I've been wanting to decorate cakes for years, but put it on hold for various reasons, mostly to have babies . This year, I started the Wilton classes and just like I expected, I LOVE it! I'm definitely not ready to take money for cakes, but I'm learning quickly and I would like to head in the direction of becoming legal. I just moved to CA and I know that here, we have to use commercial kitchens, but what else do I need to do? I am HORRIBLE at research . I know I need to get some kind of food handlers license, but I don't even know how to do that. What steps do I need to go through to be legal?
Thanks!

Becca

There is a sticky right here in the forums about states that let you have home bakeries I remember reading something about Ca. Look for it on search, but the little I remember is that IT'S A NIGHTMARE for californians to legalize a cake bussines

In CA its stiff but those of us who are determined to make it, you bear thru it.

First you need to find a location and one that will pass inspection. You will need to apply to the health deparment, they will tell you where the classes are for food handlers, how to get certified and do the inspection for the health dept. rating. (the letter you see in the window of any establishment that sells food) by the way, even the cake suppliers have to have this rating.

You will need to file a dba or doing business as thru the hall of records, you will need a resale permit and you get that from the dept. of equalization. Don't forget insurance, contact any insurance agent and they can help you with the types of insurance required for the business.

I would also retain a business attorney and at least a bookkeeper if you cannot afford a CPA for the time being. And you will also need city licenses or permits depending on the city you are doing business in.

Welcome, to the wonderful world of cake decorating, owning your own business can be very gratifying.

Good Luck!
HTH

Thanks for the info. It's so frustrating sometimes because you need money to jump through all the legal hoops but you can't legally get paid until you jump through all these hoops.

Becca

Legalizing in CA to sell food is a pain.. That is why I do not want to do it as a business..

fondantgirl, your work is BEAUTIFUL! What a shame that all the red tape is getting in the way for you

Becca

I heard it is hard to in CA here is a link to help you out.

http://www.cakecentral.com/article57-US-Wanting-to-start-a-Cake-Decorating-Business-but-where-do-I-begin.html

I hope you do not mind it is off the subject but because a lot of you are from CA just wanted to mention I will be hosting a Jennifer Dontz gumpaste flower class in Hollister, CA. Class will be November 1 and 2, 2008 (Saturday and Sunday) If you are interested please PM your e-mail address and I will send you the information.

Good luck in starting a business.

CakeByBecca I noticed your info said Central California, are you close to Fresno? At some point my friends and I are going to go together on a kitchen. Once I sell my 2nd house (ha ha in this market) I am going to buy a place to make cake in. Would love to meet a new cake friend though! I'd love to support you any way I can. I've done some research and things trying to get a kitchen rental going... but I think I won't do an actual kitchen rental as much as just go in with some friends... but we'll see what ends up happening.

Anyway, if you want to get together please email me [email protected] I love to share and meet new people I have some fun cake decorating items I don't mind lending out.

That sounds GREAT! I live right outside Modesto, though, so it would be a bit of a drive to share a kitchen , but we definitely should meet sometime. Do you have a lot of "cake friends" locally?
Good luck selling your house. We're currently renting. We just moved from Oregon in January (managed to sell our house in 9 days! We couldn't believe it ) and we decided to get our financial affairs in order before buying again. It's hard to see all these great deals on houses and let them go, but we want to wait until we can afford the house we want and not "settle" for something we can afford now. Dh is convinced it's going to be a buyer's market for quite awhile. I would LOVE to find something that has a separate kitchen that can be make into a commercial kitchen, but what are the odds of that?

Becca

[/quote]So my new plan is to sell the house I'm stuck with (HA) and buy the house next door and convert that over to a commercial kitchen and let my friends use it. We'll see how that goes.........[quote]

What a great idea! I hope that works out for you.

Becca

I didn't even know you could convert space on your property....the inspector here (also near Modesto) said that you could only use pre-zoned commercial property....not that I have anything 10 feet away from my house or property large enough

They DO make it tricky! My friend lives in Sanger and tried to make a go of it but ran into the same trouble....she pretty much gave it up now. Great idea about sharing a location - wish I had the kind of customer base to pay for that, lol.

true about the zoning. YOu need a nice guy down in zoning at city hall. For the city of Fresno. You have to have a home business. There are very specific things that fall under a home business. For example I run the cake supply biz out of my house and that is okay since it is an internet biz. You can have a hair salon in your house and other things. They key is that you don't have employees. Technically a bakery doesn't fall under the list of home buisnesses, but you can actually fudge it to make it work under the home biz requirements if the guy down at city hall is nice. I was told that it depends who you talk to! One of the gentlemen was willing to sign off on it for me.

One of the things they look at in a "home business" is the amount of traffic coming in and out of your home. Also, For a supply store, almost all the merchandize can be pre-packaged. Which means it does not need to be handled by the "retail location"

Hi cakesbybecca,

I am actually located very close to you. I live in Newman. I have a legal kitchen located in a cottage next to my house. I lucked out. Many factors came into play when I wanted to build the kitchen. Even though I wasn't commercially zoned, my neighbor had a real estate office next to his house. The building has been there for many years, so it was a little harder for them to say no to me. Also, I was given a home occcupation liscense to do cakes. No-one can come and pick-up the cake, I had to agree to deliver.

When I went to city hall to talk to the planner, he made it very clear this was a "catering kitchen" not a bakery. Everytime I said I wanted to build a bakery---he said---you mean a "catering kitchen". So finally I said yeah a catering kitchen!

Anyway it took a year of back and forth, but I now have my kitchen. If you are ever out this way (about 20 miles from modesto) pm me and I would be happy to show it to you.

Thanks, Cascades! Maybe I'll luck out like you did I checked out your website and your cakes are beautiful.

Becca

Just sweets if you do the gumpaste flowers class let me know, I'm in Long Beach but with some notice I can manage to go all the way to Hollister

Cascades is super nice! She let me come see her awesome set up at her place. I am soooo jealous! She is very lucky!

Thanks Alice for the compliment. I think of you often. Good luck with your kitchen.

Cascades

Justsweet, I got your PM but my DH is not really on board with the idea of me going so far by myself , I'm working so hard to convince him, I'll keep you posted, thanks