09/03/2026
How a home bakery grew to six figures without farmers markets
I wanted to share this for the home bakers who are just getting started and wondering whether a little home bakery can actually become something real.
I wanted to share this for the home bakers who are just getting started and wondering whether a little home bakery can actually become something real.
I started my home bakery in April 2025, and honestly, I didn’t start with some perfect business plan.
When I first got going, I couldn’t get into the local farmers markets because they weren’t accepting new bakery vendors. I also couldn’t put up a stand because my neighborhood doesn't allow them.
Those felt like pretty big hurdles when I was trying to figure out how I was actually going to get my products in front of people.
But I needed this to work, so I wasn’t going to let that be the end of it. I had recently quit my job and this home bakery needed to work!
Instead of going the market & farm stand route, I built the business around preorders. Customers ordered ahead, and I handled pickups by appointment or delivered their orders locally.
And little by little, it grew. I posted on Facebook, IG, Nextdoor.
There was a lot of trial and error that first year. A lot of learning what people actually wanted to buy, what was worth my time to make, and what absolutely was not. There were plenty of mistakes, late nights, early mornings, and a whole lot of help from my family.
But within that first year, the bakery became profitable even with some investments we needed to make along the way like bigger mixers and a bread oven.
Now I’m in my second year, and I’m currently on track for the bakery to bring in six figures this year. I continue with my direct sales and I wholesale to four local businesses, which has become another part of the business I never could have imagined when I was first trying to figure out how to sell bread without a farmers market or a stand. (Note: I'm in Texas where wholesaling recently became possible for cottage bakers).
And for anyone who is heading into their first fall season right now...
Get ready!
Fall through December was by FAR my busiest time my first year.
Lots and lots of late nights. Very early mornings. Holiday orders. Bigger order volumes. Weeks where it felt like I did nothing but bake, package, hand off orders, sleep a little, and start again.
I basically spent the first two weeks of January hibernating.
So if your business is starting to pick up, use the next few weeks to prepare where you can. Stock up. Organize. Simplify your menu if you need to. Figure out what you can prep ahead. Holiday demand can ramp up very quickly.
Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned through all of this is that there is no one right way to build a home bakery.
What works for one baker may not work at all for another. Your area is different. Your customers are different. Your schedule and your goals are different.
Sometimes the thing that feels like a roadblock at the beginning ends up pushing you toward the model that works best for you.
Back in April of this year, my little home bakery was featured on the Forrager podcast, and I shared a lot more there about how I got started and what that first year looked like. I can comment a link to that episode in the comments.
If you’re just starting out, keep going!
You do not have to have everything figured out on day one. You just have to be willing to adjust when something doesn’t work.
A year and a half ago I was trying to figure out how I was even going to sell my products.
Now I’m building a six-figure home bakery.
It can happen. ❤️
Happy baking, friends!
