05 December 2008

Owning a Domestic Kitchen Bakery: Is Your Kitchen Not Right?

In April of this year, I had posted an article: Oregon: The Last Domestic Kitchen Frontier , which outlined having a bakery business in your own kitchen - which is officially termed Domestic Kitchen Bakery, here in Oregon. The article outlined the requirements of obtaining a Domestic Kitchen Bakery License, as well as some statistics and tips I have learned through my own research.
Manuel Mixer by Viola Ng
I received a reader comment left anonymously under the post:
Hi! Thanks for the great info. I used to have a very small bakery,then had to close for financial reasons. I have been really wanting to get my license for my home,but my kitchen is not enclosed. To put a door on it,would really mess up the home value. It would look horrible. I have a separate area that is two small rooms attached to the back of my house,but it takes me a world away from my kitchen,where I do all my baking! I don't know what to do. It is very discouraging.

I replied to this person, in the comments, but most people probably won't be following the comments of that particular post (especially new readers), I thought it would be something that would be of interest to all readers so I decided to post my reply in this post:


If you are serious about obtaining a Domestic Bakery license you should not worry about "baking away" from your kitchen.

The perks from having a separate space for your home business outweigh the emotional attachments you feel for your kitchen space.

One of many perks --- You will be able to reap the tax benefits of having a separate business space.

The downside to having a "Domestic Kitchen License" at home is that you can NOT use any commercial equipment, at ALL. So all appliances must be those you would normally use in a standard home kitchen.

These two rooms at the back of your house that you spoke of - are you able to add (2) 220 watt outlets - one for a standard oven , and another for a refrigerator, or upright freezer?

You can have the 220 watt outlets put in by an electrician - then to cut costs you can find used or free appliances (check your local craigslist.org free section, or post a wanted message on your local freecycle.org message board). And check salvage yards etc for old counter tops and cabinets to use as work spaces.

If you do not want your rooms plumbed with a sink, or paying a plumber or contractor would be too expensive - Check with your counties' individual regulations - You may be able to have a food grade tank filled daily with clean tap or bottled water, in the room, for you daily water usage (which you can calculate the usage based on your baking formulas, and have plenty of extra in case your formula doesn't bake off right). This water cannot become contaminated, so a water cooler stand might be a good solution.

Don't let emotional attachments get in the way of your baking - if you cannot get past this, maybe you are not yet ready to take on a domestic kitchen business in your home.

I recommend you do some research and really consider how far you are willing to be vested in this - not only as an idea but as a physical and mental and financial challenge that will really take a large percentage of your time. Just as your former commercial bakery business did.

If you are interesting in knowing more about running a Domestic Kitchen Bakery from your home - Please see this post: Oregon: The Last Domestic Kitchen Frontier









24  Comments
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24 comments

Anonymous
9:36 AM, December 08, 2008 Reply  

Oh wow, I didn't know you had to obtain a license to do that.

Anonymous
12:44 AM, December 09, 2008 Reply  

Great entry I loved it! do we really need a license to obtain that? Oh, I never knew it stupid me!

Anonymous
4:09 AM, December 11, 2008 Reply  

Ameda, The same thoughts here exactly!

Anonymous
8:40 PM, December 13, 2008 Reply  

My sister needed a domestic kitchen bakery license

Anonymous
6:27 AM, December 15, 2008 Reply  

From so many days I have just thinking on this issue but could not able to understand from where I can start. Now your guidelines make it easier to add one more special theme at kitchen. Thanks for the nice info.

Anonymous
3:27 AM, December 17, 2008 Reply  

Nice work man..keep it up.

Anonymous
3:59 PM, December 20, 2008 Reply  

For those who would be starting a bakery business, domestic bakery is a better option than having a commercial space. It is more economical. This is a good guide for those who are planning to have a domestic kitchen bakery. I would be suggesting it to my sister who really loves baking.

Anonymous
7:59 PM, December 22, 2008 Reply  

I guess if she really loves what she's doing and if her future market will appreciate her stuff, i think she has to give it a go.

nothing beats passion for what you are doing, just learn on the business aspects of it though.

great interactive blog!

Anonymous
10:07 PM, February 06, 2009 Reply  

Thank you for your guideline, my friend needs a domestic kitchen bakery license.

Anonymous
2:58 AM, February 10, 2009 Reply  

I never thought of this kind of venture. But I have my own idea of what my dream kitchen will look like. It has taken months of planning and drawing to come up. With almost every features ( mentioned by you) included in it, I think, I should talk to my husband, if we can earn from this. I'm thinking about the manpower involved for this. This way our expenditure could be made up.

Anonymous
8:19 AM, February 24, 2009 Reply  

I also dream about designing my own kitchen. It would just be simple and clean and I would really love it.

5:44 AM, March 13, 2010 Reply  

Well I think getting a commercial license will be more beneficial than getting a domestic kitchen license. But if you are unable to bare expenses or feel comfortable doing bakery in your own kitchen then domestic license suits you.

11:27 AM, April 01, 2010 Reply  

I always liked the idea of designing a great kitchen from scratch. A domestic kitchen license is much easier to obtain.

6:59 AM, April 20, 2010 Reply  

I wonder if you can get the license, then purchase high end kitchen equipment and write it off as a business expense. That would be cool. Especially considering standard appliances would likely not be fit for constant use as in a business setting.

8:11 AM, June 14, 2010 Reply  

Wonderful, welcome to sharing a good idea. Thanks to sharing.

12:46 PM, June 29, 2010 Reply  

Excellent guideline on getting a domestic kitchen bakery license. Thanks friend.

11:00 PM, October 11, 2010 Reply  

I like this Russian recipe. I will definitely try it at home. Thanks for this post.

Your excellent guidelines will be of great help to many. Nice post. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks!

11:01 PM, May 10, 2011 Reply  

Very nice pics,You seems to be a professional in kitchen design



Cooking Equipment Melbourne

2:55 AM, May 19, 2011 Reply  

I would like to say that this blog really convinced me to do it! Thanks, very good post. Thanks for this very useful info you have provided us. I will bookmark this for future reference and refer it to my friends. More power to your blog.

3:28 AM, June 21, 2011 Reply  

I completely agree with your article. It’s possible to know about it and it will show me good ways of this topic. This is very nice post! I will bookmark this blog.

Anonymous
12:42 AM, June 29, 2011 Reply  

cool

11:40 PM, June 29, 2011 Reply  

It is a very nice post

6:16 PM, January 20, 2012 Reply  

Great info thanks

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