Business and Licensing

Last night I sat down to research the necessities of opening a home based business decorating cakes. Informal market research (ie business that I’ve drummed up by taking cakes to events I’ve participated in) has been pretty good so far. I’ve had about five or 6 orders from independent customers from that (remember, I’ve only been doing this since February). For no advertising and no soliciting (with one exception), I don’t think that’s too bad.

I got stuck at the licensing part. Unfortunatly, I’m finding that the website for starting a business on the island is not user friendly, particularly in terms of getting the right licenses and permits for a home based bakery. I know how/where to register my business and name, and they certainly made me aware of how to get set up for GST/PST, but I’m still lost about the rules and regulations for a home based bakery.

I did find some information, but I can’t tell if it’s really pertinent as my home based business would not really fit the bill that they are suggesting. It wouldn’t be a take out or restaurant, I would not be licensed to sell alcohol (the site simply says “licensed”, but I’m included to think they mean “selling alcohol” based on how the document reads). That information took me more than an hour to find, and it may even be from the  regulations from another province as opposed to those from my own.

Either way, I’m inclined to think it’s better to wait until we’re in a house to start the business, and continue my work as a glorified hobby in the meantime. My kitchen is small, and already full of things, and I’d like to continue practicing my craft prior to really putting myself “out there”. In the end, it has a lot to do with positioning, and I’d like to start out as “pretty damned good” rather than risk my reputation on a cake that just isn’t up to par for a client.