How to Start a Boutique Bakery in London

Photo: Sharon Tay/Unsplash

Always Start with a Business Plan

The most important first step in any business launch is to start with a business plan. Having a business plan for your boutique bakery lets you create an outline of your professional objectives and organise the steps you need to take in order to achieve them.

HubSpotsums up why starting with a business plan is so essential to your success: ‘If you want to build a thriving company that can pull ahead of the competition, you need to prepare yourself for battle before you break into a market.

Business plans guide you along the rocky journey of growing a company. Referencing once throughout your voyage will keep you on the path toward success. And if your business plan is compelling enough, it can also convince investors to give you funding.’

Always start with a business plan. Photo: Maranda Vandergriff Unsplash

Determine Your Costs

When you dream of starting your own boutique bakery, it can be easy to get caught up in the whim and fancy of the whole idea.

Most people want to plan their social media presence and design the interior of their bakery, but very few want to sit down and write out their start-up costs.

Costing your business can feel like an arduous task. It’s boring to list all your incoming and outgoing costs. However, determining the cost of launching your boutique bakery is essential if you want to succeed in such a competitive niche.

Once you know the costs involved in starting your own bakery, you have a better idea of the finances required to get your business off the ground and have it succeed for the long term.

Invest in a Quality Payment System

London is a fast-paced city full of busy people. So, you need a card paymentsystem that can keep up. Whether you’re serving commuters on their way to work or tourists busy seeing the sights, your customers will expect fast and convenient payments.

With a contactless payment system, you can provide a better service to your customers and boost the efficiency of your business. According to SumUp, a high-quality payment system helps you ‘get paid easily, process orders quickly, sell online instantly and manage your money more efficiently.’

Investing in a quality payment system is a great way to serve your customers, streamline your business operations, and stay competitive.

Make sure you invest in a quality payment system. Photo: Nadya Spetnitskaya/Unsplash

Find the Perfect Location

When you are launching a brick-and-mortar business, such as a boutique bakery, it’s all about location. You want to really do your research:

What are your customers looking for? Where are they based? Is there any immediate competition? Where can you buy high-quality ingredients?

Conducting research into the locations you’re interested in will help you find the right location that will serve your business best.

Commercial Food Regulations

Launching a business that makes and sells food items can be a little more complicated than selling clothing or children’s toys.

All commercial food businesses in the UK must abide by the official food regulations as set out by the Food Standards Agency. This ensures that the food you are preparing, selling, and storing meets the legal requirements and is safe for consumption.

Launching your boutique bakery is a little more complicated than just making your favourite recipes and selling them on your bakes. You need to consider details such as a food premises licence, a business classification, ensuring your food hygiene and safety standards are acceptable, and more.

Launching a boutique bakery is a lot of work. There are lots of hoops to jump through. However, it will all be worth it in the end.

Do market research also, before launching your bakery. Photo: Tyson Moultrie/Unsplash

Get Trained Up to Compete

While you don’t strictly need any qualifications to open your own bakery, there are hundreds of bakeries in London all vying for the top spot. And plenty of those bakers will have undergone years of professional training to achieve the success they now enjoy. So, if you want to compete, it’s important to learn a few basic skills and gain some valuable experience.

Some business owners choose to learn from their staff. You could hire some talented bakers and prepare food alongside them so you can pick up some of their skills.

This would count as learning on the job but is a great way to dive straight into the deep end and learn as much as you can.

Another option, of course, is to take some cookery classes or to practice baking in your spare time. As with most skills, baking is something that is mastered over time. It takes practice and patience. So, the more time you can spend in the kitchen learning how to bake, the better.

Consider the Type of Packing

Packaging is very important to the modern consumer. Sustainability is more important than ever before and consumers tend to be more loyal when they can see you’re making an effort.

In fact, research shows us that sustainable packaging drives consumer loyalty. So, an important consideration to make is what type of packaging you will use in your bakery. A few sustainable options might include:

Cardboard containers Paper bags Cardboard cake boxes Baking paper and string

Opting, where you can, for disposable, sustainable, and recyclable packaging options will help endear you to your customers as well as protect your precious bakes until they are ready to eat.

For more information on SumUp, visit sumup.co.uk