I am sure there are alot of people lurking around in the cake decorating business forum dreaming of having there own storefront and cursing the health department and their no-home-based-cake-business-regulations. Me being one of them. So the question is how did you get started? How did you make that big leap into leasing a building or adding on to your home or whatever you did that made you legit? I would LOVE to be able to jump into a lease, buy some equipment, and start advertising but for most people that is an impossible dream. So how did you do it????

I am using a commercial kitchen right now, no store front. I am building my client business that way. Slowly it is going but it allows me to keep my regular job and build on the side. I'm not turning a profit just yet but I am seeing it turn around.

How did you go about finding a commercial kitchen that you could use? I am not familiar with that. Do you mean just like a restaurant that let's you come in a use their kitchen when they are not open or what? My cousin is some fancy smancy food or event cooridinator or something like that for a local university. I wonder if I could use the university's kitchen.

What do you mean no-home-base-cake-business??? I'm not aware of this, and I have thought about getting my own business. Thanks.

Check with your health dept if you may sell cakes from home. laws vary according to county.

Great thanks just_for_fun. I appreciate it.

Wow I didn't realize they would have such strict regulations....imagine that!!

Thanks!

I spoke with my Dept of Ag today. And I can't have a home-based business without a license if I don't have anything that needs refridgerated, otherwise I just need a home bakery license which is only $10 per year. And Dept of Ag needs to inspect my kitchen. And I don't have to have a separate kitchen. I'm only supposed to use a single oven kitchen. Whew that's all a relief...I know I can handle this.

Thanks everyone!

Carla- check out the cottage laws on the Dept. of Ag's website. You don't even have to pay the $10 fee if you go cottage. However, there are labeling requirements with the cottage law. Other than that, as long as you don't have furry animals in the house or carpet in the kitchen, you're good to go!

Thanks cheatize. I did look at their website. I printed it off actually. Yes I saw that I didn't even need to have license for cottage. Thanks for the heads up. I appreciate it.

AH! How did the topic change! LOL I have the same questions as the OP because I'm in the same situation. I keep hearing about commercial kitchens, but am not sure how to go about finding one either, or heck, even what it means.

I'm waiting to hear back from my Ag dept as to a home based buisness and may be in the situation where a commercial kitchen is what I have to do.

as far as commercial kitchens go, you can check with your local church, or maybe a catering business that's willing to rent out their space (normally on an hourly basis) to you. Just make sure you also get liability insurance so that in case something happens, you have ample coverage. HTH.

You can also do a search for incubator kitchens and see if there's one near enough to you to be workable.

I'm also interested in the OP, but also curious, do most people go straight in to their own business? are there not many pre-existing cakeries that would hire? in the future i'd love to do cakes for income, but really can't see myself running my own business ... is there hope??? surely some of you started under the wing of someone else.