How to start a cookie business

To start a cookie business, you need to determine your cookie specialty and scale of your business, create your menu, and develop a business plan. Here are some details on these steps and others you can take to start a cookie business:

• Determine your cookie specialty and scale of your business. Cookie businesses often thrive when they serve a niche of the cookie market.

  First, you must ask yourself some simple questions, including:

  What kind of cookies will your business serve?

  The list of options is somewhat endless. A safe bet is to make some traditional cookies, and then some cookies that are unique, to appeal to niche cookie audiences.

  This question also applies to if your cookies will be even further specialized, such as if you prepare them for vegans or the gluten-free market.

  How much are you able to work?

  If you are going into this business full time that's great, but if you are initially doing this part-time or as a side hustle, you'll probably have to keep most of your baking services to the weekends.

  Who are you going to hire?

  Even if you are planning on being the head baker in charge you still need to consider who else you will hire to help with the baking and delivering of your cookies.

• Research your local cookie market. It is critical to do a lot of research on your local cookie market, this means finding out the consumer base in your area, as well as any competing cookie companies.

  A great way to learn about competitors is to talk with their customers. Here you can get information on what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong, and at the same time, you'll be doing customer research.

• Create a menu. It's likely this was one of the first things you thought about when you first wanted to start a cookie business.

  Menus can always evolve or be changed, but it's best to start out with a list of options. This is also critical when it comes to figuring out how many employees you need.

  If your cookies are simple, you'll likely need fewer or even no baking employees, but if you are doing challenging cookies, it's almost a guarantee you are going to need help.

  Your menu will ultimately be shaped by your capacity and your kitchen facilities.

• Purchase equipment. Depending on your cookie menu, you may need to purchase a lot of cooking equipment or very little.

  Put together a list of all of the essential equipment you need to start your cookie business. If you have the capital, you can go ahead and purchase these items.

  If you need money, consider a small business loan from a bank, or getting friends, family, or business people to invest in your food business.

• Create a business plan. Your business plan should cover customer research, competitors, a startup budget, and financial projections for your cookie business.

  At this stage, you should also choose a name for your business. Pick something snappy, cookie-related if possible, and memorable.

• Develop a marketing strategy that makes financial sense. Utilize the internet to market your cookie business.

  You should create social media accounts for your cookie business and try to gain friends and followers. You can post about your services and pricing, as well as show actual pictures of your cookies.

  You should also develop a website. On it, you should have your pricing and contact information, as well as things like customer testimonies about your services. Make sure your social media business accounts link to your website and vice versa.

  One of the best forms of marketing for a cookie business is word of mouth. Here you don't actually have to do much of the marketing at all, just simply bake excellent cookies and get customers, or clients, to recommend you to others.

• Costs of starting a cookie business from home. Starting a cookie business from home can cost as little as a few hundred dollars or as much as several thousand, depending on the decisions you make.

  Of course, startup costs vary from business to business, but after doing the planning entailed in all the other previous steps you should have a good ballpark notion of how much capital you will need to start your cookie business.

  Your initial budget should cover your startup costs and operating costs for a year, without taking business revenue into consideration.