The Day I Realised Café Supply Would Have Broken Me — And Why Bakers Need to Hear This

There was a time, long before Becca's Bouqcakes and Flourish and Bloom Kitchen existed, when I thought supplying a café would be my big break.

The facilities director at my old job in a university approached me one afternoon, all smiles and enthusiasm, and asked if I’d consider supplying cakes to the on‑site café. He'd eaten many free cakes I'd bought into the office during my tenure as a project manager; had seen a new concept I'd come up with and thought it would work well in one of the many catering outlets.

I was overjoyed. Excited. Flattered. Finally — someone in the “real world” saw my conceptual bakes and believed they’d sell.

I went home buzzing

.I built a pitch deck like the project‑manager‑turned‑side-hustle-baker I was.

I imagined a life freed from the shackles of being a keyboard jockey.

I pictured trays of beautiful cakes leaving my kitchen every morning while I lived my best creative life.

Then he sat me down to talk numbers. He kindly — almost proudly — shared what they’d pay me, what they’d sell the cakes for, and how much profit they would make.

And in the space of about thirty seconds, my excitement evaporated.

To break even, I’d need to bake and sell fifty cakes a day.

Five days a week.

On top of a full‑time job.

And would make no profit - or anywhere near replace a small portion of my salary.

From a home kitchen that was never designed for that level of production.

Meanwhile, they were buying catering‑grade ingredients at massive discounts because they served a population of 20,000 people.

My supermarket prices meant my ingredient costs were double theirs before I even turned the oven on.

I walked out of that meeting horrified, demoralised, and genuinely heartbroken.

I turned the offer down.

And for several years, I gave up on the idea of running a cake business at all.

Here’s the part I wish someone had told me back then:

Café supply is not a shortcut to a baking career. It’s a wholesale operation with wholesale maths — and if you don’t understand the numbers, it will eat you alive.

I didn’t fail.

I wasn’t “too slow” or “not business‑minded enough.”

The model itself was unsustainable for a solo baker with retail‑priced ingredients and a full‑time job.

And so many bakers today are walking into the same trap.

If you’re considering supplying a café, or you’ve been approached and you’re not sure what to charge, what to label, or whether it’s even viable — please learn from my story, not your own burnout.

I’ve put together a set of free resources, including a mini price guide and allergen checklist, to help you understand the real costs, responsibilities, and boundaries of café supply. You can grab them here: FREE RESOURCES

You deserve to build a business that sustains you — not one that drains you before you’ve even begun.

Image courtesy of Roman Bozhko on Unsplash