Pastries are light snacks that everybody eats at one time of the day or the other. It may be eaten at home as refreshments, or at work during lunch break. Pastries involve many types of small cakes or confectioneries.
These are cakes, chin-chin, burger, sharwama, etc, as they come in so many forms. They are in high demand in the market. They are eaten as snacks and also vital at occasions and ceremonies. Pastries have high nutritional value and also rich in carbohydrate, fat and mineral.
They provide fast energy when it’s needed. Pastries are usually made of dough of flour, margarine, and water, used as a base and covering in baked dishes such as pies. While some of them are tribal, that is, eaten in certain parts of the country, other snacks, such as meat pie, which is the highest bought pastry in most eateries, chin chin, fish or egg rolls, puff-puff, are more popular and widely eaten by everybody.
All you need is to create a work space in your house and always make it clean and germ free. Your business should be located at an area where people will be able to patronise you
We also have plantain chips, which can be fried unripe or ripe plantain, which is popularly sold in traffic jams, and known for its high nutritional value in iron and other vitamins. The good thing about the pastry business is that it is not just a feminine business, as it can be done by just anyone.
All that is needed is to know everything needed and the wherewithal to start a pastry supply business. As someone who wants to go into pastry business, you must acquire the necessary skills needed in the business.
It is important you learn as many pastry skills as possible, because pastry business involves knowing how to bake lots of snacks like cakes, sandwich, bugger, doughnut and many others.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Sparkling Desserts, Mrs Fimisade Ayinla, to start a pastry business, one must carry out a feasibility study of the business he or she wishes to go into. There is also the need to consider the capital, so as to know the scale of production the business will hinge on. You must have a clear source of capital.
You can get initial capital from personal savings, family and friends, bank loans, etc. At this stage, you should meet people who are already into the business to learn a couple of things from them, so as to help you in decision making as a starter.
You must also consider your prospective customers, that is, you must look for new ways to get customers, distributors, marketers, etc, and at the same time, be ready to supply to supermarkets, schools, banks, malls, hotels, bars and wineries, among others. This is why location of the business is very key, as you will need a place to operate from.
However, you may not necessarily need to rent a shop, as you can do it from the comfort of your home. All you need is to create a work space in your house and always make it clean and germ free.
RECALL
• Little capital is required for start up
• It is flexible, as it can be done by anybody, male or female
• No need to rent a space. Can be operated from the comfort of your home
Your business should be located at an area where people will be able to patronise your pastry. Having a defined business address makes customers and suppliers take you more seriously. If you are considering a large scale pastry production business, you can consider whether you have the capacity to employ someone who will run the business with you and define how to pay the person, but as a starter, and depending on your capital, it is not advisable you hire a lot of people and start paying them, because it is going to eat into your pastry business Consider how to move your products from your home to the market, which may include offices, stalls, malls, supermarkets, stores, markets, etc, where they are needed.
For pastries like cakes, it is important you have contacts of many drivers, who can take you to different locations, and who must not fail you anytime you need them. Remember that pastry business involves serving perishable snacks, which many customers like to have fresh.
ACQUIRE THE NECESSARY TOOLS
Depending on your capital, for example, with N30,000, you can get the basic tools you will need for your pastry business, which often include: oven, two baking pans, pastry bag, pastry brush, icing smoother, spatula and measuring spoon, pastry cutter, rolling pin, and sieve; as these tools will help to make your pastry business a lot easier. As a starter, you can make use of your gas cooker oven to bake or simply use a kerosene stove. When you use stove for your baking, just put some sand in a large cooking pot, then place it on the stove for the sand to get heated and put your pastry on the sand, then cover with a lid. With time, you can get a metal oven stand. As time goes on you may give out business cards and distribute flyers to publicise your business. Your fliers need not be fanciful, just make them simple and give them out at events or gatherings. Your business card is also a form that carries your name and contact information about you and your business, so, it also helps to promote your business in places where you can’t imagine and it’s a kind of reference when needed Put your business cards as gift tags on cake boxes when you send them out, you can also get onto social media like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, 2go, LinkedIn. And if possible, connect with other bakers, you will see that the support out there is amazing and it can make all the difference.
