Selling your bakery’s goods wholesale to businesses like restaurants or grocery stores can bring some much-needed consistency into the hectic life of the retail baker. The stability of standing orders and steady revenue is hard to pass up. But it can be hard to make the transition from fully retail to finding wholesale clients.
If you’re ready to dip your toes in the wholesale market, here’s where you should start. Learn more about attracting wholesale clients to your bakery.
Evaluate the Competition
If you’re already running a retail bakery, you know who your local competitors are. Now it’s time to research to see if they offer wholesale. Look into their wholesale products, pricing, and clients. This will give you an idea of which types of baked goods are in demand and what you can offer that your competition does not.
If you’ve created a bakery business plan, then you might already have some of the information. Collecting information, tasting products, comparing pricing and offerings, and looking up competitors’ websites will give a good idea of what you are up against.
Pricing
Numbers may not be your thing, but you’ll need to crunch them like brittle toffee to make sure your bakery will be making a profit. Take into account all the typical pricing factors, such as labor costs, ingredients, etc. There’s no one magic formula that will tell you how to price for profit. You may want to consult your accountant about which of the several pricing model options is best for your bakery.
Check out this article to learn more about calculating wholesale prices. You may also think about creating a sliding scale in which price decreases based on bulk orders. The more a client orders, the lower the price they pay.
The Markets
After you have a handle on your competition and wholesale pricing, it’s time to think about the types of businesses that might be interested in purchasing your baked goods. Target the markets that have a consistent need for multiple breads, sweets, and pastries. Where do your local “breakfast-on-the-go” consumers get their baked goods currently? Maybe the gas station on the corner wants to offer fresh doughnuts instead of the prepackaged ones.
Here’s a list to get you started:
- Restaurants
- Cafes
- Grocery stores
- Corporate cafeterias
- Convenience stores
- Coffee shops
- Food trucks
When it comes to the products you offer, stay on top of trends, and offer popular flavors that are longtime favorites. Think pumpkin spice in the fall; red and green colors for Christmas.
Proposals and Pitches
Once you’ve got all your ducks in a row, it’s time to create proposals and start pitching. Keep in mind that you might not be proposing the same wholesale pricing or products for each potential client. You’ll likely need a couple of different versions based on the type of wholesale client.
Keep a bulk of the document the same with basic sections for your bakery overview, product descriptions, and a summary of preparation, packaging, and delivery options. Before you start pitching, know how much wiggle room you have in your budget in case they try to haggle the price, contract length, or delivery.
And it’s never a bad idea to bring free samples to sweeten the deal!
Selling baked goods wholesale can offer consistent and predictable orders with minimal customer service labor. But don’t waste your time and resources with sprawling spreadsheets. BakeSmart’s standing orders save hours and minimize entry errors by automatically generating repeat orders.
Learn more about BakeSmart’s features or schedule a demo today!
