How to Start My Own Pastry Shop

Pastry is a major type of bakers' confectionery. It includes many of the various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. Small tarts and other sweet baked products are called pastries. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts, quiches and pasties.

Pastry dough is the dough from which such baked products are made. Pastry dough is rolled out thin and used as a base for baked products.

Owning a pastry shop provides an exciting and potentially lucrative small-business opportunity. If you are a lover of baked products and have a knack in creating appetizing pastries, turn your passion and skills into a money-making venture. Starting your own pastry shop entails finding a great location, extensive planning, meeting licensing requirements and marketing the goodies. You do not need an educational background, but experience or skill in managing a business is a helpful asset.

Imagine owning your own pastry shop and tempting people each week with homemade desserts and coffee. It can give you a sense of purpose and drive, as well as a creative outlet. Learn how to start and operate your own pastry business.

Types

Shortcrust pastry: Shortcrust pastry is the simplest and most common pastry. It is made with flour, fat, butter, salt, and water to bind the dough. This is used mainly in tarts. It is also the pastry that is used most often in making a quiche. The process of making pastry includes mixing of the fat and flour, adding water, and rolling out the paste. The fat is mixed with the flour first, generally by rubbing with fingers or a pastry blender, which inhibits gluten formation by coating the gluten strands in fat and results in a short (as in crumbly; hence the term shortcrust), tender pastry. A related type is the sweetened sweet crust pastry, also known as paté sucrée, in which sugar and egg yolks have been added (rather than water) to bind the pastry.

Flaky pastry: Flaky pastry is a simple pastry that expands when cooked due to the number of layers. It bakes into a crisp, buttery pastry. The "puff" is obtained by the shard-like layers of fat, most often butter or shortening, creating layers which expand in the heat of the oven when baked.

Puff pastry: Puff pastry has many layers that cause it to expand or “puff” when baked. Puff pastry is made using flour, butter, salt, and water. The pastry rises up due to the water and fats expanding as they turn into steam upon heating. Puff pastries come out of the oven light, flaky, and tender.

Choux pastry: Choux pastry is a very light pastry that is often filled with cream. Unlike other types of pastry, choux is in fact closer to a dough before being cooked which gives it the ability to be piped into various shapes such as the éclair and profiterole. Its name originates from the French choux, meaning cabbage, owing to its rough cabbage-like shape after cooking. Choux begins as a mixture of milk or water and butter which are heated together until the butter melts, to which flour is added to form a dough. Eggs are then beaten into the dough to further enrich it. This high percentage of water causes the pastry to expand into a light, hollow pastry. Initially, the water in the dough turns to steam in the oven and causes the pastry to rise; then the starch in the flour gelatinizes, thereby solidifying the pastry. Once the choux dough has expanded, it is taken out of the oven; a hole is made in it to let the steam out. The pastry is then placed back in the oven to dry out and become crisp. The pastry is filled with various flavors of cream and is often topped with chocolate. Choux pastries can also be filled with ingredients such as cheese, tuna, or chicken to be used as appetizers.

Phyllo (Filo): Phyllo is a paper-thin pastry dough that is used in many layers. The phyllo is generally wrapped around a filling and brushed with butter before baking. These pastries are very delicate and flaky.

Things Needed

Instructions

Write a business plan as a guide for the business and as a prerequisite for accessing funding. Include an executive summary detailing what the business is about; the management and ownership; a market analysis; the marketing and sales strategy; and how you will utilize available financial resources.
Choose your location for your new pastry business. Location is a very important aspect for opening a new business. Choose busy traffic areas, but stay away from high competitor areas. Most businesses do well in urban areas as they are able to get to know their customers on a different level.
Obtain licenses to operate the pastry shop, which include: a business license, food safety license, state sales tax license and federal tax employee identification number. Visit the Small Business Administration portal to find out state-specific requirements for applying for state licenses (business, sales tax and food safety licenses). Note that before beginning operations you will need to pass an inspection from a health department official.
Buy equipment and supplies for the shop. These include wax paper and packaging boxes, baking bowls, mixers, measuring devices, pastry displays and baking equipment such as commercial ovens. Buy these from local restaurant or bakery equipment vendors or by attending an auction suitable for small start-ups like yours.
Visit the Internal Revenue Service website to apply for the federal tax employee identification number. Apply online and provide information such as the management and ownership structure of your business; number of employees; your name and address; and the name of the business and physical address.
Obtain a small-business loan if you do not have sufficient personal financing. Visit lenders such as banks which offer Small Business Administration loans. Make an application by providing information such as structure of the business; how you will use the loan; your credit history; business experience; available collateral; and business license numbers.
Develop a pastry menu by taking into consideration factors such as what your competition is offering, needs of the target market and current trends in the pastries industry. Think about a niche market such as customers with allergies or those who will buy high-end pastries. Price the pastries by considering ingredients, labor costs, business utilities and the intended profit margin.
Launch your pastry shop with a grand opening during which you offer free samples of your pastries to customers. Market your small business by setting up a website and placing flyers in strategic places such as malls or cafes. Hire at least two friendly servers to attend to customers.

Tip

Bootstrap your pastry shop by lowering costs as much as possible, especially on a location to rent or lease, labor costs and equipment. Do what you can do on your own, unless you really require outside help.
Think of creative ways to make your pastry business unique. Choose what you would want available to your guests whether it is coffee, doughnuts or apple turnovers. Create a tasty and sweet menu for your target audience.
Ask yourself whether you will hire a staff team to run this pastry business. Some new owners end up running their own business from the start with the help of family or friends. If you do not have the budget to hire a team yet, then leave it until you see how business goes.
Research about a suitable location and existing competition in the area. Find a high-traffic site, such as a mall, in an area that does not have too many pastry shops. Take into consideration the type of pastry shop you would like to have such as a cafe, a restaurant, or a take-away stand. An area with coffee shops and cafes can provide clients who might buy your pastries.
Research the market. Choose the target audience that you feel will enjoy the benefits from your company. Look at demographics of areas around town and figure out where your business will prosper.
Brainstorm ways to market your pastry business to the public. Use strategies such as making free samples of your pastries and give them to people passing by on the street.
Figure out the type of financing you will need for your business. One person might need a loan from the bank, while the other one might have a private investor.

Pages

Monday, December 1, 2014