Bring Home the Baking: Recipe for Success Seminar

View of the kitchen space at Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen, Long Island City, New York

The Entrepreneur's Space is a City-sponsored business incubator in Queens to help food-related business start-ups across New York City. It consists of a 24/7 commercial kitchen under the name, Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen on the ground floor, and office space on the second floor, which services more than 100 entrepreneurs in establishing and growing successful companies.

The Entrepreneur Space will hold a Recipe for Success Seminar: Starting and Growing Your Food Business from March 22, 2011 through May 31, 2011, from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM. Subjects covered will include:

• Setting Yourself Up for Business
• Marketing for Success
• Managing Your Business Operations
• Information Technology for Small Businesses
• From Home to Commercial Space
• Developing Your Product/Price
• Risk Management and Insurance
• Legal Structures and Issues
• Financing Your Business
• Writing a Business Plan

Tuition is $150.00 for the seminar series.  It is recommended that you register by March 15, 2011. For more information contact 718.263.0546. To arrange a tour of Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen call 718.392.0025 x 150.  Good Luck!

Cake Buzz: The "Cooperative Kitchen's" Recipe for Success!

Congratulations to member, Annette Villaverde, owner Ladybugluggage Gourmet Cookies and Cakes! Annette and five other small businesses who share 1,475 sq.ft of commercial kitchen space at Wooden Spoon Catering Company, Princeton, NJ, made the cover of their local newspaper February 10, 2010 issue!

Confectionately called "The Cooperative Kitchen", Wooden Spoon Catering Company, owned by Chris Crawford, has become an incubator kitchen for member Annette Villaverde (wearing the cap), Ladybugluggage Gourmet Cookies and Cakes, Nicole Wilkins Bergman, Simply Nic's Artisanal Shortbread, Jen Carson, Jen's Cakes & Pastries, co-owners Marilyn Besner and Pirosca Toth, Moonlight Bakers, and Pamela Giggie-Accetta, La Bella Cakery. The fact that these savvy women entrepreneurs are all small business owners, wives, and mothers is a common ground that has proved to be a recipe for success.

Annette learned about the availability of commercial space at Wooden Spoon Catering Company through word of mouth at her son's school. It was the right opportunity at the right time; Annette had honed her decorating skills with Colette Peters, Colette Cakes, Lauri Ditunno, Cake Alchemy, and Ruth Drennan, Ruth Drennan Cakes, and was ready to take her fledging business to the next level. In addition, Annette's hedgehog cupcakes were selected as a winning design for Martha Stewart's 2009 Cutest Cupcake Contest.

NYC Cake Decorators Meetup wishes "The Cooperative Kitchen" much success. And to our readers, we invite you to read the inspirational article about the "Cooperative Kitchen" written by Pat Tanner, "7 Women, 1 Kitchen: Savoring the Business of Food".

Cake Buzz: Free Online NYC Food Protection Course

The New York City Food Protection Course satisfies the city Health Code requirement that supervisors of food service establishments and non-retail food service establishments be certified as having completed a course in food protection.

The course is also available for a limited time online for free, and is now offered in Spanish, Chinese and English.

How to Start a Cupcake and Custom Cake Biz!

CakeDiva, upscale cake designer to such stars as Beyonce, Jay Leno, Michael Jordan, Queen Latifah, and ABC Soaps, has agreed to "tell all' at a 3 hour seminar hosted by NYC Cake Decorators in Midtown Manhattan on February 15th.

Get inside information on what you need to start a legal business in NYC and New Jersey; how to develop a winning portfolio, how to photograph your cakes/cupcakes, unusual sources of supplies...and more in this 3 hour seminar.

CakeDiva will share a wealth of inside information learned through over 20 years in the competitive custom cake business. A must have for anyone thinking about starting a new business or revitalizing their current business. Light refreshments will be served and plenty of time to chat and network. Contact Dina for more info.

Cake Buzz: How To Start A Cupcake Business

Photo courtesy of Carmen Colon, Organizer, New Jersey Cake Decorators Meetup

Always wanted to start a cupcake business but don't know where to begin? Cupcakes Take The Cake Meetup is hosting a Cupcake Business Seminar on January 13, 2010 at 6:30pm at New Work City, 200 Varick Street, Room 507B, New York, NY 10014, (888) 823-3494. The fee is $15.00. Happy Cupcaking!

Cake Biz Talk with Pink Cake Box

Cooking Up A Recipe for Success

You've made the plunge and learned how to bake and decorate fabulous cakes, cookies, and cupcakes and you've discovered that sugar art is your passion. Or perhaps you have an heirloom recipe for brownies or pie that you would like to market. What do you do next? Many bakers/cake decorators begin by giving or selling their decorated cakes, cookies, and cupcakes to family, friends, co-workers, and community organizations. However, cake decorators in New York City who want to start a part-time or full-time business soon realize that they must be licensed, have insurance, and operate from a commercial kitchen. Costs for start-ups to open a commercial kitchen in New York City are prohibitive. However, there are ways that the most determined sugar art designer can start a legal business:

• Get Free counseling from S.C.O.R.E. For example, on April 30th, the NYC branch of S.C.O.R.E. will host a seminar on writing a business plan and on May 2nd they will host a seminar for women on how to start a business. LaGuardia Community College Small Business Center also offers advice on how to start a business.
  
• Get licensed. In NYC you will need a Food Handler's license from the Department of Health and possibly a NYS Agriculture and Market License. Currently, you can take the Food Handler Protection course online for free.
• Get a tax ID number and tax resale ID number.
  
• Get product liability insurance. Travelers is one company that offers such insurance but certainly is not the only company, so do your research.
• Get a copy of Bringing Home the Baking: How to Start a Licensed Home Based Baking Business by Quincella C. Geiger.
• Get connected with a kitchen incubator. A kitchen incubator makes it financially possible for most start-up businesses to legally operate in New York State by offering leases or daily/hourly rates for commercial kitchen rental. There are several well-known incubators in New York City such as Mi Kitchen Es Su Kitchen in Queens, Kitchen for Hire in Brooklyn, and DRM Baking Center Incubator in Manhattan. Outside NYC are several kitchen incubators such as Chef Delivery Kitchen for Rent in Long Island, NY.

If you are outside of New York State the online Kitchen Incubator directory will connect you with kitchen incubators in your town.

Get ready to put in the sweat equity you are going to need to cook up your own success story!