i know i've read on some threads that some of you own shops where you sell donuts/pastries/coffee etc in addition to cakes. i'm hoping for some advice and some info!

i've had my wedding cake shop for about 3 years and so far have just done large custom cake orders. this year i've started making baked, organic, gourmet mini donuts. right now i'm selling them wholesale to a few restaurants and as wedding favors to my brides. but i'm interested in expanding the donuts and possibly opening a sister shop/coffee house that my DH would run and manage, while i handle the wedding cake shop.

so here are my questions. i've never worked in a coffee shop, and i'm not sure what a typical work day looks like. what are the busiest hours of operation? do you bake the night before or early in the morning each day? what kind of volume do you do? and i'm worried that i'm romanticizing the whole scheme, and that we will end up hating it. i'm no stranger to running a biz, as thats been my full time job for 3 years, but is a donut/coffee shop significantly different/harder/worse/better than a wedding cake shop? are there any things we should be thinking about that i might not be considering? any other advice you all might have would be much appreciated!

TIA!!!!

We have owned our bakery for 8 years. We don't make doughnuts. But offer assorted pastries. Like cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, muffins assorted danish, turnovers, cookies, scones, bars and brownies.
We also serve lunch , coffee, cater, cakes for all occassions, pies, cheesecakes.

As for money coming in the least comes from our bakery case. It is a way to lure people in to get them to order cakes and specialty cookies.

the majority of our sales are cakes, cookies and lunch.
Hope this helps.

I think it might be a wise investment for your husband to take even a part-time job in a coffee/donut shop. I had a friend whose dream it was to open a B&B in Vermont. She moved there for one year.

During the winter, it was the worst weather in years. Ice coated the state so bad that at one point she had to park her 4-wheel drive at the end of her driveway and crawl to her house over the ice.

She came home 6 months early. Inexpensive lesson well learned. There are so many lessons that we learn hands-on, both good and bad. The experience is what sees you through.