Hello!

14 Comments

I want to start a hobby, of baking cakes – Well technically I already do, but a bit more of a permanent hobby, and getting people to pay for ingredients to be able to bake for them. What would your advice on this? Ins and outs, I have looked at the ATO legalities but I have no idea about council regulations (tried contacting them). Although I would love to make a Facebook page, but apparently I can’t as it can be counted as a business?! Help!!


Posted by ForHeavensCakes, 8th June 2015


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  • Maybe just to a short business course or do research on small business first and then see how you go . I think there is no such things as hobbies if you want to be paid for ongoing work . I think the only way is telling close friends and family what you are doing and just go by word of mouth . If you start sending out a business card, it is called a business .

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  • I agree – check out the local tafe to see if they have a small business short course. I’d check out the websites of little mom/pop cake making business outside of your area and send them a couple questions, most of them will probably be happy to send you some tips too!

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  • I think Blondie and others have summed this up!

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  • I think the ato has stopped the ‘hobby’ jobs and everything where you make money is now classed as a business… So if you are prepared to run it as a business, good luck! Food handling sounds so risky to me.. So much can go wrong if the cake isn’t handled properly after they get it from you. If they eat it and get food poisoning, it can still come back to you.

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  • Thank you all so much, I commented yesterday, but for some reason it didn’t come up. I technically do have a food handling certificate.. But I don’t want to tell anyone that as I think it could be better that they are taking there own risk to purchase without being able to sue? My worry is that if something goes wrong as buying from the grocery store can happen that I don’t have to be in trouble if they know this and take that into their decision.

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  • You’d need to be across food safety regs. Maybe contact your local CIT for short courses?

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  • Maybe see if your local tafe runs and courses on running a small business, that way you might learn a lot of infomation on the legalities of it and how to set it up. When you get your tax done at tax time ask the accountant for some advise on what to do. He might sugget some good ideas.

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  • I did this but only for friends. I would either cost up what it would be to buy ingredient’s plus extra $10-$20 dollars depending on the size of cake to make some cash, or they bought what I needed and they I just made the cake (they tended to give me extra $$ for making it).
    If you open it to others it is classed as a business and you will need an ABN. You will also need to ensure that your kitchen is big enough for what you want and needs to be inspected. There are so many legalities in this, that this is what made me change my mind…plus I didn’t have the initial costs to set up.
    It just depends how far you want to go with your business….


    • Good advice from BLONDIE-someone with experience in this area. Good luck with whatever you decide to do! :)

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  • oh yeah ask the council for advice

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  • If you are wanting to do it on a more permanent basis and get paid it would be a business. Sounds great though

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  • If people are paying you then it would be a business? Is this what you want to do? I would suggest you contact small business organisations that offer people advice on setting up a small business. Probably a wealth of information online too? I imagine anyone cooking and selling food would need certification. Good luck with finding the information you need and good luck with your venture if you go ahead with a business. :)

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  • Get a food hygiene certificate if you don’t already hold one.

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  • so do you want to do this more like a hobby thing? i am not sure

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