Starting a business - have your cake and eat it

The startups guides to setting up a part-time business are a rich source of material for teachers and students. The latest in the series guides us through the potentially sticky challenge of starting a cake-making business…

Some great materials in the guide

Key points that are relevant to the new AS specifications include:

Understanding the market:
- Market size - £1.8 billion
- Market growth - 1-1.5% p.a. (i.e slow growth, mature market)
- Intensely competitive - low barriers to entry
- Many niche segments

+ other points

- Labour-intensive production process
- Requirement for training & high quality standards
- Pricing the product is difficult - easy to undercharge
- Cake-makers are faced with rapidly rising prices for raw materials (ingredients)

Lots of scope too for classroom puns that will endear you to your students:

Market share - getting a “slice of the action”
Challenges of the start-up - not to be “trifled at”
Promotion - all part of the “marketing mixer”
The business plan shouldn’t be “half-baked”