How to Supplement Your Bakery’s Income Through Patreon

You may have heard about Patreon through a podcast you listen to or a YouTube channel you watch, but did you know you can use the platform to bring in some extra revenue? For those who haven’t interacted with Patreon, it’s a website with a subscription-style payment model. Fans pay a monthly amount of their choice in exchange for exclusive access, extra content, or other digital and physical goodies. 

You most likely have some loyal customers that would love to know your recipe for lemon poppy seed muffins and would gladly support your bakery to get that and other items. Don’t worry about giving away your secrets. Most people won’t be able to make baked goods like you can, which will only make them crave the real thing more! 

Here’s how to supplement your bakery’s income through Patreon.

Intro to Tiered Patronage

With this platform, you choose how much each monthly subscription costs and what those subscribers receive for their support. For many Patreon creators, the first tier (usually $1) is used more as a way for people to show support, but don’t often have much (or any) reward behind it. 

From there, you get to create whatever kind of content you think your subscribers would enjoy and pay to get access to. Keep in mind that you can (and should) customize your tier prices and rewards for what makes sense for your bakery. There is no one-size-fits-all template for success. If it makes sense to offer more humble rewards for tiers that increase by only a dollar, that’s fine! If you can offer some really cool or personalized rewards, many Patreon creators charge up to $20 a month. The rewards just have to make sense for the price.

Here’s a template to give you an idea of what a bakery’s tiered system could look like:

Creating Content

Your Patreon subscribers are there to support you and your bakery. Sure, they want the extras and goodies, but they chose to get them from you instead of elsewhere on the internet, so give your videos and posts some of your personality. 

The production value of any video content you make doesn’t need to be cinema-level. You can produce a decent quality video right on your phone as long as you find or create a space that has good lighting and acoustics. 

When it comes to the actual topics of your videos or posts, the sky’s the limit (as long as it relates to baking, of course). Think about the baking blogs or channels you follow. Use those as inspiration and put your own spin on it. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Wine pairing for your baked goods
• Holiday-related content
• What brands of utensils you use or where you got them
• The story behind…
  • Maybe you’ve got an old family recipe that’s been handed down over the generations or a wonderful story behind the name of your bakery 
• Baking lessons for two
• Kid-friendly baking lessons
• Baking basics
• Gluten-free baking
• Decorating tips
• The best places to find local ingredients

If you choose to utilize Patreon as a form of supplemental revenue for your bakery, keep in mind that you’ll have to keep up with new content. Take the time during your slow seasons to create extra content that you can push out when business picks back up later. If possible, see if your team members can help create content as well.

You can learn more about using Patreon through their blog, which has plenty of ideas to get you started and keep you going. 

While Patreon can help supplement your bakery’s revenue when you’re slow, BakeSmart can help you manage your entire operation so you can conquer the chaos. Schedule a demo to see how our bakery software can help you take control of every aspect of your business.

Looking for a way to offer your online customers same-day pickup? BakeSmart Online has you covered! Check out our example site or schedule a BakeSmart demo today!