Think you want to open a bakery? The first thing you should do is to reflect on why you want to get into the bakery business. If you think it’s going to make you easy money and you’ll be rich quickly, then think again, as you should probably reconsider your decision and choose another business to get into.

Hopefully, the reason why you want to own and run a bakery is because you are interested in, and passionate about baking. You may or may not be a good baker at the moment, but the important thing is for you to absolutely love baking, as you will need a lot of dedication to make the business succeed.

A lot of people may be competent bakers who can bake really high quality cakes or cookies from recipes that they’ve done plenty of times at home. They have the ability to bake certain items very well, and lots of friends and family have told them that they should start their own bakery.

If you’re one of these talented amateur bakers, you shouldn’t jump into opening a bakery just because you can replicate Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies perfectly. Think about whether you would enjoy spending 10 to 12 hours standing in the kitchen every day, where you’ll need to bake lots of different products at speed and in great quantities. Think about how you will need to manage bakers, kitchen helpers and other staff who will all give you problems along the way. Think about what you would do if the cookies that you spend hours to bake end up not selling like you anticipated. If, after assessing the challenges of the business realistically, and you’re still keen on exploring further, read on.

In general, anyone who wants to own and run a bakery, should be passionate about baking, be competent at it, and would like to turn it into life-long career where they are committed to the job and business. Ideally, they should have worked in a bakery before in order to have a real taste of what the job entails and what it’s like to the whole day baking in a kitchen. Above all, they should be opening a bakery for the right reason, as it requires a significant investment in financial resources, time and copious amounts of hard work.

So, sit back and think real hard about why you want to start a bakery and whether you really do want to get into the business before taking the leap. Only you will know the real reasons behind your decision.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below if you’re unsure about anything.