For those of you who are full-time decorators, do you have any other business that you participate in? I am asking this because I wanted to know if you do what are they. I need something to keep me busy and make more $$. I have a small cake/cooking shop and was thinking about putting cake decorating items for sale in my display area, but I was reading some post to another one of my questions and I have now decided not to do that because I will be taking business away from my real money maker cakes. So do you all have any suggestions? I was thinking about selling pampered chef products, but I am not going to do home parties or anything just maybe once a month invite customers to my shop and have 1 big party a month. Tell me what you think, and if any of you all are pamper chef consultants then private message me, I need more info.

what about selling helium ballons thats not too much inventory, or anything that goes along with parties and celebrations. If there is a number of home bakers in the area, they're going to continue doing cakes, so why not sell them a cake board, or box or a 2lb sleeve of filling. some business is better then no business from the home bakers.

I think selling other items in your shop is a good idea, but instead of selling cake decorating supplies, why not branch out into wedding and other special occasion supplies (like cake toppers, ballons, napkins, confetti stuff, etc) that wouldn't detract from your cake .jobs but will give your customers more shopping options so they don't have to make another stop for other items.

You could even have a stand of greeting cards!

Since you are also looking for busy, maybe you could design craft a series of unique custom cake toppers to sell in your shop.

Do you rent out items with your cakes ie. plateaus, cupcake stands, regular cake stands. You could offer these items for rent to others that are in need of something like that since you may already have some of these items. Plateaus are hard to get a hold I don't think all decorators have them. ( Wedding rentals) Could bring in extra money. Just a thought.

following on from the previous post how about renting tins as well?

I think renting the tins is a great idea.

I've read on other threads, that the Wilton character pans, and generic holidays pans are available for rental - but alas, not around here...

I would think branching out would be difficult if you have to compete on price point for readily available decorating/baking items.

However, if you could find a specialty item/s, then you wouldn't have to worry so much about comparison shoppers.....

Good luck

Now, although I make and sell character cakes without any qualms, I do remember reading somewhere on here that renting out the character pans was also an illegal breech of copyright and that you can be fined for it if found out. I have seen character pans for rent in cake decorating supply shops and bakeries though, so I don't know how likely you are to be caught.

I tried to Pm you about my other business. I hope you get it or them. I stink with the computer. So bare with me. If you have ?? please let me know. I think this can help you ALOT

I was in your same position. I wanted to diversify my income streams but didn't want to do more classeses or sell cake decorating supplies because that would compete with my cake business.

My husband and I found a business that compliments what I already do. It is an ecommerce business - sort of an e-mall. I buy all of my cleaning supplies/office supplies that I use for my business plus so much more.I will be doing all of my Christmas shopping this year from my own business so I'll get money back on the gifts that I buy. We are #1 in onlines sales of health and beauty and have an excellent line of vitamins and skin care. The skin care/make up line is great to offer to the brides that I see.

We are partnered with some big name businesses such as Bass Pro Shop, Office Depot, Disney and alot of others plus you can buy name brands such as levi, Sunbeam, Kitchen Aid, Timberland, Adidas, Reebok and tons of others so I can buy almost everything I need from this mall, have it delivered to my house, get good prices plus a bonus check at the end of the month. The catalogs are great so you can share them with your friends and they purchase from their home. You don't handle money or worry about their orders at all, but you get a credit for their purchases. PM me if you're interested. I have a website that you can visit to find out more or my DH would call you and give you a quick overview if you're interested.

This might not be for you, but it works for us. Since I"m going to buy all of this stuff for my home/business anyway, why not buy from my own business rather than give Wal mart all of my money. Right?

I like the idea of expanding on the theme...

How about adding birthday party supplies, (candles, party bags, etc), ice cream - cuz who doesn't have ice cream with a birthday cake. Make yourself the one-stop party shop!

You could do small things to add to your sales - like party bag items, treat bags, etc. Have them already pre-made to match the cake's theme.

I wouldn't do Pampered Chef for a couple of reasons. One, their rules may prohibit you being in a "retail" setting. I know a lot of at home party companies are like this. Two - It'll cheapen what you do!

Do you have space in your shop to do birthday parties for kids? They could come in, decorate their own cookie, cupcake, cake, whatever. Again, think one-stop-shop.

Expand on what you have going on there.

Oh - and contact local businesses for ongoing corporate cake orders, birthday parties in offices, etc. You might find a nice niche business for yourself.

I agree about expanding your business with related products. The one thing that irks me about local bakeries is that they do not sell birthday candles.

You could go to a discount store and buy a couple of boxes of cards and sell them for 50 cents each. We did that for many years as a fund-raiser for the department where I worked. It turned out to be a real money-maker.

Balloons would be another good investment, if you have the space for the helium tank.

Theresa

my local cake shop, is a bakery but they also rent out their pans and you can buy a wide variety of cake supplies there. She also sells flowers that she makes.