Renting A Commercial Space...advice Please?

Business By SweetDreams98 Updated 27 May 2011 , 7:32pm by dlmcakes

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SweetDreams98 Posted 25 May 2011 , 6:57pm
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Sooooooo I've met with my local business advisers and a few people who work in marketing. I got a LOT of positive feedback from them which was great, it was good to know that I have been on the right track on my own (I was pretty proud that they were impressed with all the research I did on the legality of what I'm doing, business plan, marketing tactics thus far etc...). I am working on making my baking business an LLC to protect my home and personal assets. They suggested that with the amount of business I'm getting that I look into renting a commercial space. This was something I've already been thinking about because cakes and cupcakes are taking over our home. I would love to hear from anyone who has rented a commercial space, has looked into renting a commercial space or currently uses one. I'm curious as to the price you're charged, any problems you've ran into and just your overall experience. They told me to look into churches because some have kitchens they rent out but I'm not a religious person and I'm not sure how to go about approaching a church for renting out space (especially not being a member). Any information would be helpful!
Sarah

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mplaidgirl2 Posted 25 May 2011 , 7:15pm
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You don't need to be a member of a church to rent thier space. MY family does it all the time. ITs going to be the cheapest kitchen you can find.
The one we rent in CT charges us $50-$200 for the entire day
(Depending if we just need the kitchen or if we also need the hall attached)
If I work 10 hours for $50 thats $5 an hour. I tried to rent a commercial kitchen in NYC and they wanted $25+ an hour

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FromScratchSF Posted 25 May 2011 , 10:07pm
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Good for you! Sounds like you are on the right track!!!!

I wish I was more help, where I live I only have 2 options for commercial kitchen rental... both kinda suck, both have limited space and both are $$$$$$$. State laws also rule, so make sure you know what those are going in - for example in CA you can't take or keep anything at home, so I need freezer/refrigerator/dry storage for all my goods, as well as racks for all my pans/packaging etc. In addition to the hourly usage rate they also charge for each of those storage spaces and also how much you need of that storage space. I switched one kitchen to another because they didn't have it all. It would be SO MUCH EASIER if I could just bring what I need, bake it up and call it a day. But no - State law says otherwise (I should also mention that, like, nobody in my kitchen follows it because of the lack of storage issue). Then the kitchen I switched to I had to let my contract go since I am on maternity, and hope like heck they have space for me to come back in a few weeks. But that's another panic for another day.

But my biggest advice... make sure you have built in to your pricing the cost to cover all of your rental time - including parking, gas, hourly rate, monthly storage etc.

Good luck,

Jen

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SweetDreams98 Posted 25 May 2011 , 11:06pm
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Thanks, I was hoping that'd be the case with the church policy! That's encouraging! I'm in Ohio and in my area, things are pretty cheap and there's a million churches so I'll have to start checking!
FromScratchSF - Thanks! I'm trying to go about this not only from the creative angle but also from a legal/business angle. I want this business to succeed so I'm doing everything I can to keep myself informed on regulations etc... That being said I'm SOOOOooo lucky to live in Ohio! Since we have very lenient guidelines with the Cottage Laws here (THANK YOU HUGE AMISH POPULATION!!!) I am still able to store/transport things to my home and be perfectly legal. I am making D#MN sure that I follow laws and regulations because in the event something IS brought up I want to be able to present all my information and legal documents to the powers that be. I know some people try turning a blind eye to laws (especially if their state has stringent regulations) but that's not how I want to start business. It'd be a slippery slope in my opinion because I would THINK you'd get a false sense of safety and I'm not into being slapped with huge fines and having my business fail before it's able to see it's full potential. icon_biggrin.gif

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dlmcakes Posted 27 May 2011 , 7:32pm
post #5 of 5

This is very helpful! I am also in Ohio (northeast area) and have been wanting to do this for a loooonnnggg time icon_smile.gif I would love to do this out of my home but according to the laws I can't have any pets in the home and I have pets. I don't have the money to lease or buy a seperate building. My only other option would be to rent a space but I wasn't sure if I wanted to lug my stuff around. If I can find a place that I can store my stuff that would be great. And I'm not sure what questions to ask. If anyone has some helpful info that would be great! icon_biggrin.gif I'll keep checking back.

I do have a church very close to me, I may have to check it out!

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