Selling My Baked Goods to Local Restaurants... Possible?

I think its a great idea. You need to talk to the restaurant owners and see what they think. Are they currently carrying pies etc? If so, where are they getting them, would they be willing to change etc. They might not like the idea of you prepping extra stuff in their kitchen to sale else where though............
We have a kitchen in our city that is attached to a local Food Co-op. It is certified and you can rent out space there.

So you want the restaurant to hire you but not hire you? They are not going to do that because their insurance will not cover you.

Have you thought about where the ingredients will come from? Who will pay for those? Are there space issues? Is the chef going to allow someone to use his or her kitchen space? Some chefs can be real prima donas.
This is a good idea but if you are going to supply the ingredients you will need someone to crunch the numbers. How much does it cost to make each pie. Since we had such a horrible summer this year fruit is going to be expensive. Will you use fresh fruit, frozen or canned? I don't know about the cost of pecans or how the crop was this year but someone will want pecan pie. Are you going to make single crust or double crust or lattice work tops or a combination? This will change the cost of each pie.

If you buy the supplies through the resturant owners supplier they will be less than buying through a grocery store.

I would contact SCORE through the Chamber of Commerence. See if they have an advisor who owned restuarant who can advise you.

It may seem like I am trying to rain on your parade but I'm not. If you make a deal with one of these restuarant owners at $3 a pie and they end up costing you $5 a pie you will lose $2 a pie. So make sure you have crunched the numbers so you have a profit. Also if the restaurant owner is supplying the ingredients, you will have to pay him for the cost of ingredients and the use of his kitchen if you choose to sell the pies at a Farmer's Market.

Can your home kitchen pass a Food and Safety Code test? Or is there licensed commercial kitchen space for rent somewhere?
This is why I will never live in California again. Too many laws to protect us from ourselves.

I agree with Jo. This sounds like a huge liability issue for whatever restaurant you might be using. You would be using their facilities, selling your goods in their facilities, but not working for them. Would they be okay with you also distributing your goods elsewhere, even though you made those goods in their restaurant, and let them assume all the liability for your product?

As long as those liability issues were worked out ahead of time (which I'm sure you've already thought of), then I think it sounds like a fabulous idea!

I think this is a great idea and I know several people who have started out with food businesses exactly the way you're describing. You'll want to look into permitting, licensing, sales tax, etc, so I'd recommend you look at cagold.ca.gov to get the specific information for your county/city. As far as it being consignment, doesn't that usually denote the seller keeping your item until they sell it, and then if they don't sell it you can have it back? Not sure how that would work with perishables.

I know that places like Domino's will often rent out their kitchens overnight to small food business owners. You have to be willing to do your baking after they close/before they open, though. Good luck with your idea!

Well, a SAHM can't work outside of the home and still have the title. You would have to do your baking in their off hours, either during the night time while everyone is asleep or when they are closed for a day off like if they don't open on Mondays. So that means you'd have to pay for child care while you were at work.

To me I think you could make more constant income from just finding a job where they hold out taxes and stuff for you. It's a huge headache having to keep business accounts, pay monthly or quarterly taxes, keep track of expenses, all the little things that cost like pans, spatulas, all the tiny items that you'll have to have constant track of so that if you find yourself being audited you can produce a total package to the auditor of all the expenses and income.

This seems like a no win situation. You can't cook from home so you have to work at this profession outside of the home. So that makes you a working mom just like all the other working moms who take their kids to child care then go to work.

So if you want to work then find child care and go to work in a restaurant as their baker or stay at home and find something else. That just seems to be the better choice here.

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Now if you wanted to do a home business that was baking you might find out about renting a small space that just has a kitchen and small area around it so that you could get it inspected and do what ever you wanted to do inside those walls. You could advertise for catering and start building a name for yourself, you can sell some foods to your boyfriends associates on a trial basis. See if they sell well. This way you can also start with less costs. Rent and utilities on a very small space, just enough to qualify for an inspection....

I bet you could get some places lined up to sell your products by inviting some of the local businesses to come to a tasting session at some nice hall or local hotel conference room. They could come to a tasting and get a flier about prices then go to each section and taste the different selections with a rating scale and a blank space to put down some suggestions. Perhaps they'd like something a little more creamy or a little more tart.... They could turn that in at the end and you would have valuable information on how to tweak this business and perhaps have some contracts for edibles.
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I would also call the local health inspectors office and get the facts from the horses mouth. Talk to them about a home baking business. What modifications you'd have to make to your home.

If they say it can't be done, find out if you modified a storage building to meet the standards would that qualify. Some storage buildings at builders supply stores are quite large and they often have an upstairs that could be used as storage. If you put in a stove, a triple sink, hot water heater, and utilities would that pass a health inspection.

The good thing about this is that you could literally unplug everything and move it to another location if you ended up moving...they are solid well built buildings. I have a storage building that can be used as a garage, it has been pulled up on the back of a large truck and moved about 3 times. Still doesn't leak at all.

I have a girlfriend who put herself through college by baking cheesecakes in a pub kitchen during the day and selling them to local restaurants in a small ski resort town.

I really like your idea. It shows a lot of ingenuity in using kitchen space. If you can't bake at the actual restaurant, keep looking around for a certified kitchen you could utilize. Perhaps you could rent the space and you provide all your own ingredients.

GL!