Hi,
I am trying to write a business plan for school. I'm taking a Entrepreneurship class because I know that it will help later in life when I want to open my own bakery. Now my problem is it that I can't find information specifically dealing with wedding cake sales and customized cake sales. I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction about where I can find this kind of information. If it matters, I plan on opening my bakery in the San Antonio, TX area.

Also, if you wrote a business plan any additional information you can give me about where you found your content will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

OK. new approach!
If you have written a business plan, did you not include data about the customized cake market? or the wedding cake industry? Maybe I can make an argument to my teacher that other business owners didn't need this information when trying to get a loan from a bank.

To me it does seem like the business plan for a customized cake business would be different than any other business. So I am just curious as to what information is/was necessary for you to get your loan (if you got one).

Thanks!

I don't think it's much different (but I've never done a biz plan for a "generic" business before). You still need data. And to be honest, when doing a biz plan for a class .... well, it's WAY different than doing it for a bank. I'm sorry, but a classroom professor doesn't have the same "insight" as a banker or an actual business owner. I learned this when I did a resume for a class (many many decades ago). Current hubby (who was a boyfriend at the time) was a personnel manager and read my resume. He red-lined everything except my name and address! I was devistated! I told him, "But I got a great grade on that resume!" He said .......

"Who are you trying to impress with this resume? Me, a guy who actually hires people? Or some college professor?"

And another life lesson filed away for me!

In my own hiring career, I teased a young man that I ended up hiring. I nicknamed him "Fluffy" because his resume was full of fluff. I planned to put him thru the paces, but fortunately, he was able to back it up and he ended up being one of the best guys I ever hired. After he was hired, I told him my hesitation and he said, "But the professor told us to put all that fluff in our resume!" I laughed and said, "His advice almost DIDN'T get you an interview!"

So I'm not big on professors who grade you on business projects. From a prof's viewpoint, this is a writing exercise; it's a work of literature. From a personnel mgr's or a banker's viewpoint, this is a document of stats and hard evidence of what you know.

You may recall the story of Fed Ex. When the founder did his thesis on it, the professor gave it a "C" and said, "It'll NEVER work!"

But I digress......!

Here's a thread with some hints for you: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-666225-plan.html

and

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-661854-plan.html