In the bakery business, baking kits are all the rage right now. They’re convenient and fun for everyone (especially kids). With the holiday season approaching, bakeries will want to hop on this trend! Customers love them, but on the flip side, baking kits are also an easy way for your bakery to supplement your income.
While it will require a bit more work, the consumer-focused offer will pay off in the long run. Customers find joy in being able to take home a bit of their favorite bakery—and baking kits make this possible. Ideally, the basic construction of a baking kit includes all the premeasured dry ingredients and the instructions needed to make the baked goods at home. With baking kits, you can offer items your bakery normally sells in-store—or even ones you don’t.
Ready to take your menu to the next level? Here are some tips and tricks to help you create and sell fun, festive baking kits to your bakery customers.
First Things First: Ingredients and Instructions
The ingredients and instructions you include are the backbones of your baking kit. If you don’t get these right, it won’t matter how well you market them or how well-designed the packaging is. When writing the instructions, remember to make it clear to your customer what wet ingredients they’ll need to supply themselves. After all, nobody wants to eat a half-baked cake!
A successful baking kit will include accurately portioned and well-labeled dry ingredients required for whatever tasty treat you’re featuring. It does no good to measure out a cup of flour and powdered sugar if you do not label them as such. While it might seem obvious to you which is which, you’ll need to make it as easy as possible for your customers. Label everything that is included, so there’s no confusion for your customers!
The same goes for the instructions; the more straightforward, the better! Depending on your customer base, you may think about translating some of your kits into other languages to include as many people as possible. Or, if you want to go the extra mile, include easy-to-follow illustrations.
Remember, you don’t have to give all your secrets away with your baking kits. If you’re worried about others replicating your recipe, you can package multiple ingredients together, such as spices. Everyone knows you’ll most likely use flour or sugar for your baked goods; the exact blend of spices you use is what can set you apart. To make it fun, we suggest getting creative with the packaging of your blend and labeling it “secret spices” or “mystery blend.” The mystery is enticing, especially when you leave your customers on their toes!
Go The Extra Mile: Add Extra Touches
For some folks, it’s great to be able to make a delicious batch of cupcakes at home, but they’d be even happier if you included sprinkles or other decorative toppings! While these aren’t required, they certainly add some flair that will likely catch the eye of some customers (pro tip: kids love decorating their treats). Here are some popular extras you can incorporate to take your baking kit to the next level:
- Sprinkles
- Candies
- Toppers
- Cookie cutters
- Cupcake liners
- Trinkets
- Candles
- Edible flowers
Outside of decorating extras, you could also include specific baking tips and tricks or even a practical baking tool. Keep in mind that the more extras you add, the more you’ll likely need to charge. Be mindful of your price point, and try not to price your customers out of a purchase.
Theme It Up!
If you’ve already put together some great basic baking kits, it’s time to give them a theme! The sky’s the limit when it comes to themes for your kits. A great way to narrow it down is to think about what your customers are drawn to. Holiday themes are pretty standard, as well as birthdays, baby showers, anniversaries, etc.
Perhaps you get a lot of people visiting your bakery around Halloween. You could create a themed kit to make cupcakes and call it “Witch’s Potion.” Or maybe you always have people coming in during the holiday season looking for something to bring to their family gatherings. You could create a cookie baking kit that includes cookie cutters shaped like a snowflake, gingerbread man, or present.
Feeling extra creative? You can come up with some fun alternate names for ingredients and add a couple of instructional steps that lean into the festivities. Instead of saying, “add two eggs to the mixing bowl,” you could say, “add two eyes to the witch’s cauldron.” Of course, you’ll need to specify which ingredients you’re talking about, and while it might take a bit more time and thought upfront, they may just end up as your best sellers!
Aim to Be All-Inclusive
With more and more people experiencing food allergies and intolerances, it’s a great idea to create baking kids that focus on those specific customers. Consider making baking kits that are nut-free or gluten-free to ensure all your customers can join in on the baking kit fun. It’s important to note that these kits may take some extra care to ensure your customers’ best and safest outcome.
You could also create kits that appeal to a vegan audience. Since veganism does not allow for animal products, like eggs, you could add a vegan alternative, like ground flaxseed, to your baking kit instead. You can do a lot to ensure your customers with specific food needs/preferences can enjoy your baking kits.
Holiday Baking & Decorating Kits
How to Properly Market Your Baking Kits
You’ve made your kits, and you’re ready to go! Now make sure people know about them. Use all the marketing tools at your disposal, including:
- Social media
- A post on your Google My Business page
- A reward on your Patreon page
In your marketing, you’ll want to include high-quality pictures of your finished products on social media and ask your followers to post their creations as well. We recommend creating brief how-to videos for the kits so people can see how it’s done. You can publish these to your website as evergreen content and cross-promote them on your social media accounts too!
Baking kits are a great revenue boost for your bakery because you’re really only supplying two things: dry goods and the time it takes to put them together (which you could do while you watch your favorite show). Better yet, there are no equipment or staff labor costs, and you can sell them on your e-commerce page or directly in your bakery.
If you’re selling baking kits in your bakery, you might see an increase in traffic. With more traffic, you may need additional assistance streamlining your bakery. Schedule a demo with BakeSmart, and we’ll help you conquer the chaos.
