My location has been plagued with issues over the last several months.  My shop has flooded 7 times in the last 2 months due to rain, twice due to my 3 sink leaking, and once from a pipe breaking in the ceiling.  Also learned that a grocery store was going in across the street from my location which would surely put me totally out of business.  My area is feast or famine.  I am in a tourist town.  During the summer my business booms, during the school year you can hear the cricket's chirpping LOL!  The locals only care about price not quality, so they thought I was too high.  My cupcakes are only .37 higher for a jumbo cupcake than the closest grocery store that is 25 miles away.  I feel quite confident that God is moving me into a different direction with all that is going on. Okay, I'm listening.  Now the work to turn my spare room in my house as my "cake" room.  

I am in Texas so it is legal to have an in home bakery.  

That said, the rules are no more selling online, so I have removed all my order forms from my site.  I will be selling at different Farmer's markets around my area (there are many to choose from).  My cupcake bar will again have to become an offering for special events.  Yes I actually take a bar and set up similar to my shop.  But not only am I dealing with this, I am totally burned out after 2 years of of which 85% of that time I was totally doing the whole thing by myself. Not what the business plan was, but lost my shirt on employee expenses the first 4 months I was open.  (Still paying the IRS for that quarter and will be for the next year.) My passion for cakes is almost non existent at the moment.  Hoping it will return.  

I found myself turning down cake orders really for no reason other than I just did not want to do them or I would have to rearrange my existing schedule to make it work so I passed.  

I might apply for the bakery manager position at the grocery store that is coming to our area.  I was a bakery manager for a grocery store once before.  My carpel tunnel won't let me be a grocery store decorator, I have to be able to decorate at my own pace due to the condition.  

At any rate, I am not looking for a new location in another town.  But will still do the occasional cake order.  I am happy with this decision.  But I am a Pisces so I am sure I will change my mind down the road at some point. :) 

wow--tough decisions and they sound really good for you too--congratulations on the big changes--and sorry for the myriad trouble that helped bring them on--

damn--seven floods plus an irs plague --really comes out sounding biblical but you're on the upswing now--so sorry you've been through all that--

i think the steadiness of the grocery manager job would be a welcome change for a while--

multiplied blessings on your new direction (far away from water ;)

♥

So sorry for your troubles. Don't the farmers markets have to be non-profit or something like that?

Not in Texas

AYou can still sell online, the only stipulation is that you have to have at least one in person interaction with the client, which can be at pickup or consultation etc. You don't need to remove your order forms at all.

I live in Texas and since I don't sell at flea or farmer's markets, I haven't really looked into it.  Apparently I have flea markets and farmers markets mixed up.

Q11: Where can I sell my food?

Answer: At your home, a farmer’s market, a farm stand, or a municipal, county, or nonprofit fair, festival, or event.  To rephrase, the fair, festival, or event must be sponsored by a municipality (city), county, or a non-profit organization.  The law does not allow for sales at privately sponsored public events such as craft fairs or flea markets.

Q42. Can I sell my items on the internet?

No.

Q43.  No internet sales?  Does this mean I can't have a web site?

Answer: You CAN have a web site, Facebook page, Twitter, etc.  You can use whatever method of promoting your business that you want to.  You simply can't allow the purchase to take place over the internet, such as setting up a shopping cart and letting customers "click and buy" on your web site, or a shop on Etsy or eBay.  This ensures that the spirit of the bill is upheld: local, face-to-face sales, where the customer knows the person who made their food. 

Q45. If there are no internet sales allowed, can I accept payment by Paypal or another online payment service?

Answer: Yes, as long as you meet face-to-face with your customer at some point in the transaction, ensuring that it is a local sale.

Those are opinions of what the law says, not excerpts from the actual law, but they are probably right.

AI take it to mean you can't sell orders to ship them out, so long as you meet the client in person at some point then it's fine.

AYeah, I agree with you, Kiki. I didn't write that stuff.

I would rather err on the side of caution than keep my order forms up and get fined because of it.  My order forms had Paypal button links that the person used to make payments on large orders or immediately pay for small/1 item orders.  They could pick up the item at my shop or have it delivered.  I only deal locally. 

So it has been 3 years since I closed my cake/cupcake bar & have been on Cake Central!  A LOT has changed for me.  In June of 2014 we moved our dance studio from Canyon Lake, TX to Kyle, TX.  We moved into my mom's house which was my grandparent's home when they were alive, to help her out as her health had declined.  On March 4, 2015 the house burned to the ground due to a 25 year old furnace.  We were at that point homeless, and had lost everything except our car, our pets, and the clothes on our backs!  All my mixers, most of my cake pans & tools, but worst of all, an invention that I had created for dancers to train better for pirouettes (turns), balance, turnout went crazy big globally!  So all cake business came to a halt.  And the fire took out our workshop where we built the them.  But, we had thousands of orders to fill and had to figure out how to restock the raw materials we needed, so i sold all my bakery equipment that we had in storage :(..  But it was necessary.   We now live in South Austin just about 10 minutes from our dance studio in Kyle.  The studio is now in it's third year and doing well, The Spin Spot (TM) is still going great and an company in Australia purchased manufacturing rights to make them to our specifications so they could get them at an affordable price.  But, my love of cake decorating is slowly returning.  I did a friend's birthday party cake, and have done cakes for my grand kid's birthdays, and one of my daughter's wedding cake.  Now the oldest daughter is getting married next month, but I am so out of practice!  It has been over a year since I have touched a cake!  And of course she wants a super opulent cake!  I have to buy so much stuff again just to make this cake, but having someone else do it would be so much more!  And of course because it wouldn't be my cake and icing, it probably wouldn't get eaten.  LOL!  

I purchased a new Kitchenaid, I need new pans and bead molds, I can buy gumpaste flowers, because I just can't justify spending so much on equipment and tools.  I still hope to have my cake biz again for my retirement someday, but The Spin Spot has overtaken my life.  We travel all over teaching workshops at studios and conventions across the country, and are planning to venture to other countries to launch.  The largest retailer of dance products in the country, Capezio, carries The Spin Spot in all of their stores across the USA and are interested in carrying them in their London, Canadian, and other stores that aren't in the USA.   If any of you are interested actually seeing what this product is you can go to our website www.thespinspot.com  (ps - you can also use it as a turntable for cakes!)  

I shut down the Cakes Divine and Cupcakes Divine websites, and let the web addresses go, so if I ever do reopen it will be under a different name.  

Wow!  Congratulations on your new venture. God was just getting you on a different path. Good for you for listening.

Wishing you more success than ever and good luck with your daughter's cake. You go, girl! 

Thanks so much for returning after all these years for an update! Your story is just WOW. Glad you are experiencing success in your new business. Congratulations!

so nice to see you again -- wow you've really been through it -- loosing everything in a house fire is devastating -- glad you had all the ireplacables left and a car too -- wow but what a journey you've been on --

so glad your spinspot is doing so well -- going into other countries is amazing success -- congratulations!

can't wait to see your next creation for your daughter -- hey -- i've done this a few times -- i get a pass on all the other wedding responsibilities and i just focus on the cake plus i have a dedicated helper that cannot be leached even if he's sitting on his boo -- he's all mine whenever especially for delivery -- hey but i get in on the free food -- showers and rehearsal dindin -- 

so just a thought for you -- don't take on too much

great to 'see' you -- although cc has changed a bunch it's a more peaceful place now and i like it --

best of the best to you