New Year, New Venture

Introducing......

 

It's good when a plan comes together. In February 2015, when we were living in London, I wrote a post about my work experience at the Cavan Bakery in West Molesey and ended it with a paragraph saying ....

So it's back to my public sector 'day job' on Monday – I’m coming to the conclusion that a part time admin job (for the steady salary and boring pension....zzzzzz) and part time baking role (for the job satisfaction and variety) is what I need to keep me sane!! So that needs to be my next plan……

Nearly a year later, we're back in Shrewsbury and I am working part-time in the NHS (steady salary and boring pension - tick), I successfully completed my NVQ3 City & Guilds Diploma in Patisserie & Confectionary and we recently moved house. I now have a lovely smart kitchen large enough to create cakes, worktop space for my new Kenwood stand mixer and plenty of room to store my ever growing collection of cake decorating equipment and books. Time to see if I can make a success of a cake decorating business.

There's still a lot to think about and organise including marketing and ensuring I operate legally, complying with all regulations. I've registered our home as a Food Business Establishment with Shropshire Council, I passed my Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering and have arranged Public & Product Liability Insurance. I now need to sit down and develop a pricing structure - probably one of the most difficult things to get right. Too low and I won't cover my costs, too expensive and people won't use me - see my previous post here about the tricky business of pricing home-made bespoke celebration cakes. 
 

Input from my son Owen, who is a graphic designer, has been invaluable. I came up with the company name - Crescent Cakes - based on the area of Shrewsbury we have moved to. From this he has created a fantastic logo, designed business cards and is now working on my website. He even designed and commissioned a crescent shaped cookie cutter and arranged for it to be produced on a 3D printer as a Christmas present. You should have seen my face when I unwrapped it - you wouldn't believe anyone could get so excited about a cookie cutter!

I really need to get up to speed with marketing my business on social media. I've decided to concentrate on using Twitter, Instagram and writing blog posts. If you like what I do please spread the word, or better still commission a cake from me! But bear with me while I work out the price......