I've been tossing around this idea in my head and I want to hear your thoughts, especially if you have personal experience with the industry (you buy or sell cakes, or know someone who does). I searched for cake decorating in the forum search engine but nothing came up so that's why I'm starting a new thread. BTW, I live in Perth, Australia.
Why I'm interested in this business idea:
Because I love cooking, it seems lucrative enough to live comfortably, I'm somewhat artistic and it sounds like an enjoyable way to earn money. I'd definitely need to practice and photograph my best work for my website first.
What would give me an edge over my competitors:
I would be willing to produce gourmet gluten-free/diabetic-friendly/vegan/vegetarian cakes, using healthy and organic ingredients as much as possible. I'd be willing to take custom orders and cater to "fringe" customers with unusual requests. I'd try to appeal to people with medical/dietary issues. I'd be willing to offer a delivery service. I might expand to making pizzas, cupcakes, pastries, candy, bread etc. I am really disgusted by how many food businesses throw out perfectly good food and generate so much waste, so I'd like being environmentally friendly to be a selling point.
Market:
I think my main market would be weddings and birthday parties, possibly graduation parties. People are always having weddings and birthday parties. Many seem willing to spend a lot of money on making sure they are memorable and special events. I'm pretty sure this is the kind of business that would thrive in large metropolitan areas rather than small towns. I think I can reasonably expect business all year round, if I develop a good reputation and a strong customer base. I don't know how many people would need more than 1 wedding cake in their lifetime though...
Questions:
How much is reasonable to charge for a wedding cake? Per hour spend making it or lump sum?
How much have you paid for a wedding cake, if any at all?
How much is reasonable to charge for delivery? Per kilometre driven or a lump sum or something else?
If I delivered the cakes, would I need a refrigerated van?
If the cake was in layers, should I deliver each layer and decorations individually and assemble the whole cake at the delivery site, or deliver the cake whole?
Do I absolutely need access to a large professional bakery, or would it be feasible for me to bake cakes from a normal kitchen? I'm assuming that if I start, I won't get a lot of orders and I could bake from my own home, possibly relocating to a brick and mortar shop with an industrial bakery once I get 10-20+ orders per week. I suppose I would need an industrial kitchen if I was making one of those really large cakes where people jump out from inside, but I guess no one really eats those cakes anyway. At the beginning I'd like to keep my overhead as low as possible.
How much is reasonable to pay a web designer to build a professional and attractive website for my business? Per hour or lump sum?
Would I need to hire an accountant/lawyer or would it be possible for me to arrange the business licensing/taxes by myself? I am willing to learn how to do it myself if that's possible.
I'll probably think of more questions later on. This thread is making me hungry so I'm going to go get something to eat.