Start A Home Business - Bake Cookies For Profit

Have you considered utilising your baking skills to develop the easiest and most lucrative home business? Then you should be thinking of starting a cookie or candy business from your own home. Everybody loves cookies and candy and if it is home made, it adds that extra attraction. A stake in the cookie market can be very lucrative, as well as rewarding for you and your wallet. So if you are looking for a great business opportunity, why not try your hand at selling cookies ?

The current trend is towards more home-based businesses. They require lower overhead and start up money making them easier for entrepreneurs with limited funds.
There are several benefits to running a home-based baking business.

First of all, you can run the business from your home. Since you already pay a mortgage, utilities and car payments, the only thing you need spend money on now is the equipment for your business.

Secondly, a home-based service business requires low overhead and startup costs. The key to keeping the overhead low is taking on only as many projects as you can safely and efficiently handle by yourself. Try to do as many things yourself rather than appointing extra staff.

Another important factor is the fact that you can establish a website for selling your product and that lowers the overhead even more and maximizes your profit. With the Internet as your potential customer base, the opportunities are endless for marketing and finding clients. If you love baking, home baking business is ideal to start because you already have a kitchen and most of the tools and equipment needed to start your business.

There are literally thousands and thousands of styles and combinations for business ideas that can make you very successful. What about a cupcake business? You can make money by making cup cakes at home and selling them at community events. You could also go with a basic sugar cookie recipe, but cut them out into all different shapes, sizes and decorations to go with every holiday or occasion.

Personalized cookies are also a fabulous gift, and can also be used to commemorate dates like weddings and anniversaries. Wedding cookies are getting increasingly popular. Monogrammed cookies with the bride and bridegrooms names on it gives the wedding that special touch. In the cookie business, it is easy to see that such cheap ingredients such as flour, sugar, eggs, and other flavorings can easily be turned into a product that is not only eye catching and tasty, but also one that can bring in a fabulous stream of income for years and years to come.

WHY COOKIES?

As was mentioned, there are many options when you are considering a home baking business. To make money from your efforts, there are some principles that you should consider.

Firstly, you want to make money! Your approach should be business-like and the product that you choose must meet the following criteria:

Cost-effective. The cost of ingredients and other inputs should allow you to charge a reasonable selling price and in turn provide a profit. Cookies can be produced cost-effectively (provided you have the right recipes) and you can make a handsome profit.

Attractive. Some extra effort to decorate your product will be handsomely rewarded. Get some tips for decorating your cookies. ! Get some hints on packaging to make your cookies look attractive.

Quality. Use only quality ingredients. You want your customers to want to come back for more. A tasty cookie will give you a happy customer

Secondly, you want a product that has a reasonable shelf life. Products such as cakes and pies must be sold immediately. Cookies on the other hand, can be stored or even refrigerated to last for a long time. What you don't sell today, you can sell tomorrow.

Thirdly, most cookies can withstand reasonably rough handling. If you are going to transport or ship your product, you want to be sure that it reaches its destination intact.

Fourthly, everybody likes cookies and they are really versatile and you can let your imagination go. Cookie hampers or gift baskets are popular and you can establish a lucrative corporate market. Fortune cookies and wedding gift cookies are ideal for special occasions such as birthdays and weddings. You can also meet the special needs of some of your customers. Special diabetic cookies or diet cookies can provide you with a niche that can be a money spinner.

Lastly, to make cookies, you don't need specialised equipment or knowledge. It is the ideal home business.Use your baking skills (even if it is limited) and make real money.
Your potential market starts with your close friends and family. Making money was never easier.

Here are some tips to bake great cookies!

1. Use a heavy roll pin to roll out dough. Do not work directly on your kitchen counter top. Get a plastic table cloth or sheet of about
1m x .5m to work on. Lightly sprinkle some flour on the plastic sheet to avoid the dough from sticking to the plastic sheet.

2. Instead of greasing baking pans, use baking sheets (get them at any grocer). This saves time and you can use them more than once.

3. Always pre-heat your oven. This will ensure that cookies will start baking immediately.

4. Let cookies stand for at least 2 minutes to cool down before removing it to wire cooling racks.This prevents cookies from breaking when handled.

5. Always follow the recipe to the letter. Do not try to change ingredients or the cooking method.This way you will get a great result.

Is it possible to make a good profit from home baked cookies? Without a doubt a very good profit is possible. The most important thing is to keep your input costs as low as possible. The most important input costs are the following:

1. Cost of ingredients
2. Packaging
3. Labor cost (only if you employ staff)
4. Transport cost
5. Advertising

Ingredients represent the highest input cost. To keep the cost of ingredients as low as possible, you should choose the right recipe. The aim should be to find a recipe that uses low cost ingredients without compromising quality and taste. I have tested many recipes before I got the right ones and I have had great success with cookies such as ginger cookies, peanut butter cookies, Romany creams and coconut cookies. My net profit on these range from 70% to 90% and I can still keep my selling price at an acceptable level.

Candy is basically made from two sources. The first is a sugar water mixture or syrup and the second is chocolate.

I like to divide sugar candies into the following basic types:

1. Hard candies such as brittles and lollipops. Peanut brittle is a favorite that we recommend for your cookie/candy business. The sugar mixture is hard and cracks when cold. They can be colored and flavored in wide variety. Moulds can be used to make them in different forms.
2. Toffee and caramel are made in the same way as hard candy except that milk and fat are added. The milk is usually condensed milk and the fat is either butter or vegetable oil.
3. Nougat is placed in a separate category because it doesn't contain milk and it is aerated by mixing egg in boiled syrup. It is a tricky process and not recommended for beginners.
4. Soft candies such as marshmallows and Turkish delight. This is where the syrup holds its ball shape but is still sticky. They are not difficult to make and are recommended for home making.
5. Jelly candies. These are made of gelatin and they have a chewy texture and are often flavored with fruit juices or extracts.
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I have recently come across this great idea to market home baked cookies directly to the customer. The idea is to deliver products freshly baked and still hot directly to your customer. It is the same principle as when you order a pizza for delivery to your home.

To make this idea work, you must prepare a dough that can be stored for a period of time and then use it as and when required. The cookies are baked immediately when an order is received and delivered while still hot. However, with every order you must establish the quantity required as well as where the product must be delivered to. Otherwise you might end up with having to bake 5 cookies and deliver miles from your home.
Your hot cookie delivery business can be marketed to local businesses around your neighborhood. If possible, you want your market to be as close as possible to where you will be baking the cookies. The best area will be where you have a dense population with people who frequently make use of delivery services.
Apart from a telephone and of course the right cookie recipe, you do not have to have a lot of money to start this home business. Once your service gets known around the neighborhood, it will grow steadily into a profitable business.

Play baking games online! This is the hottest new online past time. If you like games and want to learn how to bake cakes, cookies etc, why not try a baking game? The cool thing is that you get the opportunity to see how the ingredients are mixed together and how baking takes place. The recipe is available for you to download and test it in real life.

Can you make a profit on home made candy? This is a question every one wanting to venture into home made candy as a business should ask. The example below is based on actual figures and shows that a profit of more than 100% is possible.The most important thing is to keep your input costs such as the cost of ingredients, packaging etc. as low as possible.

Ingredients represent the highest input cost. To keep the cost of ingredients as low as possible, you should choose the right recipe. The aim should be to find a recipe that uses low cost ingredients without compromising quality and taste. I have tested many recipes before I got the right ones and I have had great success with candies such as Peanut Brittle, Turkish Delight and Fudge. A profit of 100% or more is quite possible and in the table below is an example of my profit on Fudge.

Estimated costing, mark-up & suggested selling price

Fudge:
Cost of ingredients R 25.08
Electricity R 1.00
Packing R 0.11
Total cost R 26.19
No of units produced 48
Units/pack 4
No of packs 12
Cost/pack R 2.18
Mark-up 2.82
Selling price/pack R 5.00
Profit/pack 114.67%