How Much Did You Invest To Start-Up?

Business By funfoodie2 Updated 20 Apr 2007 , 9:22pm by indydebi

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funfoodie2 Posted 20 Apr 2007 , 7:26pm
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Starting a home-based cake business, how much did you invest in getting yourself "supplied" with pans, design equipment, etc?

I've become an Ebay addict and know I'm well over $800. in equipment, but I've gotten everything at great discounts(coupons)/prices.

I just wanted to be ready to roll when a cake order came in, but also know that I will be able to recoup my investment on Ebay if I ever decide to fold the business.

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Firstlady Posted 20 Apr 2007 , 7:34pm
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When I added everything up for 4 months I was so shocked! I spent over $1k in supplies and tools. Make sure you keep all your receipts for you taxes.

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NVP Posted 20 Apr 2007 , 7:39pm
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wow! i had this thinking that you needed like 25k atleast to have a home based bakery. is that out of the ball park figure?

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meggylou Posted 20 Apr 2007 , 8:50pm
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I have invested about $3K in the last 6 months. It definitely adds up as you pick up a little something here and a little something there. I notice that i tend to spend a lot of money buying post holiday. There are such good clearance after the holiday, that i stock up for next year. Hopefully, once I have supplies for all the holidays, I won't spend so much on cute things that "I just had to pick up".

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indydebi Posted 20 Apr 2007 , 9:15pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NVP

wow! i had this thinking that you needed like 25k atleast to have a home based bakery. is that out of the ball park figure?




Depends on if you are talking pans and piping bags or convection ovens and 3-bay sinks.

My equipment for a commercial kitchen ran over $50K (i'm also a caterer so I probably had some things you wouldn't need, like a $7,000 commercial dishwasher, and $8,000 worth of overhead venting over the stove). This included some used equipment. I went thru a kitchen designer for the floor plan and she has access to a lot of used equipment that I wouldn't have been able to get myself. The build out is around $20K.

If you can find a place that already has a kitchen in it, you can save a lot on the build out costs.

Also get LOTS of quotes on the build out! The first quote I received was $99,910!!! And that did NOT include the equipment. Talk to people who are familiar with commerical kitchens and know what your local health dept expects and requires.

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nglez09 Posted 20 Apr 2007 , 9:21pm
post #6 of 7

Indydebi, that's a free-standing business right, or is it home-based?

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indydebi Posted 20 Apr 2007 , 9:22pm
post #7 of 7

1200 sq ft in a strip mall.

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