I have a friend who showed some of my pictures of stuff I made to a very nice looking bakery (opening soon) She said they wanted to talk to me before they hire anyone, so I need advice, if I decide to do this, how much should I expect to get paid- I've never worked in a bakery, this is in southern ca, also would it be considerd a conflict of interest since I have my own customers established? They know this and I'm not willing to stop working from home, I think the reason I would like to work in a bakery would be to get more experiance

if they know about ur own customers thats good because may gernerate more biz for them but beware maybe less for you as for wages surf for jobs online to get an average and go for it. working in a bakery is hot, repetitive work but fun........go for it all experience is good experience good luck

Maybe would you could restrict what you would do at the bakery so that your customers still have to come to you for other products, eg sculpted cakes (or I guess whatever you biggest seller is if that would work)?
Do you have another job too now? Just thinking that if you have a full time job in a bakery it will restrict the amount of time and energy you have left for your own business - just something to be aware of!
Congratulations on the discussion though, clearly they really admire your work if they want you working for them!

I'd be a little worried, since home bakeries aren't legal in CA and this bakery probably sees you as competition...but then I'm a little paranoid sometimes.

It definitely sounds like a conflict of interest to me, and you are in a very vulnerable position since you are operating illegally. The bakery can essentially acquire your customers for free with one call to the health department.

You may be able to work out a deal where you rent the bakery's kitchen to enable you to run your business legally, but I'm not sure they would agree to this if you were their employee.

I would advise taking down your web site immediately, or at least removing any mention of charging for cakes. You should also remove the pictures of cakes with copyrighted characters unless you've obtained prior permission from the copyright owners.

There are pros and cons working at a bakery. The pros are that you will learn a lot...and have access to all their cool stuff to use...also it can be fun provided there isn't a psycho hose-beast working there. (speaking from experience).
The cons are that you will be working at their speed...not yours. You may not be able to be as creative as you would like, your hours could be longer --or shorter than you anticipate. And honestly, I can't imagine they would want you to continue your business from home. I mean, it's in direct competition with them!
It may be worth looking into. I worked at a bakery and if it weren't for the aforementioned PHB, it would have been a blast everyday. But then, I wasn't baking or decorating at the time. But I learned a LOT!

I did some work for a local bakery & was hired at a percentage rate. They would pay me from 15% - 25% of the cost of cake. Worked well for me. She didn't have to pay me if she didn't need me & I could pick & choose what I wanted to make.
Good luck!

I had a similar experience. My friends Mom works at a cake shop and wanted to hire me. Since I have 2 small kids I declined and so my friend ended up taking the job. She ended up working the register and counter for $8 an hour and never getting to decorate beyond spreading buttercream on sheet cakes.

If a new bakery is opening up you have to assume that the people opening it are high calibur cake designers and are not going to hand over wedding cake orders to a stranger. They are likely looking for someone to bake and ice for minimum wage.

I am not saying that your cakes don't make the grade because they are awesome and clean. I am just saying, if I opened up a bakery I would be the one decorating.