Im in Florida. I found a charming space for a cake shop in a farily new shopping center on a busy street. The landlord wants $1,000 for the first two years, $1,300 for the third year and then $1,750 for the 4th and 5th year of the lease. When I was in NC I had a licensed home bakery and was just doing cakes as a hobby/side business. Now that I will be doing it full time it's hard for me to imagine making that much each month.

So my question is, do fairly successful cake shops make enough to pay that kind of rent and still be able to cover their other expenses? I looked at other commerical spaces in this area and found them to be $1,800 - $4,000 each. But for a cake shop, is this a lot?

There are a lot of factors in answering this question. You already know that compared to other commercial spaces it is ALOT less. But how many square feet? Is this place set up to be a commercial kitchen? What was the space before? Is there a hood already in it? Is there plumbing for a 3 compartment sink? And will you be signing a 5 year lease? I wouldn't anything could happen in 5 years. Anyway, I have more questions than answers I guess. I wish you all the luck.

To me I don't think $1000 is alot for a fairly new shopping center on a busy street.

You can't find a commerical space here in NYC for anywhere near that.
a small shop in manhattan will run you about $5000 a month.

My day job has a 3000 sq ft loft... Rent is $17,000 a month.

So I guess its really where you live to what seems fair.

Obviously, it depends where in Florida. So many areas are rural. It will also depend on your square footage. I am also in Florida and the 4th and 5th year sound outrageous!

Good luck!

How many square feet is that?

Also take into consideration anything that may need to be done to the space. Is there already a kitchen? Does it have the proper plumbing and electrical?

Around here the going rate for commercial bakery space for a place that already has a kitchen built and everything up to code is $15-$20 per square foot, per year.

No matter what we think, it does not matter.

What does matter is that you do a businiess plan to find out if your sales will cover this rent amount, plus all your other expenses, plus make a profit. If you don't want to do a business plan at least do the financial part of it. But the market research part will help you to know if the mall is located in an area where your sales will be enough to sustain a viable business. It will also help you to see if you can be a "cake shop" or if you will need to change your business model to something like a bakery or cafe.

At least check out your local SCORE organization. It sounds like you need to educate your self a little bit before moving forward. It's not too hard, just time consuming. Good luck.