Starting A Cake Business From Home In Bc Canada

Business By hickety883 Updated 13 Apr 2011 , 5:55am by kickasscakes

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hickety883 Posted 22 Sep 2010 , 11:09pm
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I have been doing cakes for family and friends for a little over a year now. NO business, just making them as gifts. However, things are not starting to get out there that I do cakes, and emails are rolling in asking if I would sell cakes.
I see alot of information out there about U.S and State laws , but barely anything for Canadians or B.C. Any canadian decorators out there that can lend me some advice.

22 replies
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shalini1 Posted 23 Sep 2010 , 12:32am
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hi! Luck in your business venture. There are a bunch of resources available on the Ontario Gov't website
http://www.ontario.ca/en/communities/entrepreneurs/index.htm?openNav=businesses
so that's where I started. I'm sure if you google British Columbia, you'll get the same thing. At the very least, you should get some info that could probably help you out on the business start up guide on the link I provided.

I'm not from BC so I'm not sure what the policies are regarding baking from home, but if you contact your health department, they may be able to better assist you.

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hickety883 Posted 23 Sep 2010 , 1:18am
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Thanks! icon_smile.gif

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-Tubbs Posted 23 Sep 2010 , 2:28am
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Yep, definitely contact your local health dept and also the business licensing section to ask about what you have to do to get legal. In AB you have to have a separate kitchen, three sinks and a handwash sink, all washable surfaces (including ceiling) etc etc. I have no idea what the rules are for BC, and you need to check if there are additonal local requirements as well as provincial ones. Good luck!

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hickety883 Posted 23 Sep 2010 , 2:33am
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Yikes! Even the ceiling! icon_sad.gif I wonder if that means it has to be like stainless steel or something? Hmmm I did find something on my local health authority about not being able to have direct access to living quarters....so that may rule out the at home portion all together..

Any one out there manage to be granted the liscence to do it from their home? Or are all of you commercial kitchens out side the home?

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-Tubbs Posted 23 Sep 2010 , 1:19pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hickety883

Yikes! Even the ceiling! icon_sad.gif I wonder if that means it has to be like stainless steel or something? ..... Or are all of you commercial kitchens out side the home?



No, it just means it has to be the same washable material as the walls (drywall covered in washable paint), but it can't be a popcorn-type ceiling like you find in most homes.
I have a licensed kitchen in my basement in Calgary, despite being told multiple times that it wasn't possible. You have to be persistent and find ways around roadblocks! icon_smile.gif

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BandT Posted 23 Sep 2010 , 2:09pm
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I have a home business in BC. We have converted our garage to a commercial kitchen. You must follow the same rules as any other bakery/kitchen. Triple sink, hand washing sink,grease trap etc. You must be inspected and approved before a licence can be issued.
Hope this helps.

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hickety883 Posted 23 Sep 2010 , 2:47pm
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Thanks Guys! That all helps! icon_smile.gif

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PeteLoaf Posted 24 Sep 2010 , 2:53am
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i am in the same boat . i am in the lower mainland and want to bake from home but the health dept says no way. i have to have a separate kitchen with a separate entrance , basically i would have to convert a suite into a kitchen with all the washable surfaces and sinks same as any commercial kitchen. strange thing is that the city says no problem.....one last thing is i found out a way around having to do the ingriedent labels was to sell to private functions , not to a re seller .....i guess i will look for a kitchen to rent???

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hickety883 Posted 24 Sep 2010 , 2:57am
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Its difficult isn't it!! For me, in his small town, there ARE no commercial kitchens too rent! icon_sad.gif

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Bfisher2 Posted 24 Sep 2010 , 5:06am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hickety883

Its difficult isn't it!! For me, in his small town, there ARE no commercial kitchens too rent! icon_sad.gif




Sure there are. Many chruches have inspected kitchens as well as community halls also. Most (not all so be sure to ask for there inspection certificate) are ok to rent. You will have to let your health inspector know where you are planning to rent and they will let you know if there are any other things you may need to do like water testing etc. icon_smile.gif

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hickety883 Posted 24 Sep 2010 , 5:09am
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So then can I just ask these sort of places if I can rent the kitchen? I have never seen anything advertised for rental kitchen space? Thanks for the tip! icon_smile.gif

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Bfisher2 Posted 24 Sep 2010 , 5:46am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hickety883

So then can I just ask these sort of places if I can rent the kitchen? I have never seen anything advertised for rental kitchen space? Thanks for the tip! icon_smile.gif




You sure can. Lets say you were renting a hall space for example. I would start by going to see my local health inspector and getting an approved site list from her/him and then start calling around and see what the rates are for just the kitchen..... most halls are very accomodating icon_smile.gif THT

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SwtCanuck Posted 26 Sep 2010 , 7:53am
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I am in the lower mainland as well and we converted our garage to a commercial kitchen. You must get a business license and be inspected by the health dept regularily. I know of someone else who thought they just wouldn't get caught doing it out of their house but they did and now she gets checked on "annonomously" to make sure she isn't making cake for profit. Better to be safe than sorry.

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doughnutman Posted 19 Mar 2011 , 1:40pm
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Does anyone know if there needs to be a toilet in a home based commercial kitchen as well as the seperate entrance and all the other spoken requirements?

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Kiddiekakes Posted 19 Mar 2011 , 1:46pm
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I think the only time you need to provide a public toilet is if you are retail and selling bakery items and they are consuming it on your premises.Then I think you have to and it also has to be the for a handicapped person as well.If it is just you then I doubt it but you may want one just in case.

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cakesondemand Posted 20 Mar 2011 , 4:28am
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I am in the Fraser Valley and I have a large commercial kitchen and would be willing to rent out I have already talked with the Health Dept and all that someone would need to do is to have a biz name and there own licience and insc. and the health inspector would come in and approve the kitchen takes about 5 min since they already know my kitchen. I am looking for someone to do occassion cakes and any weddings that I cant take since Im already booked until Sept already.

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kickasscakes Posted 20 Mar 2011 , 5:13am
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Hi there,
I am in Abbotsford, and I have looked into doing business from home. Not likely unless it is seperate from the house.... I do, however rent from a local business for now, and that is working, sort of.....

Someone else said that they were in Abbotsford... I am wondering if we could rent collectively a kitchen, of our 'own'?

Friends of mine in Vancouver do it, (there are 3 of them) and they share the rent. Works great.

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tiff_7_17 Posted 23 Mar 2011 , 9:23pm
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Hi Everyone,

I don't own a cake business or plan to actually own one (although I do enjoy baking as a nice hobby) but I am a UFV business student in BC doing a project on starting a cake business. So, I am pretending to open my own cake business and hypothetically in the same boat as some of you.

I went to the Fraser Health office and got all the paperwork (as I was planning on keeping it simple with a home based business) and quickly realized also that having it in a converted home is probably very difficult to say the least! <--Anyone that went this route, would you be willing to share ballpark figures with me of what the start-up costs were to get licenced? What about zoning issues? As this is proprietary information I wouldn't share it with anybody except my prof and can provide confidentiality agreements if preferred.

Sharon of Cakesondemand, I actually think I just emailed you via your website to ask you some of these questions. I have admired your cakes in the past (as I am also getting married and planning my own wedding).

I was wondering if anyone (or better yet, more than one of you) wouldn't mind providing me with information on what it would cost to rent a kitchen and also other start up cost information.

Since there is no such thing as a free lunch, I would be happy to share my project with those that help me (a complete business plan and analysis), you might even get some free promotional ideas out of it or something.

Thank you
Tiffany Ross-Fletcher
[email protected]

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Mr_Cakes Posted 12 Apr 2011 , 8:29pm
post #20 of 23

City of surey says you cannot have a commercial kitchen in basement suite of your house icon_sad.gif(

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kickasscakes Posted 13 Apr 2011 , 12:05am
post #21 of 23

Wish I had more info for you but good luck with your projecticon_smile.gif

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tiff_7_17 Posted 13 Apr 2011 , 3:36am
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Hey,

No your help was greatly appreciated! We just presented this week so I haven't got my paper back yet for grading.

It was a group assignment and I was definitely the most interested in doing it on cakes, so I want to make some tweaks but I will definitely give it to you as soon as I finish making all the changes I want to it.

-Tiff

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kickasscakes Posted 13 Apr 2011 , 5:55am
post #23 of 23

Fabulous Tiff icon_smile.gif

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