Selling baked goods via sites like Gumtree for some cash during uni

NinetyOne · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:07

I'm interested in starting my own business at some point, ideally some sort of café or bakery that specialises in gluten and dairy free foods and drink.

I'm going to be starting university come September so I won't really have the funds or time to start up a fully-fledged business but I'd love to start baking and testing the market for potential customers etc while making a bit of money on the side to help me through uni.

I really don't want to spend all my time in a retail job just to support me through uni that isn't going to take me anywhere, I want to use my time at uni wisely so that I have a good plan when I finish rather than expecting a job to be handed to me when I finish.

Any tips/experiences would be great.

chief barker · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:08

What are you planning to sell? Pasties?

Mynight · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:12

I would set up your own website and spread it around the uni let it grow from there. I'm not 100% sure your niche would have a large market. Are there lots of people with gluten/lactose problems? If so how many are in your immediate area? I highly doubt people will travel far to buy bakery products just because its a gluten/lactose free baker. (Then again it could be the next craze). If you try it out with the local uni pop you can see how its reception is. A physical store in my opinion wouldn't work well as there's too much competition.

Just make sure you've got your legalities down. Not only to protect yourself from a lawsuit but that you conform to the standards/accreditation needed to sell your food.

arknor · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:15

I would buy cake and eat the lot in one sitting.
what city are you doing uni in?

NinetyOne · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:19

Mynight said:
I would set up your own website and spread it around the uni let it grow from there. I'm not 100% sure your niche would have a large market. Are there lots of people with gluten/lactose problems? If so how many are in your immediate area? I highly doubt people will travel far to buy bakery products just because its a gluten/lactose free baker. (Then again it could be the next craze).

Just make sure you've got your legalities down. Not only to protect yourself from a lawsuit but that you conform to the standards/accreditation needed to sell your food.

I would deliver the goods myself within the local area. And there certainly is a niche in the market for a completely gluten/lactose free quality products - most of the stuff you get prepackaged at the supermarket tastes like cardboard and costs a lot of money. For example, £2.50 for a 450g loaf of gluten free bread. There are many people suffering from coeliacs diease and gluten intolerance and is on the increase. Also, as you have mentioned, there is a sort of gluten free fad going on at the moment where people buy it simply because it is different or due to pseudo-science claims of it being healthier in general for people who are not even suffering from coeliacs or an intolerance.

NinetyOne · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:22

arknor said:
I would buy cake and eat the lot in one sitting.
what city are you doing uni in?

It's either going to be Aberdeen or Stirling depending on grades.

Mynight · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:24

NinetyOne said:
I would deliver the goods myself within the local area. And there certainly is a niche in the market for a completely gluten/lactose free quality products - most of the stuff you get prepackaged at the supermarket tastes like cardboard and costs a lot of money. For example, £2.50 for a 450g loaf of gluten free bread. There are many people suffering from coeliacs diease and gluten intolerance and is on the increase. Also. as you have mentioned, there is a sort of gluten free fad going on at the moment where people buy it simply because it is different or due to pseudo-science claims of it being healthier in general for people who are not even suffering from coeliacs or an intolerance.

Quick search brought up 1% of the uk has been formally diagnosed with gluten intolerance and around 15% are thought to be lactose intolerant. Much bigger than I thought my apologies.

Only thing is still being a minority there may be a lack in the immediate area of potential customers.

You're quite right about the taste I've accidentally bought gluten free stuff before and I thought it had gone off

. If you can make it taste nice then you're onto a winner!

NinetyOne · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:36

Mynight said:
Quick search brought up 1% of the uk has been formally diagnosed with gluten intolerance and around 15% are thought to be lactose intolerant. Much bigger than I thought my apologies.

Only thing is still being a minority there may be a lack in the immediate area of potential customers.

You're quite right about the taste I've accidentally bought gluten free stuff before and I thought it had gone off . If you can make it taste nice then you're onto a winner!

My father and I have both been diagnosed with coeliacs and have been baking our own stuff for quite a while now and friends/family can't tell the difference between our gluten free stuff and regular wheat-based food.

Just worried about health and safety laws etc. But I have seen people on Gumtree selling cakes and things quite a lot.

Buffman · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:40

You might come into problems if the local student club (that usually sells lunch etc) finds out (if you're delivering on campus)...

IMO tho you're onto a winner if you post a nice looking facebook page (with pics/prices), onto the popular uni (wherever you're going?) facebook/ websites.

To build up likes for said fb page offer a "share this post and win a free box of gluten free food"

Mynight · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:41

NinetyOne said:
My father and I have both been diagnosed with coeliacs and have been baking our own stuff for quite a while now and friends/family can't tell the difference between our gluten free stuff and regular wheat-based food. Just worried about health and safety laws etc. But I have seen people on Gumtree selling cakes and things quite a lot.

Well if you'd post I'd buy one just to try it

Tuppy_Glossop · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:43

Most universities have a team to help students and staff start up their own businesses. You could check what the deal is at the Uni you will be attending.

NinetyOne · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:53

The Craig said:
You might come into problems if the local student club (that usually sells lunch etc) finds out (if you're delivering on campus)...

IMO tho you're onto a winner if you post a nice looking facebook page (with pics/prices), onto the popular uni (wherever you're going?) facebook/ websites.

To build up likes for said fb page offer a "share this post and win a free box of gluten free food"

Good shout.

NinetyOne · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:53

Tuppy_Glossop said:
Most universities have a team to help students and staff start up their own businesses. You could check what the deal is at the Uni you will be attending.

Ah really? Had no idea. I'll have to check into that, ta.

Mynight said:
Well if you'd post I'd buy one just to try it

Sure thing! I'll try to make a selection of things at some point and take pictures

Buffman · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:55

NinetyOne said:
Good shout.

Also for what its worth I think you'd get a lot more interest from facebook and twitter, than you would from gumtree (for your target market of students). Thus focus your efforts on these 2 .

NinetyOne · 13 Jul 2014 at 18:00

The Craig said:
Also for what its worth I think you'd get a lot more interest from facebook and twitter, than you would from gumtree (for your target market of students). Thus focus your efforts on these 2 .

Yeah for sure. Probably start advertising on my own Facebook and then hopefully once interest goes up make an independent page for it?

Tuppy_Glossop · 13 Jul 2014 at 18:02

What about asking shops at the uni (cafes, bars, sandwich shops, etc) if you can have some shelf space ?

Buffman · 13 Jul 2014 at 18:02

Sure sounds good.

Overall though I'm not sure how big the market is for this kind of food because:
A: Students are poor (and gluten free stuff tends to be expensive!)
B: Most students dont care much for their health

Source: Just finished my 5 year degree

You however might know about more people that buy the stuff.

What uni you going to? St Andrews/Edinburgh and I'm sure all the rich uni kids will lap it up! ;p

Caged · 13 Jul 2014 at 18:03

Operate a fried breakfast delivery service for Saturday and Sunday mornings and you will make a killing.

diamount · 13 Jul 2014 at 18:12

chief barker said:
What are you planning to sell? Pasties?

Pasty synonym for pimp now?

NinetyOne · 13 Jul 2014 at 18:13

Caged said:
Operate a fried breakfast delivery service for Saturday and Sunday mornings and you will make a killing.

Haha. I'm sure I would.

Tuppy_Glossop said:
What about asking shops at the uni (cafes, bars, sandwich shops, etc) if you can have some shelf space ?

If the uni itself would allow/sell me some shelf space that would be ace.

The Craig said:
Sure sounds good.

Overall though I'm not sure how big the market is for this kind of food because:
A: Students are poor (and gluten free stuff tends to be expensive!)
B: Most students dont care much for their health

Source: Just finished my 5 year degree

You however might know about more people that buy the stuff.

What uni you going to? St Andrews/Edinburgh and I'm sure all the rich uni kids will lap it up! ;p

Will either be Aberdeen university or Stirling - it depends on the grades I get. Pretty confident it will be Aberdeen though, which is quite an expensive city to live in (oil etc). The whole point is to have affordable, good quality gluten free food and I'll try to keep the costs as low as possible and buy stuff in bulk. I already have dealers (dads friends) where we order stuff - normally about 50kg of stuff like flour at a time but can easily get more.