As life gets faster and time on hand gets shorter, people look for ways to save time in their daily chores. A quick sandwich or a few biscuits are so much easier to carry and eat on the go, rather than roti-subzi. That is how, bread, an item which the British brought into India, and which was once supposedly used to ‘contaminate’ the water sources of the Hindus, became a regular part of the diet of crores of Indians!
Bread and its various versions, including buns, paav, cakes, naankatai, biscuits and the like, made their way into our lives because of their taste and convenience. Cakes became an indispensable part of birthdays, for rural or urban consumers alike. Moral of the story – a very potent opportunity to make bakery products your way to earn your daily bread!
What do you need to start a bakery? No specific educational qualifications. But some professional training and a bakery business plan would be extremely relevant. You can choose the scale on which you want to operate but could even start off with a capital of about 3-4 lacs and a place of about 100-200 sq. ft.
The critical aspects of the bakery business are – quality of raw material, freshness of products and hygiene.
The raw materials required are maida (fine wheat flour), yeast, water, oil etc. The quality of maida decides the texture and quality of the products. Maida must be kept in a dry atmosphere. Yeast is used to raise the maida to make the bread and biscuits light. Yeast must be stored at around 30 degrees centigrade.
It is important to maintain strict standards of hygiene since we are dealing in food products. The manufacturing area must be free of pests, dirt and dust. Regular pest control and cleaning is essential. The staff must be asked to follow strict rules of hygiene and must use aprons, caps and gloves while working.
The equipment you will need includes ovens, moulds, slicers, dough rounder, sieves etc. You may choose from ovens that operate on electricity, gas or diesel. Ovens come in single deck, double deck, swing tray and rotary ovens.
There can be a wide variety of products to offer. You may manufacture whole wheat bread, pizza bases, burger buns and even bread for diabetics! It makes a lot of difference if your product is branded. Choose a simple but catchy name, one that may reflect freshness, taste or any other attribute that is important to the consumer. Use a well designed logo and simple yet attractive packing and your products are ready to go to the market!
Make sure you get the FDA license besides other standard licenses.
So get ready to start your own bakery business and watch how it can earn you not just your daily bread, but butter too and also the cherry on the icing if you keep dishing out innovative products. With deAsra and their Udyog Mitra to help you every step of the way, this business will be a cakewalk for you.
This article was originally written in the Marathi Magazine- Yashaswi Udyojak (June 2015). This post is the translated abridged version of the same article