How to start a pastry shop business | Real Case CIBer Dulce González.

Dulce González had always wanted to study cooking, but at the time the Mexican education system did not offer her a satisfactory and affordable education. She studied journalism and devoted herself for a while to investigative journalism until she decided to make a change in her life to study gastronomy and move to Spain to study at the CIB · Culinary Institute of Barcelona.

She came to CIB with the idea of opening her own restaurant, however, after finishing her studies and having a stage experience in the dessert department of Celler de Can Roca, she realized that it was not what she really wanted to do. In a complicated moment, such as the confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided to set up her own Mexican pastry business called Agridulce.

1. From a home-based pastry venture to a bakery business
2. What it takes to start a pastry shop
3. How to start a pastry business

From a home-based pastry business to a bakery.

Ever since she arrived in Barcelona, Dulce had the need to keep in touch with the gastronomy of her country, especially pastries. It was her way of staying connected to her origins and recovering the flavors of her childhood. As a result, she conducted research on the Mexican cuisine consumed in Spain and discovered that it was very different from the one consumed there and decided to share dishes and recipes on her personal blog. 

With the confinement she discovered that there were no places to buy Mexican pastries and if there were, they had been closed due to the pandemic and she decided to start making Mexican-inspired pastries at home. Little by little, people close to her started asking her for pastries and she began to distribute them informally. She soon saw that there was a market for this product and that she could professionalize by opening her own bakery. That is how Bittersweet was born.

What it takes to start a pastry shop

• Evaluating the value-added proposition.
  When Dulce started making cakes at home, she realized that everything she learned in the CIB's PEC·D2 - Advanced Pastry and Chocolate Specialist Postgraduate Course was very useful, providing her with tools and competitive advantages. Knowing in depth the raw material, the pastry techniques and knowing how to apply them in new concepts with the international gastronomic context of Mexico, allowed him the possibility to start producing cakes with a differential proposal.

• Detecting customer needs, market opportunities and partners that add value.
  Precisely this contextualization of its gastronomic proposals with the pastry, detected a niche market and an opportunity for the Mexican community in the city of Barcelona, a Mexican community of the largest in Spain. So in a territory, a defined market and a differential value proposition, he was able to find partners with similar projects to partner with and complement each other.

• Validate the business model as soon as possible
  It is better to start with fewer resources and validate the business model than to wait until you have everything and consume resources. At the beginning, the origin of the clients was almost exclusively Mexican, however, little by little it is managing to reach a wider public and from other cultures.
  
  

• Defining a market-fit offering 
  Dulce changes its menu every month, trying to use local products, because they tend to taste better, are cheaper and give added value to its brand, which is also increasingly relevant for consumers. Finally, she seeks to find her personal touch, fusing culinary traditions based on her experience, i.e. Mexican pastries with Catalan pastries, as these are the two traditions she knows best and the way she can be creative with what she has available. 

• Sizing production resources
  In addition, knowing the utensils and basic pastry machinery to produce cakes at home meant that she did not need external advice and could build her project on her own. This allowed for greater agility and a greater return on the resources and time invested.

• Finding resources after testing the model
  For Dulce, one of the good things about cooking is that you can build a gastronomic business or open a bakery practically from scratch and without needing anyone. But you have to find the resources to do it. Dulce decided to seek seed capital from nearby Friends Family an Fools to obtain a work space and the necessary machinery to produce the cakes more comfortably and quickly, and as her proposal, clients and knowledge of her business evolved, she could afford to acquire more professional tools.

How to start a pastry business

Those who are thinking about opening a pastry shop or wondering how to start a pastry business must be willing to work hard, especially in the beginning. Dulce runs her pastry business by herself and she is in charge of controlling the orders, producing them and distributing them. During busy times, such as the Pan de Muerto season (typical of the Day of the Dead), Dulce can work from very early in the morning until late at night for several days, but since she owns the business and does not have a physical store, she can also afford to take days off on a more regular basis. He also has the opportunity to take advantage of times when there is not so much work to do tests, look for new products and develop new preparations or change the offer. In this way, you are to some extent free to manage your time better. 

The ability to adapt is also what makes people who decide to start a pastry business great. Dulce adapted to working during the COVID-19 confinement, as it was there that her project was born. Afterwards, she had to adapt again when things started to stabilize, as people started to go out more and no longer asked for so much delivery. 

In this way, Dulce stresses the importance of always thinking about the customer experience, making attractive packaging and having direct contact with the customer. In this sense, social networks are very useful to attract people's attention and make them interact with the project, they are the main channel for the diffusion of Dulce's cakes and he considers that this is one of the things that some chefs such as Dabiz Muñoz have been able to take advantage of.

Dulce is happy with the work she has and considers that other pastry chefs, such as those who work in a restaurant, although they have the freedom to work with more textures because they work with preparations that are served instantly, have a more demanding job and do not have as much time freedom as she has. Dulce is already thinking about the next steps, such as opening a larger bakery or a physical store that will give her more visibility. She believes that the pastry chef is a kind of artist and that everyone has to find their own way and their own style according to what they like. People look for him because of what he offers and because he gives something that no one else has. 

Many people wonder if starting a pastry business is profitable and although it is a demanding business that requires a lot of motivation to carry it out, it is a very viable option if you are clear about certain requirements to open a pastry shop:

• Define well the business model of a pastry shop.
• Detect customer needs.
• Be able to be self-sufficient and make decisions. 
• Find the key partners of a pastry shop according to the needs of each project.
• Have a gastronomical offer that differentiates you through creativity and innovation. 
• Know the ingredients and pastry techniques that are essential for each type of business. 
• Be able to adapt to context and seasonal changes.
• Define a good communication and sales strategy.