I am trying to locate some small areas that lease so i can open up my own cake business since i live in Florida.

What is the smallest amount of square footage would be needed for a very small just starting out place? If the business grew i would of course relocate to a larger place but this would be just to start out.

What would you think about having a space the size of a double car garage?

Earlene Moore in Lubbock, TX converted an area approx. this size. She has the pictures of her cake kitchen on her website.
Click on the Special Cabinets box. There are photos on that page. For photos of the actual kitchen, look on the top of the cabinets page. There is a small note about the kitchen, with the option to click to the new page.

It may give you ideas of how one decorator organized her space.

I do believe you could go smaller. It would depend on how much stuff would need to be there, and still have enough area to work in.

-Debbie B.

there was a poster her a couple years ago from miami ...i think she said she had 300 sq ft.

i think a lot of it has to do with the requirements in your area.

mine is only about 250 sq ft! Way too small! When we added ours in our basement (fully licensed) the business was just starting and before it was finished, the business had outgrown the space. I have just hired my first employee who will start on Wednesday so it should be interesting having two of us in that space. Whatever the footage, plan every single space. I had a plan for everything so that baking and decorating would flow smoothly. i opted for no doored cabinets over the counter space so I didn't have to open, shut them but do have drawers and cabinets below for storage. My space is small but it's working for now, when I do it again, the space will need to be at least 800-1000 to accomodate more ovens, sinks, workspace and meeting area and that is on the way small side! Good luck with it!

Always plan for more than you THINK you'll need. You'll outgrow it WAY faster than you think.

I have 865 sq ft of retail space, and this includes a small lobby. It's tight, but we do just fine!

When you guys got these spaces in the very beginning, did you get a loan?? or did you just save up for it?? Or what?

Definitely not my situation. My husband and I own our house w/ our 10 month old and 3 year old boys and our lovely mortgage. I am a stay at home mom and my husband is a teacher. So we are just trying to figure out a way to do this affordably and obviously if Florida was a state that had the Cottage Food Law like some of the others we wouldn't have this problem and even at that point we could still renovate our 2 car garage into a bakery space that way I wouldn't have to consume or kitchen which luckily is large but as i'm sure everyone knows cake baking/decorating is not a small - no mess process - I'm constantly cleaning!

I'm hoping when we move to a single family home in about 3yrs., I can convince my hubby to let me have the basement for my business.

Unfort. I don't have that ability - contacted the office of the florida statutes, the FDBPR and my local zoning and basically the only "business" you can have at home is an office business - no baking whatsoever so I have to get my own space first outside my home but how they expect you to do this when you are first starting out......
I just honestly don't understand why they don't legalize it in all 50 states. It would bring in more money for the state for all the licenses and inspections and it would be better to have all the non-licensed bakeries licensed so they could have insurance as well.