Bakery Business Plan – How to Start (or) Open a Bakery Business in India

In today’s day and age, if there is one business that is blooming more than ever before, without a doubt, it is the bakery business. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to claim that almost every street in a city has at least one bakery/café. While this can partly be attributed to the growing influence of the western culture in India, we also need to acknowledge the fact that bakeries/cafes offer a comfortable and warm ambience along with affordable delicious food, which is a perfect combination one looks for when spending fun time with loves ones or for some quality work time.

Along with increasing demand, awareness of high quality bakery goods is on the rise more than ever before. So, opening a bakery business can be an attractive and lucrative option in the F&B sector, especially with the advent of modern technology and machinery which make it possible to prepare a wide variety of bakery goods. The current start up wave swiping the country is just the icing on the cake.

A systematic plan for opening a bakery business in India:

1. Make a detailed bakery business plan – creating a business plan will help you streamline the operations, plan the budget distribution as well as plan the future development of the bakery business. Your business plan should include the below:

1. Summary of the bakery business
2. Business survey
3. Analysis of the bakery industry
4. SWOT analysis
5. Planning operations
6. Financial evaluation
7. Marketing plan

2. Choose the location – Selecting an ideal location is a critical step in the process as it can potentially make or break your business. Some ideal location spots could be one of the below:

1. A well-known and reputed market area.
2. High end shopping streets that experience a surge of youngsters or students flocking the area.
3. Front area shops, ideally on the ground floor for easy accessibility.
4. Area that has a proper drainage facility and 24*7 water supply to main good hygiene standards.

3. Acquiring all the licenses required for opening a bakery business – once you have finalised the location for your business, the next step would be to get all the below licenses:

1. FSSAI license – you can get online on the official FSSAI website or through an agency that will charge you processing fees.
2. GST Registration – this can be processed with the assistance of your Chartered Accountant.
3. Local Municipal Corporation’s Health License – this can be acquired with the help of a local Municipal Health inspector.
4. Fire License – you will acquire this license after the installation of fire extinguisher cylinders.

4. Hire Manpower – to run a successful bakery business, employing a skilled workforce is vital because the taste of food and the look and feel of the place are the only factors that will draw people in. You will need to hire:

1. Head chef
2. Chef De Partie
3. Commi level Chefs
4. Waiters/helpers
5. Cashier
6. Cleaners

5. Purchase equipment – you will need to buy sturdy and long lasting kitchen equipment to ensure good quality products and maximum efficiency. Some of these would be:

1. Oven
2. Deep fridge
3. Cooling fridge
4. Gas stove
5. Planetary mixers
6. Crockery and storage utensils
7. Cylinders
8. Working table

6. Install billing software – you will need a POS billing software, which is equipped with inventory management and features that help manage the shelf life of perishables.

7. Marketing and branding of the bakery – as is the case with all business, effective advertising and branding is vital to the success of a bakery business as well.

1. Design your logo, pamphlet and display board
2. Well-designed menu.

8. Financing the business – the most vital step of the business plan will include getting the required business loan:

Types of Loans –

1. Asset bases loans, wherein you can use assets like inventory, real estate or machinery as collateral.
2. Term loans, which are useful for long term big investments for a tenure of 1 – 10 years.
3. Working Capital Loans, which have a high interest rate, are useful for short term requirements and that are payable within a year.

Loan providers – you can get an easy bakery business loan from banks or a non-deposit taking NBFC like Lendingkart, since it offers easy SME loans in India after an accurate and rapid analysis of the credit worthiness of a business with the help of latest technology and analytical tools.