5 Ways to Turn Waste Into Profit at Your Bakery
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When you own a bake shop, it’s inevitable that you will waste food. While it’s never enjoyable, it is just part of the business. One of the things I was really good at was turning what would have been waste into profit. So I’m sharing some of my top tips for ways to turn waste into profit at your bakery!
I hate wasting food and when you’re in the food business, it’s just something that happens on a regular basis. There’s no way around it as you have to take pride in your work. You have to be consistent, have fresh baked goods, and serve things that people know and love. And if you are keeping up your standards, you will have waste that can’t be sold. But, just because it can’t be sold as it was intended to be sold, doesn’t mean it can’t make you money. This small difference can make a big difference in your business!
Table of Contents
Use Day Olds…
Some bakeries will sell day olds for a discount. As long as you’ve properly labeled day old baked goods and the items are still good, then this is a perfectly acceptable way to bring in additional income and avoid waste. Day olds are a great thing for regular customers who frequent your bakery all the time and know the quality of your products already.
I didn’t see day olds at my bake shop, but I did give them away to regular customers. This is also a great way to make profit off these day olds! While it’s not direct profit in the moment, giving away free items to regular customers is a marketing expense that will pay for itself as you’re making these customers feel special. And they’ll come back more and more when they feel like part of the club.
Use Broken or Burnt Cookies…
As a topping for cakes, cupcakes, ice cream, or more. While eating a burnt cookie is not ideal or good, as long as it’s just slightly burned and not un-edible, using little bits of it can add flavor to other desserts. If you crumble up burnt cookies on top of cupcake frosting and call it crispy cookie cupcakes as a special, then it works! Use them as an ice cream topping if you sell ice cream (we did this often at my bake shop with slightly over baked cookies or broken cookies).
Turn Broken Cakes Into…
Cake balls, cake cake pops, or cake milkshakes. While broken cakes sometimes cannot be fixed, they can still be eaten and enjoyed. One of my favorite things to make with broken cakes is cake balls. Not only are they delicious, but you can charge a premium price because these are a labor intensive dessert.
You can also turn them into cake milkshakes if you serve ice cream at your shop. We did this all the time and up charged for add ins for milkshakes. Using sunken or broken cake just creates a delicious milkshake and it uses up what would have been waste! Adding milkshakes to your menu just takes a blender and some ice cream, so it's an incredibly easy menu adjustment that can make you money and save cake!
Turn Mess Ups Into Specials…
Did someone frost a cake with the wrong buttercream? Add cranberries instead of raisins into a cookie? Or maybe they used a mix of vegan butter and eggs accidentally. It’s all happened at my bakery shop.
If you have something that’s incorrect, but still tastes good then it can be sold as a special! Having different items all the time can confuse customers and I don’t recommend baking different things every day with no kind of menu. But having specials along with your classic menu is a great idea for your adventurous customers or regulars who want to try new things.
Sample Less Than Perfect Product
If you have bakes that taste good but don’t look great, sample them! While this isn’t putting money in your register immediately, it will pay off later when people taste what you have to offer.
The Takeaway
Owning a bake shop comes with many challenges, food waste shouldn’t be at the top of the list. There’s creative ways to use food waste to turn it into profit at your bakery. While it’s incredibly important to stay true to your menu, style, and standards, you can still use messed up bakes in creative ways to minimize food waste and maximize profit.
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