The title asks a question and of course it begs an answer, but we cannot give a straight answer to that particular question as it is too vague at this moment. So how can I answer the question "How much does it cost to start a bakery"?

I cannot today tell you that your bakery will cost one hundred thousand dollars nor can I say it will cost a million dollars. But both dollar amounts are quite reasonable depending upon your definition of the word bakery.

The word bakery can be and is used to define a business that produces food for public consumption. But again we have used a generic term in the word "Bakery". You can see that just using the word bakery is like opening and umbrella. It covers a large area.

Let's start by saying we are going to start a bread bakery. We can also define the word as a cake bakery or donut bakery and even a bagel bakery. Plus there are other types of bakery that we can define that question too. Now we have defined our term bakery.

Can you see where I am going here?

Your business plan is going to define "YOUR" bakery! This is where you answer your own question of how much does it cost to start a bakery.

Another question I have to ask is, "Will I be starting a franchised bakery"? Because here again is the question, "how much does it cost to start a bakery"?

When I can answer to the type of bakery, I can say to some degree the total price of that bakery.

I can tell you that there are a number of pieces of equipment that are almost standard in every bakery. The type of equipment and the size of that equipment is again going to decide for you as to, "how much does it cost to start a bakery"?

In today's employment standards acts, there are rules and regulation that have been put in place to prevent some types of equipment from being used. So again we have a problem here to answer your first question.

Notice too that I did not say; "prevents that equipment from being sold". This is because pre-owned equipment is still for sale and some of this equipment is in today's market requires upgrading to today's employment standards. The equipment still works and still does that job it was originally designed for, and very likely the price it is offered at, is extremely attractive. Meaning; it peeks our interest, because it is such a great price.

There are food equipment auction houses that offer all kinds of equipment that can do the job we are looking to do, so we could get that equipment at perhaps as little as ten percent, or less, of buying the same piece of equipment brand new.

The age of these pieces being sold pre-own, also has a bearing on the sale price as does the condition. For instance on a mixer it is possible that the oil seal of the spindle is cracked or has stood un-used for some time and so could break when the machine is placed into regular use.

If you were to purchase an oven from a pre-owned operation, that oven will quite often have to be dismantled and rebuilt. The rebuild could be faulty or rebuilt without installing new components in the proper place, or rebuilt on uneven ground.

I can go on but we haven't answered your question of "how much does it cost to start a bakery"?

I have tried to answer you as best I know how. We could do more if you want to know how to start a bakery then we have a program in our book where we go into all the different types of equipment that is used within a bakery.

Not to scare you too much your bakery could cost you as little as a few thousand dollars to well over two million dollars. This of course will depend upon you and your business plan.

That is where the answer as to how much does it cost to start a bakery will come from!