Are you pondering getting into the professional cake decorating business, but you are not sure what kind of career options are available to a professional cake decorator? That is, maybe you know that you love to decorate cakes and would like to find a way to make a living at it, but you are not sure what kind of work is available to a professional cake decorator? Here are six career options that can hopefully give you some idea of what kind of work you can do as a professional cake decorator.
1) Work at a bakery. You can, obviously enough, get a job at a bakery. Cake decorating is a niche profession in the sense that they are skills that are not that transferable from that profession to another. Many professional cake decorators enjoy their work very much, especially in a bakery setting. How hard is it to get work as a professional cake decorator in a bakery? This has a lot to do with where you live. In a large metropolitan area, you will probably have no trouble finding work if you are trained as a cake decorator, although you may at first have to settle for part-time work. In smaller areas, it may be a bit more challenging finding work in this niche industry.
2) You can open your own bakery. If you have an entrepreneual streak in you, then you may seriously want to consider opening your very own bakery. If the thought of running your own business seems a bit daunting to you, you can always start small by taking an apprenticeship or job at a bakery to see how another baker does it.
3) Work on a part-time basis as a professional cake decorator. Maybe you do want to be your own boss and work as a professional cake decorator, but you are not sure if you want to invest the time and money necessary to run a successful full-time operation. Maybe you want to keep your cake decorating as a fun side project and business. You can easily start your own part-time professional cake decorating business by advertising in your local community paper. Or perhaps you can focus on working during the busy season, when cake orders go through the roof at local bakeries.
4) Get a job in catering. There are many catering companies who seek cake decorators on both a part-time or full-time basis. You may want to work with local companies during their busy season to get work as a cake decorator. You can check the local ads for part-time work as a cake decorator, or you can send out your own ad advertising your cake decorating services. Because professional cake decorating is such a niche industry, there are always times when bakeries are in desperate need of professional cake decorators. Make sure you are well connected to your local bakeries so that you know when they are in need of more professional cake decorators.
5) Freelance as a cake decorator. Along with catering companies, large bakeries may also want to take on freelance cake decorators during their busy season. This can be a fun and easy way of making money during the peak months.
6) Get work teaching cake decoration. If you are a professional cake decorator with years of experience under your belt, you may be well suited to a job teaching cake decoration. Contact your local community college to see if they need teachers. If they do not offer a cake decorating class, pitch them idea of one. This is a fun and easy way to share your passion for cake decoration with your local community.