The #1 Best Thing I Did for My Baking Business
The #1 best thing I did for my baking business was to bring in non-baked, non-perishable items. Hands down, this was a game changer for me and, had I not done that, I likely would have thrown in the towel and here is why.
After a full summer of attending my local market twice per week and consistently selling out, I was exhausted. So exhausted in fact that one day I finally reached my breaking point. It was probably 7pm in the evening and I’d been baking since 6 or 7am that morning. This seemed to be the norm for me nowadays and, frankly, I was tired. I was earning a stable income at this point. I was my own boss. I had accomplished much of what I set out to do…set my own schedule, be there for my family, etc. I had so much to be grateful for but I also never had a day off. Even worse, I had secured a “permanent” stall which was awesome since I could leave the majority of my set-up there but it also required me to be “committed” which meant ensuring that I, or someone else, was there to run the stall twice per week. As soon as I finished one market day, I had a couple days to prepare for the next and then rinse/repeat. I was burning the candle at both ends.
Something had to give and I knew it. I considered hiring baking help but this wasn’t really something I felt ready for at this point. Plus, being an introvert, the idea of having someone coming into my home to help me bake didn’t seem less stressful, it seemed even more stressful. Finally, I realized that I just needed to have a full market stall. Why did that mean it all had to be baked from scratch by me? There were other stalls featuring candles, soaps, clothes, etc. Those vendors weren’t handcrafting these items with the fear that if they didn’t sell by the end of the day, it would have to be donated or worse, thrown away. So I began considering how I might replicate this model in my baking stall.
And that is how I added my very first, and still most popular, non-baked and non-perishable item…creamed honey. It was well received and soon after, I added sourdough starter, dehydrated soup mixes, sourdough pancake mix, my danish dough whisks (absolutely adore those, by the way!) and eventually the amazing vanilla bean paste.
What I found was that this very simple change was a game changer for me. It meant that if I had enough time to bake in high quantities, I could. But if I was needing to slow down for whatever reason, my stall would still be full. It also meant that if I needed to go out of town and have one of my kids, or someone else, run my stall, they were able to do that with ease versus being responsible for a great deal of baked items. And, even better, it also greatly increased my average hourly wage which you can read about in my post “How I Increased My Hourly Wage as a Baker” since I was able to make these items so much faster and they did not perish!
So, if you are a baker and you only have baked goods on your menu, try adding a few things that you can make in bulk, stock your shelves up with. take with you to markets or put on your website. You will be so glad to have some additional items that make both you and your customers happy!
