Engineer_abroad

Morning all,

My wife is currently thinking about setting up a small home business making and selling baked goods <snip>

At this stage this is all very conceptual and really a brain storming exercise to see what would be required and how to do it.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what would be needed to run this kind of small home business in BC? Licensing, shipping etc.

<snip>

Thanks all

withabix

Greggs....

There must be some significant cost issue with such a business (that doesn't occur in the UK), given that a decent single-portion pie seems to go for about $5-$8 round here.

I don't understand why there isn't a chain of sandwich/pie shops in the burger forest (other than Subway).

Maybe the absence of 'High Streets' is the problem.

Engineer_abroad

I would hope the quality might be a bit better than a Gregs. Would focus on things that are hard to get here (I cant say more or I will get my wrist slapped, again)

Stinkypup

Good luck with that one! It's Greggs btw, aka high street pie heaven IMO

Eccles cakes, proper ones, not the silly little ones in cellophane

Aviator

Health permit, kitchen would need to be inspected by local health department and in all likelihood need upgrading to a commercial kitchen (unlikely a home kitchen would get approved), business license. Business insurance would be a very good idea, as well as checking that your current home insurer is OK with it, not all are.

Collie

Decent (butter) croissants! Though a pain in the nether regions to make :-(

Novocastrian

You can't get those in the UK either.

not2old

nowt like the British 'Dark Christmas cake with icing'. In fact its almost black, not like the beige ones in Canada that they call 'Dark Christmas cake'

On each visit I bring back several slabs of the 'rich dark fruit cake' (AKA Christmas cake), pop them in the freezer, take them out across the year when the taste buds pang for some.

Same with Christmas pudding, have three at least in the pantry that I bring back from annual visits to the UK. In the middle of summer, nothing like 'Christmas pudding & custard'

withabix

SaveOnFoods in BC do a reasonable version. They have recently reduced the butter content unfortunately, so they aren't quite as good any more.

Why some of the other supermarkets insist on making them sour (eg Safeway), I really don't understand...

withabix

See attached. Seems to be confused....these are at Granville Island BTW

leith

Real crumbly Scottish bannocks (oatcakes here), not these thin insipid things stuck together with a lot of flour. Yes to big fat juicy Eccles cakes. Real baps, not these horrible Kaiser rolls. I still dream of the individual rhubarb pies our local bakery made - thin crusts and stuffed with lovely squishy rhubarb. Tarts piled with home-made lemon curd - butter, lemon juice, eggs, sugar. Proper shortbread made with butter. Smashing Victoria sponges lovely and light and stuffed with jam and cream. Light tasty scones - currant, cheese, treacle etc. Forfar bridies with or without onions. Sausage rolls filled with well seasoned meat, not great lumps of grisle. Most of the baking we get here is tasteless rubbish. I'd suggest you try out some of your baking at a local farmers' market. I have several books of traditional Scottish baking if you need any recipes.
Best of luck.

Stinkypup

They look yummy- sadly too far to travel for me

BristolUK

Highly likely.

Only the other day there was an article in the paper here (different province of course) about a guy selling home made jerky at the farmer's market who had expected to need minimal additional stuff under new regs coming in but he needs full blown commercial kitchen and it's not worth the investment, so he's withdrawing.
Granted it's not 'the real thing' but there are plenty of dark versions as well.

Oink

Sausage rolls
Meat pies (mince beef and onion, chicken tikka)
Cheese and onion pies
Pasties
Pork pies (small)
Cream cakes made with real cream
Victoria sponge cakes
Belgian Buns
Christmas cakes
Mince pies

My guess is, due economy of scale issues, she'll find it difficult to keep prices down. But if the quality is there, she delivers or has a good location and she gives the business a fancy sounding name it could pay for itself.

Oink

Which stall is that? Is the one at the back that does sausage rolls near Cal's diner?