price, I was very honest when I emailed her back about the different options when it comes to pricing. Telling her that she could charge me a flat monthly rate, take a percentage or do it hourly and that hourly ranges from $10-$20. I also told her I would prefer to do it hourly and pay $10/hr. AND SHE AGREED!!!

Regarding the bad, well that's a whole other long story... oh wait, no it's not because THERE ISN'T ANY BAD!!! She has been an absolute doll in so many was. Is very willing to share her knowledge. We even give each other business. Such as, if I'm over booked or busy I will send the client to her. Or if she has someone requesting a sculpted cake she sends them to me.

Like I said, I know I found this place by the grace of God.

Keep diligent and don't get discouraged with the no's. Be honest with the person.

I've also heard that you can try to put an ad in Craigslist stating that you are looking for a commercail kitchen to rent and see if anyone bites.

Good Luck and I hope this helps!

Let me know if you have anymore questions!

thankyou for your story, im in the middle of searching for kitchen space to rent and im getting no,no,no..... from everyone! i'll keep looking. i had one person say shell look into it, but i don't think i'll hear back from her. and in my state i don't even need to rent space, i can legally bake from home so if all else fails i'll do that until the right opportunity comes by.

I asked around a lot, told everyone I knew I was looking and placed an ad in Craigs List - after a bunch of potentials that fell through, one finally worked out. I pay $500/month and have unlimited use of the space. I did have to buy my own commercial oven which was pricey. Its been great so far. The negative is the shop isn't in the best part of town and its not really a storefront.

What catagory would you place this type of ad in on Cragslist? Yet another glorious dis-advantage to the "Fabulous" state of Michigan is that they will not license home bakeries without a million restrictions. I live in an apartment now so I will not ever be able to meet their requirements, so to be legal renting kitchen space is my only option.

I would suggest looking into Deli's, luncheonettes. Companies that do not serve dinner. Located in industrial areas that way they are opend mainly during the week when the neighboring businesses are. Makes your hours most accomodating.

looks like alot of craig's list is spam w/my city..dunno about yalls...i just went on it for the first time..

Try community organizations, senior centers, etc. I rent space from a community theater group. They do a dinner theater once a year so had to have a full commercial kitchen. The rest of the year, the kitchen basically sits empty. They were very pleased to have me in there using it. I had to get approval from their board of directors, have my own inspection done to get my license and provide proof of insurance. I am able to use it whenever I want except for when they have shows going on (usually only Friday, Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons 4 or 5 times a year.) I pay $20 per hour.

I'm lucky. My aunt is a caterer and has a full catering kitchen at her home. I don't have to pay a cent. I've worked with my aunt for about 18 months helping her with catering prep and slowly fell into this.

I rent kitchen space. I rent from a man who owns a Kolache bake shop. They are only open till noon, so I am free to use his facilities from noon, till whenever. I pay a monthly fee - I figured out the number of hours I anticipated using the shop on a weekly basis (15-20) and came up with a rate. Now I'm not always there that many hours, some more, some less. Just depends. I figured it out annually, it comes to about $11 an hour. That seemed more than reasonable to me.

Upside: I am out of my kitchen!! I can leave the house, and "go to work". I have full use of his equipment (I can mix up 20 lbs of buttercream in 5 minutes!) I am completely legitimate. I am officially a business owner, licensed and insured. I can advertise, and work with other vendors in the industry without issue.

Downside: Storage. His kitchen is pretty full, and not a lot of space for all my "junk"! He is awesome though, he has cleared shelves for me, to store most of my things (pans and ingredients) and now is reorganizing his office to make more space for me. I'm still having to cart things back and forth, which is a hassle, eventually I hope to have everything there.

Overall it's been a very positive experience. I have learned a lot and worked hard to get here - but it's paying off! Someday I'd like to have my own place, but for now this works for me - and most importantly, my wallet!!

How do you make any money renting kitchens? You must do just wedding cakes? When I think about paying $10 per hour and I think about how long it takes me to make my cakes I don't see how I could make any money on cakes unless it's for a wedding.
Jacqui

I kind of fell into my situation. I have friends that opened a Thai restaurant last year. No lightbulb. Then a few months ago, they were trying out a new dessert from Ben E. Keith (food distributor) that was pretty lackluster, so I offered them my services in developing and providing items for their dessert menu. I make them flourless dark chocolate cake & key lime cheesecake. Being a Thai place, they just don't sell that many desserts though.

About a week after I started doing this, just as I was wondering how the legal aspect of this would work, they were looking for a cook to replace one that was leaving. I'm not able to work much, but I help them out on the line Fridays lunch and dinner, so now I'm on the payroll. That makes it legal for me to work from their kitchen without me having to be licensed and insured on my own. Cost - $0.00!!!

Hours I can work in the kitchen - any that they're not very busy, plus the restaurant is closed Monday and from 2-5 every other weekday and mornings on the weekend. Honestly I do restaurant baking there and most everything else from home. If the restaurant was closer it would be more convenient to go there, but it's 30 min away with no traffic.

Since they are friends, they are helping me get business, making sure their regular customers and friends know it's me doing the desserts, that I'm available for custom desserts and cakes and putting my business cards by the front door.

Although I do still plan to get licensed in the next year, I have a new proposal for them - in exchange for free desserts and 5% (negotiable) of the price of every cake, I'm hoping they will run the sales through their system so I don't have to worry about taxes & can accept credit cards too.

The biggest downside for me - - - I'm there all day Friday, leaving as late as 10 or 11 sometimes, which leaves the wee wee hours to finish a cake that's due for Saturday, and I teach Wilton Thursday PM so it's really tough.

Other downside - same as Allison - storage. That kitchen is packed tight!

Anyway - to all that are looking for a commercial kitchen, keep trucking. Most of the time it won't fall in your lap like me, but I had been looking for a year and a half before this happened.

Good luck all!

WOW!!

i just spoke with the owner of an artisan bread bakery, and i think we'll be able to work out a deal for me to rent space! im so excited, i've been getting so many "no's". he told me they were planning on buying a hobart mixer just "for fun" and since that would be exactly what i need, he's very interested in ordering it sooner rather than later. he even told me they were thinking of adding cakes to their menu, and asked if i was interested in doing some sort of partnership to sell cakes through their store. i'll be able to store my ingredients and equipment there too. im meeting with him friday to take a look at their bakery and work out more details, wish me luck!!

Congratulations! That's so exciting! I'm glad it's finally working out for you. Good luck!

i found a lady who has a catering kitchen. she wanted me to rent her kitchen for $15 per hour. i would have full access to her equipment. my only problem is that i only spend maybe and hour baking and mixing, and 3 - 5 hours sitting there decorating. so, i would be paying her $15 and hour to use her electricity. i don't think i would even make enough off the order to pay the rent. i would have to charge $10 per cookie to pay for everything.
then she said well...we could do $500 per month(which sounds better to me). but i had to work when she wasn't there. and eventually she wanted half the rent, which would run me $1000 per month. that doesn't even cover my ingredients, lisencing, insurance, advertising, packaging. obviously i didn't take that kitchen space.
so, if you rent from a existing business...do you pay them rent and then wholesale your products to them??? do you make the cookies part of the rent???

i only do wedding cakes, which makes renting worth it. if i were doing b-day cakes, cupcakes or cookies i don't think i would bother renting space.

That's exactly what I was thinking...how the heck would you make any money renting a space for $10-$20 an hour! I did read on here where someone who does rent a space has a minimum order amount. It was something like $200. She did only wedding cakes or large special occasion cakes. I guess that would make more sense.
Jacqui

I think if you take the amount of money you would spend in rent, utilities, cost of equipment and other operational costs, I think the price would be over $20/hr. I think renting is a great way to get started if you could. You can become legal without all the risks while you build up your client list.

I rent kitchen space, and because I only pay when I use it, I have a minimum of a $100.00 but really specialize in wedding cakes and high end party cakes. I do the smaller cakes as fillers when I have a wedding cake etc. It would make no sense for me to do sheet cakes etc as I would have to pay more in kitchen space than I would get for the cake.

so here's my update after meeting with the owner of the artisan bread bakery.

he is super nice and very laid back, i think it will be great working with him. he said i can use all of their ingredients and they will be able to order in everything i'll need to make cakes (i brought a list of ingredients i use and wasn't sure if he would have). i will of course have to get my own cake boards, drums, boxes, etc. he has a lot of room and plenty of storage space for what i'll need. and the timing is perfect. they slow down and stop baking at about 12-1, and don't start again until 8-9 at night. so between 1-6 i will be free to come and use their ovens, mixers, and space. which is exactly perfect for my schedule. their ovens are enormous, i could seriously probably bake 4 wedding cakes at once in them. he also said i can make up a display cake and leave biz cards etc.

after talking with him for 1.5 hours, we were finished up with everything but still had not talked price! so i just asked him what he was thinking, and he seriously had not even considered it! he's just a real laid back business man. i had calculated before hand that if he would provide my ingredients i could easily afford up to $16 per hour. wanting to negotiate i told him i would like $12 an hour during the off season, and $500-600 per month during wedding season (hopefully i'll be so busy next season that it will be more economical that way instead of hourly). i told him to think about it and let me know, hopefully he'll be satisfied. if not, im prepared to up my offer. this is so exciting for me!!

for those of you who are still looking, don't get discouraged! i was sooo frustrated by the time i found this opportunity, but things work out for a reason.

I posted an ad on Craigslist and was contacted today. Person has a partner with a kitchen that had space rented by a catering company that has since left. I will be getting details on Monday. Wish us luck.

luck, luck, luck luck......