Your business: how to open a specialized mini-bakery

* The calculations use average data for the World Mini-bakeries have become common today. However, this market niche is far from saturation. In Europe, almost 70% of bakery products are produced in private small bakeries, and in our country the share of such production does not exceed 20%. Mini-bakeries have several advantages over large factories. On the one hand, they, of course, do not differ in such productivity as the latter (large enterprises produce up to 50 tons of products daily). But on the other hand, small production can respond more flexibly to changes in demand, changing its range and production volumes. It is easier for them to optimize the production process and organize the marketing of their products.

According to opinion polls, consumers are confident in the higher quality of mini-bakery products and, all other things being equal, give preference to them rather than “factory” bread. And finally, the main advantage for entrepreneurs: the opening of a mini-bakery requires relatively small costs. Oddly enough, the decisive factor for the success of such an enterprise is not even money, but knowledge, experience and intuition. For this reason, mini-bakeries are one of the most suitable options for building and developing a family business. Demand for such products is consistently high, and if you have a good reputation, such a business can become very successful and profitable.

Unlike large enterprises, mini-bakeries often have their own specialization. They are not able to produce a wide range of bakery products and compete with factories in the production of ordinary bread. Specialists consider the production of national types of bread one of the most promising areas of business today. Someone chooses one name and bakes only pita bread, bread with various additives (with seeds, flaxseed, from passivated flour) or a low-calorie bread variety, someone starts small, but with an eye on further development, so he prefers certain national cuisine (Georgian, Uzbek, etc.). The production of national types of bread is considered preferable, since bread is considered a conservative product, and consumers do not welcome bold experiments in this area. For example, the so-called shoti (Georgian flat cake, which replaces regular factory bread in Georgia) has recently been very popular. Real Georgian bread is cooked in a special oven (tone), similar, at first glance, to the Central Asian tandoor.

Regardless of which specialization you have chosen for your mini-bakery, before you start opening it, carefully analyze the situation on the local market. Monitor existing bakeries and bakeries in your area, explore their range, conduct opinion polls to identify the needs of your potential customers. Assess whether there is a demand for new products, determine the price category.

Choosing a place is no less important. Mini-bakeries are usually located in sleeping areas. At the same time, there should not be large bakeries and other bakeries around them. Most mini-bakeries sell bread directly, rather than through individual stores and points of sale. Therefore, the place where your production will be located should be lively and walk-through. Ideally, a bakery can be located in the private sector on your land (if you have one), which can significantly reduce costs. Do not forget about the availability of a convenient entrance and a parking place. Although it is unlikely that your customers will travel for your bread from the other end of the city, they can stop on the way home from work. The area of ​​the production premises should be from 60 to 100 square meters. meters. It all depends on the production line or individual equipment used. According to the SES, bakeries should not be placed in semi-basement rooms. In addition, the workshop should have running water, a toilet for employees and ventilation systems. A warehouse for storing raw materials is located separately from the baking shop and from the packaging shop. If the property does not have a premises suitable for the requirements, it is best to rent a ready-made room in the territory of the nearest bakery or a former typical bakery.

Bakery equipment is divided into the main (dough mixers, proofers, rotary and conventional ovens, flour sifters, dough sheeters) and related equipment (shelves for storing raw materials, technological scales, knives, packaging machines, washstands, sinks for tools, molds for finished products, etc. .).

The minimum set of basic equipment includes a flour sifter, a dough mixer, a dough divider, a molding machine, a rounding machine, an oven and a proofer. However, keep in mind that for the production of some products (for example, Georgian bread - Shoti, pita bread, Dedas Puri) you will need separate tables and a special oven. With the search for tables there will be no problem, but you have to lay the stove yourself. In Georgia, for example, there are craftsmen who manually make clay ovens for baking pita bread and shoti bread. Each ceramic product takes about a month of hard work. However, it is not necessary for a private bakery to order such an oven from another country, especially since its cost along with delivery will be very high. You can lay it out yourself (or contact the craftsmen) on the basis of a brick with clay coating.

The minimum set of foreign equipment for a bakery with a capacity of up to 0.5 tons per day will cost 2 million rubles. More powerful equipment will cost 1-1.5 million more, but most likely, in the first year of operation, it will not work at full strength, and the payback period of your business will increase significantly.

Equipment suppliers often convince potential buyers that foreign equipment (for example, Miwe, Werner Pfleiderer, Metos, Giere, Garbin, Polin, Bongard, Macadams, Winkler), although it costs significantly more, will last much longer than domestic equipment. This is partly true: baking ovens of Russian manufacturers still cannot compete with imported ones. On the other hand, it is quite possible to save on related equipment by purchasing domestic containers, racks, baking sheets, tools and tables. According to the experience of entrepreneurs, 500 thousand rubles will be enough for renting and repairing the premises, as well as laying the oven (for the production of Georgian bread). But this is without taking into account other necessary equipment. Bakery production is not licensed, but it will be necessary to issue certificates for its products and undergo numerous approvals from the SES, the fire and environmental services.

Special attention deserves the development of formulations. If you are going to produce "national" bakery products, then there will be no problems finding recipes. The most important thing is to create an assortment of your enterprise. However, if you intend to bake “ecological” and low-calorie products with various additives, you will have to spend a lot of effort, time and money to develop recipes from scratch. The option with national types of bread is not so intricate. For example, to produce 50 cakes of shoti (Georgian bread), 50 kg of flour, 1.5 kg of salt, 150 g of dried yeast and 33 liters of water will be required. Yeast is bred in warm water, then flour is added there. The whole mixture is thoroughly mixed and left in a warm place for 1.5 hours. Exactly an hour later, it is mixed again and again, after half an hour. From the risen yeast dough, round lush cakes are fashioned, which are again left for 10 minutes. The cakes are elongated and again left for 10 minutes. Finally, on a special pillow, the cakes are shaped like a boat, a hole is made in the middle of the product (so that the air does not collect inside the shoti), the cakes are attached to the walls of a heated furnace (up to a hundred lavas weighing about 400 grams are placed in it), left for 10 minutes until fully cooked, then cool and pack.

However, despite the apparent ease, each stage of the production process is very important. It is necessary to carefully measure the amount of ingredients, withstand a given baking time. Any mistake is fraught with high costs and deterioration of the reputation of your bakery. High-quality equipment and qualified bakers are the key to the success of your company. True, it’s no less difficult to find personnel than special equipment. The baker’s work is very responsible, physically difficult, requires high professionalism and at the same time not very well paid. Bakers work all year round in two or three shifts (a bakery’s working day usually lasts from 9.00 to 22.00). At all stages of production, quality control should be carried out - compliance with baking standards (this is usually done by the technologist). In addition to technologists and bakers, packers also work in the production, who cut bread (if necessary) and pack it in plastic bags (with a seam, as pack flat pita breads, or with tape, if it comes to packing loaves and other bulk products) with further gluing labels. Packaging bread adds to the cost of 1 ruble for every 300 grams of the finished product. But even with such a mark-up, it is obvious that the salary of the packer cannot be called high. And given the fact that many bakeries work at night, it becomes clear that finding good workers will not be easy.

Even at the stage of opening your bakery, you need to take care of setting up sales of finished products. Even with little competition in your area, you can’t do without some investment in advertising and promotion. Many small bakeries actively cooperate with wholesale companies that deliver bread to stalls, tents and grocery stores. This option is preferable if you intend to produce a standard range of bakery products and can offer favorable wholesale prices. If you rely on more “specialized” products that are more expensive than regular bread, the best option is to sell them yourself. To do this, it is not necessary to rent a point in the market or a van. You can sell bread directly from the bakery. Your customers will always be sure that they are getting the freshest product. This work format also has a flip side: with a large influx of buyers and a small volume of production, some of your visitors will have to wait until the next batch of bread arrives. The topic of sales organization is discussed in more detail in this article.

In order to brighten up the expectation, many bakeries install a transparent wall between the shop and the store so that those waiting in line can see how their bread is made (this is especially effective when using special ovens). However, the sale of bread “right from the oven” does not at all preclude the possibility of selling finished products through retail chains. Although it will be very difficult for beginners in this market to get on the shelves of chain stores, it is quite possible.

A minimum of 1.5 million rubles will be required to open a bakery. This amount includes the rental of premises suitable for the area and sanitary conditions, purchase of equipment, selection of personnel, purchase of raw materials. The payback period with proper positioning is about one year and a half years with the best scenario. In general, the profitability of mini-bakeries is now not as high as before, and amounts to about 7-8%. Although experts say about 30% profitability, and in some cases (with a wide range, including baking rolls and other similar products), it can reach even 40%. A detailed financial calculation for opening a bakery can be found here.

For example, the retail price of Georgian bread is about 40-50 rubles, depending on the region and the location of the bakery / store (in the sleeping area, the price will be lower). A mini bakery sells an average of 250 flat cakes a day. Although the baking business is less prone to seasonal changes, in the summer sales of hot bread (and, in general, bakery products) noticeably fall. For example, according to entrepreneurs, in the summer months, sales are about 100 flat cakes a day (data are given for a bakery located in a residential area in the capital), while from autumn to spring up to 400 shots per day can be sold. Such seasonality is a feature of our country, since in Georgia, for example, sales of hot bread are practically independent of air temperature.

Sysoeva Lilia

(c) www.clogicsecure.com - a portal to business plans and guidelines for starting a small business 08/18/2019


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