I was offered a job at a grocery store bakery. The bakery manager approached me after seeing a couple of my cakes. I am very flattered, but don't know if I should take this job. Seeing what people think of grocery store cakes on here make my worry that the quality of my cakes will not be good. I am off mat leave in the fall and was thinking of finding a new job anyways. The other problem I am having is that it won't be my name attached to the cakes, it will be the store's name. I won't be making as much money there as I am in the profession I am in now - but I was looking for a new job anyways to cut back on the travel and daycare (have 2 small kids now).
Does anyone know any pros or cons or have any advice when it comes to this?
Hi, The only thing I know about working in a grocery store bakery is that you have to be at work at like 4 in the morning, you'll have to work weekends (I don't know if you do now), which going to work at 4 am with an infant IMHO would not be fun. And getting your baby to daycare and finding someone to watch him/her so early unless your hubby picks up the slack there. I don't think store bought cakes are bad, I was eating them until I started making cakes, but now that I'm learning to decorate, I like my cakes more personalized and not so assembly line like. You might to think about that too if you have an overactive creative, artistic gene. I don't think you'd have the freedom to be very imaginative. You could always ask the manager the approached you these type of things. HTH. Good Luck with what ever you decide 
hi i work for a sam's club bakery, my shift starts at 7 in the morning, so if i were you i would just ask them what time they would want you at work, etc. it never hurts to ask. hope it works out for you. julia
The cakes from this store actually taste pretty good. I do worry about my creative freedom though. The one plus is that it sounds like they "sub contract" the wedding cakes out to the decorator, which means as long as she buys her supplies from them (which she gets at a low price) she gets to keep the rest of the money made from the cake. This sounds like a good deal for the decorator, I was worried I would not make much on a cake that I worked so hard on. Do the stores you work at operate this way?
Thanks for the replies, I just can't decide on this one!
I worked in a wal-mart bakery as a full time decorator for a little over a year (in the bakery for about 3 1/2 yrs) I actually would not trade it for the world.
Hours: Ranged anywhere from starting at 6am for the first shift, 9 am for the second shift or around 1pm for the 3rd shift (which i didn't like b/c i had to clean up after the other decorators)
Pay: Not what I could have gotten anywhere else, but I still enjoyed (most of the time) what I was doing
Yes you do not have as much creative outlet as you do when making cakes for a bakery, or yourself. But I picked up speed, learned how to base ice a full sheet in about 5 mins, got customer service skills, learned about 5 different ways to make a rose, I had GREAT co-workers that had decorated for years before coming there (all with different background and different creativity for designs), got organizational skills for decorating, got to try an airbrush (never would have anywhere else) learned about the inventory side of it (for consumables, and cakes), oh and the best thing was that the other decorators helped me master the shell border (i know it is a small feat for others, but for me this was the only border I just couldn't figure out, give me a reverse shell anyday)
I personally don't care for all of their cakes, but I feel it gave me a great start to decorating with all of the basics. It also gave me a great opportunity to try a lot of different techniques all in one day and then continue to learn and perfect them (now cornelli lace is one of the quickest and easiest things for me to do and to me can just make a cake)
I had to work 3 weekends every month, but this is the way that wal-mart was set up.
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I did have an opportunity to go work for a mom/pop grocery store as their bakery manager and decorator. Would have given me more freedom as they didn't care what I did as long as I was selling the cakes! But for me at the time it just wasn't it. I still don't know if I would have liked that but who knows. I am sure someday I will have the opportunity again. (the only good thing about that was I could have set my own hours, coming in anytime of the day (except lunch time as they did serve lunch) as long as the orders were done when they needed to be)
Sorry for the long ramble I could go on about what I did and didn't like if you want me to. There are cons to all of the pros, but for me the pros outweighed the cons.
Carson, - My opinion is this is the time for you to expand your own business. The foodstore will hire you and will not pay you what you are worth. You are being notice by others. Think long term and not short term.
yes, yes, yes, take the job! A couple of months ago, I got to meet Bronwen, and she told me that if you want to get good, fast, then to work at a grocery store. That is how she started out, and look where she is now!
You do great work - I say if the hours work for you it might not be a bad stepping stone. You can get to see the business side of things and be in contact with suppliers and other contacts that may help you later on. Especially since you are a sub-contractor for the wedding cakes, you could build up a reputation and then be able to go out on your own and up your prices if you want.
Go with your gut, if you dont like it you can always leave 
I do have a lot to think about!
Its the skills I will learn vs being paid what I am worth & creative freedom!
I guess it will give me a steady income while I work on getting my own business off the ground - that's one more thing I must ask...will they let me do side jobs while working there...aaaahhhh - thanks goodness I told him I wouldn't be able to start for a couple months because I want to finish out my maternity leave!
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