Step-by-step guide to starting a successful Bakeries business.
In many places yes, under cottage food laws, but the rules vary a lot by state and country — they typically limit which foods qualify, where you can sell, and how items must be labeled. Check your local health department's cottage food rules first, because they also affect where you are allowed to advertise and ship.
Open Thanksgiving and Christmas order books four to six weeks out and announce cutoffs prominently, because your production capacity — oven space and hands — is the real constraint, not demand. Selling out of pre-orders early is a marketing asset: it trains customers to order the moment the book opens.
Usually yes early on, because it smooths cash flow, uses oven capacity you are already paying for, and seeds your product around town with your name on the case card. Protect yourself with minimum order sizes and clear delivery terms, and drop accounts that pay late — a slow-paying cafe is worse than no account.
You need to be adequate, and natural light does most of the work — shoot near a window before the shop opens and keep the background consistent. People buy baked goods with their eyes, so one decent daily photo beats a week of text posts about specials.