Hi,
i have only started doing cakes again and have made a few for family and friends as gifts however by word of mouth i have been getting more requests for cakes from others and so would like to do this properly but i have no idea where to start legally, can anyone advise who has set up small from home (what is required by law) or by hiring a school or church kitchen in the uk.
As i have dogs and lots of kids (6 ) i have asked around about hiring the school kitchen as and when required as i cannot do from home due to dogs etc , can i do this? even if i only make one cake a month does it matter if i am starting so small, i just want to make sure i am legal and then hoefully will be able to do more and grow as the years go on.

please help i am lost in a maze of confusion.

pps how do i make my pics smaller jpeg to fit lol

You need to speak to your local Environmental Health department. They will come out and tell you what changes you need to make (if any) to your kitchen. The rules vary from region to region, but my EHO was incredibly helpful and I understand that most are. You also need to look into public liability insurance once Env Health have given you the go ahead - do a Google search for the British Sugarcraft Guild. they offer a good inexpensive policy for their members for pt/low tunover home bakers. you'll also need to check that there's nothing in your house deeds preventing you from running a business and inform your house & car insurance (the car, if you'd be doing deliveries). You also need to contact HMRC about the tax implications- they run workshops and again are very friendly/helpful in my experience.

There's a book by Kathy Moore about starting up a cake business in the UK which is worth getting your hands on. I think I got mine from Amazon.

HTH


phhht - the blocked word in my post is sugarcraft - let's see if it works here...


nope- OK, the first part of the word is sugar. I'm now going to type a whole lot more and now say that the second part of the word is craft.

Thank you, i have just bought the book off amazon and so hope it helps answer a few questions, do you know any more of the requirements of environmental health and what they expect from a home kitchen, do you know anyone that uses a hired kitchen like a school or church as well please its just with my large brood and my dogs it may be easier for me to hire than try and make a family kitchen conform to what i suspect is alot of regulations two sinks etc

I have dogs and didn't think my kitchen was suitable so I hire one in a local church. You need to speak directly to your local enviromental council. Ours were very helpful I had to have a seperate sink for washing hands but other than that it was just checking the general cleanliness

great thanx, i want to do it all properly but have no clue as to what to do first, if setting up as a small business then its ok for me to hire a church or school kitchen as and when required (school said i can ) does the school or church notify or do i? so do i register with the tax office first or ???/ i have no clue and want to do things right, at the moment i am not expecting to be doing alot and that doesn't matter as it's not money i will rely on hence why i am in a position that i can do it now and learn and improve my skills but hope once the kids are all at school that i can do more and be able to take on more but want to start off small and build up slowly.
It's my dream to be able to run my own small business doing what i love

i have just had more people ask me to do cakes and rather risk being found out as earning a bit i want to go ligit but cannot find any where to find info on what to do and where to go first, thank you all for helping me any chance of a little bit more help pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee.
are they are useful sites that help with info on this subject as well please to save bothering you all as much


pps by the way i want to upload so cakes but can't seem to make my pictures small enough how do i make them less

You should really contact your Environmental Health office as the rules can be different from area to area. They will be able to talk you through all of the required steps and give you advice about renting kitchens etc. Mine provided me with all sorts of useful booklets/leaflets.

You can make your pics smaller at http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

Say Hi to Blighty for me (originally from Surrey, by way of Brighton). Don't miss the rain!

thanx all miss baritone can you pm me rough details of how much your'e church charge and how to approach them etc to give me a rough idea of costs and how to ask and whats involved in arranging this as i think the school rate is too high and once i take their rate into account including cost of cake etc there will be no profit at all.

Many thanx bonnie for advice and help i have contacted enviroment health and await a response.
tubbs cookies lol.. thanx for site for resizing it worked and i have manged to resize pics as for weather guess what....it was raining today..oh what a surprise.... sunny britain it is not