I have been baking from home for a while and I would like to open my own business. I need your help. I have been reading a lot and It seems for me the way to go is get a websit and rent a commercial kitchen. The problem that I am having is that I have no idea where to start, who to contact or what is required of me. What are the rules of using a commercial kitchen? Do I bake and decorate there? Can I store my cakes there? Once a cake is done there can I bring it home? Please help, I woudl really lile to get this off the ground.

The first thing you need to do is find a place that will rent to you and that you can afford. There is no need to call the health department or anyone else until you know if there is even anyplace you can bake from.

Once you find a place, you will have to ask them if you can store your cakes there. The health department where I am is pretty lax and know that I do my baking at the place I rent from and some of the decorating at home, and they are OK with that since doing fondant figures and gumpaste flowers while paying $12/hr rent is just too much. Some health departments are more lenient than others, it just depends on your health inspector.

I started out renting from a kitchen incubator (through the local university) and am renting from another bakery - and I found them through a Craigslist ad. You can place an ad in the business sections asking about kitchen rental.