Can I run a bakery profitably if I’m not a baker myself?

Plenty of bakery owners manage the business and leave the baking to others. Whether it works for you depends on the bakery in front of you. In many small shops the owner is also the baker, starting before dawn and drawing little or no wage for it. The due diligence guide for a retail bakery covers margins and waste. This answer covers the owner-baker question.

How much of the earnings are the owner’s labour

Ask the seller exactly which tasks they do, at what hours, and what they are paid for them. If the owner works the ovens each morning without a wage, the profit shown may include that unpaid work. Ask your accountant how the owner’s unpaid baking should be treated in the financials.

Hiring and keeping a baker

A skilled baker may be hard to find and may not stay if you change how things are done. Ask who works there now, how long they have been with the shop and whether any of them could run production. Meet the staff early to learn who the shop depends on. Ask whether the head baker would stay under a new owner.

Recipes and handover

Ask whether the recipes are written down, with quantities and methods, or live in the owner’s head. Ask your lawyer to make recipes, methods and brand names part of what you buy. Ask about a handover period in which the seller trains your baker and introduces you to wholesale customers and suppliers.

• Written recipes and production schedules
• A list of the daily tasks the owner performs
• Staff names, roles and length of service
• Terms for a training and handover period