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You think that starting a bakery business is the most difficult part. Yes, it requires a lot of work, and you could have a few anxious or restless nights.
However, once your bakery is operational, staying ahead of the competition will become a major concern. You’ll also need to position your bakery as a destination for delicious baked goods, rather than simply trying to stay afloat in the market.
Did you know the global bakery market is projected to grow from over $480 billion in 2024 to $731 billion by 2032? This shows just how competitive and at the same time rewarding the industry can be.
As an entrepreneur, you would want to keep up with many things to run a profitable bakery business like managing your finances, reports, and inventory carefully.
But, building a solid marketing and sales plan for your bakery is more crucial than ever whether you specialize in croissants, donuts, buns, bread, nutritious gluten-free pastries, or small desserts. Or, it will be difficult to attract new customers, increase bakery sales, and raise brand awareness.
Now, you must be wondering about how to grow the bakery business. Worry not! We have some effective ways of growth in this bakery business plan so that you can enjoy the success of your bakery without overcomplicating things. Here’s a checklist that can help you in running a successful bakery business in 2025:
One way to keep your ovens hot and your cash registers full is to have suitable bakers insurance. Bakeries that plan for emergencies and prepare for them are the ones that are able to expand in the long run.
Plan your bakery operations' budget carefully. Keep detailed records of monthly expenditures, including maintenance, purchasing raw materials, and paying your employees. Knowing your overall costs will help you calculate profit margins and decide how much to reinvest in your bakery business.
Investing in your passion i.e. your bakery will yield desirable results in the future. Don’t let a potential financial issue derail your plans of running a profitable bakery loved by the community.
Introduce new bakery items that would draw in customers. You can innovate your store's layout as well as its bakery items. Mobile dessert food trucks, for example, are becoming increasingly popular and can help expand your reach.
Similarly, catering services for birthdays, anniversaries, corporate events, and other special occasions are a fantastic way to gain visibility and grow your customer base.
It's always a good idea to have big dreams, but only for the ones you can actually accomplish. As a result, when diversifying, it is important to consider your resources, workflow management, and the costs of growing and innovating your bakery business. A steady increase is more sustainable than a quick rise, and this steady growth will have a larger effect on the healthy development of your bakery.
Your bakery business needs a website to stay relevant digitally. People searching for bakery items can find your business more easily if your website is optimized and well-designed according to SEO standards.
Your sales will naturally increase when clients can easily access your bakery online. Since optimization can be challenging, consider professional assistance to ensure your website stands out and is SEO-friendly.
Consider integrating features like an online ordering system, contact details, and a gallery of your top creations to make your website useful for customers.
Nowadays, a business website is not enough. People are constantly on their mobiles looking for easy and better solutions (about 2/3rd of the traffic in 2024). The benefits of launching a mobile app for a successful bakery are immense.
Check out the blog on why you need a mobile app.
You can engage more customers through loyalty programs, push notifications, and subscriptions. These features help you retain customers and grow your bakery as a brand. Mobile apps are now essential in almost all industries because they offer a fast and convenient shopping experience.
If your bakery website is built on Shopify, you can easily launch a mobile app with Shop2App. Get a free trial of your app, designed to help your bakery business stand out from the rest of the competition.
With a pivoting business approach, a customer-centric model of e-commerce has emerged. Now, it's the customer-first approach that companies are following. Delivering your products to their doorstep is a great way to offer convenience and ease of ordering.
This can be made easier by integrating with food delivery partners like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. Also, make sure customers can place direct orders from your bakery app or website for running a successful business. This reduces the possibility of losing potential customers to third-party platforms.
Check out this blog on implementing local delivery for your Shopify store.
Zapiet is great for local delivery as it simplifies the process for Shopify brands like your bakery. Its features for real-time tracking and unique pricing take the hassle out of store pickup and delivery.
Store pickup is another excellent option that saves time and offers convenience to your clients. Using the Shop2App mobile app builder, you can simplify pickup scheduling with a time and date picker.
Social media is the most effective approach to draw in and keep the huge audience that actively uses social media platforms. Because of this, you need to be sure that you set up bakery business pages on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok and regularly update and optimize them with engaging content.
Post consistent images and videos that capture the activities at your bakery. For example, share behind-the-scenes clips of your baking process, highlight special offers, or showcase customer favorites. This will help you attract new customers and build a loyal online community.
You can also gather valuable feedback through comments and reviews on these platforms. Use this feedback to improve your bakery operations and strengthen relationships with your audience.
Local SEO is basically the process of optimizing your bakery to rank in local search results. It’s essential because people often look for businesses near them when searching online. For example, if you search "bakery near me," Google will show you all the bakeries in your area.
The whole motto of Google here is to get closer to a user’s practical, real-life search patterns. For this, it continuously observes and learns its users’ behaviors. This list includes opting for the nearest locations because that’s more convincing.
To improve your local SEO, ensure your bakery is listed on Google My Business with up-to-date information, including your address, hours, and contact details. Also, don’t forget to make sure your bakery is optimized for mobile users.
Learn more about local SEO in this blog to run a successful bakery.
Focus on gathering positive customer reviews on platforms like Google. These reviews build your credibility and improve your local ranking, making it easier for customers to find your bakery business.
Google Merchant Center is a centralized dashboard where online retailers can manage their visibility across all Google e-commerce products. It allows you to post and update product information, including images and prices, ensuring your products appear in relevant Google Shopping searches.
The main objective of the Google Merchant Center is to help businesses showcase their offerings to potential customers searching online. Additionally, it integrates with other Google services, such as Google My Business, to help you easily monitor and manage your bakery’s online presence.
In the initial phase of starting your bakery, getting started with Google Merchant Center can significantly improve your business’s visibility, making it easier for clients to find your products when searching online.
As a bakery business, your customers must know exactly what they are buying from you. That’s why you need to create detailed product descriptions that cover the product name, ingredients, shelf life, and any other relevant information.
High-quality, visually appealing images of your products are essential. Clear and enticing pictures will attract more attention than blurry or low-quality ones. Show different angles or close-ups of your baked goods to make them irresistible.
Transparency about the ingredients and baking process builds trust with customers. This can set your bakery apart and encourage repeat purchases.
Check out how you can build highly converting product pages with Shop2App.
Collaborating with nearby businesses can be a great way to grow your bakery and reach more customers. For instance, people frequently surprise their loved ones with cake and flowers on birthdays or anniversaries. So why not team up with a nearby florist to make it easier for clients to order flowers and cakes together?
This will turn you into a successful bakery and a one-stop store for anyone looking to treat a special someone with a little more luxury.
Consider partnerships with coffee shops, event planners, or restaurants to showcase your bakery products. Cross-promotions, such as offering products in their stores or catering for events, can increase your bakery’s sales and attract new customers.
When a retailer bundles complementary products into a group of items that may be purchased together, then that practice is known as product bundling. Product bundling is another technique for running a successful bakery. Products are often bundled together as an upsell or a cross-sell.
Shop2app assists you in easy upselling and cross-selling by integrating with third- party platforms like Rebuy.
Upsell: The goal of an upsell is to convince the customer to upgrade. Introducing a better, more expensive version of a pastry that a consumer is considering to purchase from your bakery business is an example of upselling.
Cross-selling: Promoting related goods other than goods from the same category is known as cross-selling. For example, you could bundle a cookie with coffee, which is similar to cross-merchandising in physical retail.
Retailers often wrap or gift-box a product bundle in a specific manner to make it more appealing. During holidays, product bundles become more popular and the merchants can use this tactic all year-round to increase the average order value and run a successful bakery.
Give out free samples of your bakery items to visitors and walk-in customers. If the products are delicious, tempting, and readily available for purchase, customers might be eager to buy whatever you are offering for sampling.
As a result, always remember to leave some cookies or pastries out on the counter for the customers for running a successful bakery. It is an effective way to get the taste of your baked products out there and give your potential clients a chance to try out your products.
Creating a loyalty program is an effective strategy to encourage repeat business and build a dedicated customer base for a successful bakery. Reward your offline and online customers for their purchases by offering points they can redeem for discounts or free products.
You can integrate your bakery’s loyalty program with your mobile app and POS system. This allows you to track points, automate rewards, and gain insights into customer preferences. This makes the process simple for both you and your customers while enhancing their overall experience.
Check out how Daan Go Cake Lab, a one-of-a-kind bakery owned by Christopher Siu (MasterChef Canada winner) doubled their repeat orders with a mobile app.
Hosting baking classes or workshops is a great way to engage with your community and showcase your expertise. These create an additional revenue stream from your bakery business and strengthen your bakery's connection with customers.
Offer classes for beginners or specific themes, like holiday baking or gluten-free recipes. You can host these workshops in-store or virtually, and this depends on your resources and audience.
Promote these classes on your website, social media, or through your mobile app to maximize participation and build excitement.
Making small, sustainable changes to your bakery business can attract customers who value environmentally friendly businesses. To reduce waste, start by switching to eco-friendly packaging, such as biodegradable or recyclable materials.
You can also use locally sourced ingredients whenever possible to support local farmers and suppliers. Highlight these efforts on your website and social media channels to show customers your commitment to the environment and community.
Taking simple steps like these helps your bakery stand out and has a big impact on customer loyalty while supporting a good cause.
That’s all for now. You must have gained 15 valuable insights on how to run a successful bakery through the article. It’s time to plan and prepare strategies for your own bakery and implement them.
Make sure you dream big and plan big but big enough that you set SMART goals only. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. These five criteria will help you set realistic and actionable goals for running your bakery.
So, roll up your sleeves, put on your baking gloves, and start executing these tips. Don’t forget to make tweaks as per your goals and the size of your bakery business.
Get in touch with us to launch a mobile-first experience for your bakery.
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