Many people are in love with baked goods. Among the top favorites of Americans are fresh bread and rolls, cookies, and snack bars. This is one reason why those with a passion for baking decided to turn their talent into a money-making machine. But even if you learned the right skills to start your own bakery, many things can go wrong, as with any other business type. If you want to achieve better bakery success, you don’t want to make the following mistakes.
Substituting Quality with Cheap Ingredients
Many bakeries started with high-quality baked goods. But as time passes, their customers start to notice a difference in the quality and even taste of the products. This usually happens when they substitute the ingredients with lower quality ones to cut some costs.
The quality of your ingredients can make or break your finished product. Even if most bakers know this, many of them and their staff still opt to turn to lower quality ingredients thinking no one would notice. You may think you are saving money, but you could already be losing customers in the process.
The same goes for taking water quality for granted. Just because the water in your facility is potable does not mean you should already settle on your tap water. For best results, you want to have the water tested and invest in a quality water filtration system to ensure the water you use can keep up with your baking needs.
Trying to Do Everything by Hand or on Your Own
Are you still trying to run the bakery all by yourself? Do you tend to do everything by hand and can’t find the courage to allow trained staff to help you behind the scene? Then you’ll soon feel burned out for trying to do everything on your own.
There is no point in claiming all the responsibilities. This is especially true if you have reliable staff willing to give a helping hand. Start training your staff or hire competent bakers to reduce your workload and improve your bakery's efficiency.
It is also crucial that you invest in quality materials and equipment that makes sense. For instance, you’re having a hard time filling your baked goods, adding frosting to your cupcakes, or measuring the amount of batter in each of your molds. You can invest in a tabletop piston depositor with different dispensing nozzle options to carry out consistent measurements every time.
Ignoring Local Marketing
Some think putting up a store sign, opening your doors to the public and a bit of marketing is enough for a bakery to thrive. Not even that scrumptious smell coming off of your bakery or those mouth-watering baked goods in your displays would be enough to lure local customers. This is especially true if you already have tons of competitions in the area that already established a loyal customer base.
What you need is to embrace both online and offline marketing tactics to boost your audience reach. The larger your reach is, the better your chances of attracting new clients that need and want your products. You can try the following marketing stunts to boost your bakery’s marketing.
- Grow your social media following.
- Place free samples by your counter.
- Bundle or markdown day-old bread.
- Throw in a discount for every dozen.
- Share online content with your followers.
- Support a cause by sponsoring an event or charity.
- Create your bakery’s official website and consider taking online orders.
- Claim your business on online business directories like Google My Business.
- Hold an online contest featuring your own products and your store’s hashtag.
- Ask support from family and friends to spread the word about your bakery.
- Use a chalkboard on your storefront, write today’s specials, strike a discount deal, a fun fact, or a cool trivia to catch passersby’s attention.
Not Having a Backup Plan
Everything can go according to your plan, until one day, it doesn’t. You could be short in staff, your oven might have overheated, your supplier fails to deliver your ingredients on time, or you got sick, and you can’t create a fresh batch of baked goods without contaminating the area. Without a backup plan, you can end up losing tons of sales for today or miss a big shot customer who chose the wrong date to show up.
It is crucial that you already have a plan on what to do and how to solve any issue that may arise one any business day. This is why it is important to train your staff to do what you can, know who to call do in case of an emergency, and what you can do to prevent such issues from arising in the future.
Challenges are common in any business. But with proper planning, making the right investments, and employing the right people, your bakery can express greater success. Make sure you avoid these common bakery regret triggers, and you can start positioning your bakery for greater success.
