Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

To home bake with dogs?

105 replies

MrsJunglelow · 29/10/2020 19:00

I mean not literally with the dogs , but bake cakes to sell from my kitchen when I have a dog (and cat) in the house?

I make lovely cakes and a friend of mine is currently making a very good living from it and frankly, I want a bit of her success too!
I’m in a diddly terrace so not massive kitchen but if I feed the animals in the hallway and pop their water bowl out there too they have no need to ever enter the kitchen.

Is it possible or will environmental health immediately refuse it on hygiene grounds?

Anyone know please? 🙏

OP posts:

AlwaysLatte · 30/10/2020 08:36

You'd obviously have to keep them out of the kitchen at all times and wear good food overalls that are stored in a different room to the pets. I can't see how there would be any contamination if you do that plus follow all the usual food hygiene practices.

Billben · 30/10/2020 08:36

Wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to me whether you’ve had pets to be honest.

And to the poster who called their cats horrible, why do you even have them with such nasty attitude?

Nikhedonia · 30/10/2020 08:38

No idea why people are being such arseholes on this thread 🤔

Because there's a weird level of hate on MN for pets, especially cats (who shit in their gardens) and dogs (who will no doubt savagely attack their PFB) and there's also a weird desire to call everyone dirty if they don't change their bedsheets everyday.

RoseGoldEagle · 30/10/2020 08:41

Don’t base your decision on whether to proceed on AIBU comments, people can be weirdly hostile on here! I bought a cake for DDs birthday the other day from a home baker, wouldn’t have occurred to me to wonder if she had pets. Like others have said, if you get the hygiene certificate you won’t them also have to declare whether you have pets, so people saying they wouldn’t buy from you presumably just don’t buy from any home baker as they’ve no way of knowing who does and who doesn’t have pets.

Alternista · 30/10/2020 08:42

I think there’s really only one way to settle this.
Send me one of your finest cakes. I’ll eat it and tell everyone whether it tasted like it came from a clean house.
You’re welcome.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 30/10/2020 08:42

I bake and have a dog! Steam cleaner and child gates. The council inspector was quite happy!

I make about 150% mark up on each batch so it pays for my time and the ingredients, including delivery. I keep it simple, sell to a few local cafes on 2 days a week. They each get one unique bake and whatever else they want from the list. So they all get rock buns and a large Victoria sponge, one gets a very expensive chocolate brownie, another a sour cherry scone and a third is humming and haaing about a nutty tray bake. I have just taken on another who only wants Grantham Gingers - which is fine by DH as he can snaffle one or two from the batch

And yes, they all know about the dog, he is usually with me when I deliver.

Nikhedonia · 30/10/2020 08:59

And yes, they all know about the dog, he is usually with me when I deliver.

Hilarious that so many posters wouldn't eat from someone's house if they had dogs but probably willingly buy from cafes who are purchasing from homes with dogs

MissBattleaxe · 30/10/2020 09:04

I'd buy from you OP! There's a woman near me delivering cup cakes in lockdown and she can hardly keep up with demand, Also, if your kitchen doesn't work out, see if you can borrow a pub kitchen. They're not busy and usually easier to keep clean.

Benjispruce2 · 30/10/2020 09:06

I can’t see why not, so long as you follow strict hygiene.

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 30/10/2020 09:10

Obviously you need the right certification. Beyond that, I wouldn't listen to negative comments on here. Many MNetters have a hazy understanding of infection control. As a rule, humans are far more of an infection risk to other humans than animals are.

Hobbesmanc · 30/10/2020 09:16

There's plenty of food businesses ran from farmhouses - I wouldn't want cats on the counter etc but as long as the animals are kept out of the food storage and prep area I'd be happy

Nacreous · 30/10/2020 09:20

How on earth would anyone know if you had pets as long as you passed the certification?

Don't put photos of your dog on your Instagram page, lock down your personal social media, and keep them out the way on collection and it should be fine.

I agree about being careful re pricing though - if you're using local eggs or lots of chocolate etc the ingredients can tot up fast.

Cautionsharpblade · 30/10/2020 09:21

As a rule, humans are far more of an infection risk to other humans than animals are

This ^^

I’d be more worried about kids in the kitchen. Touching everything picking their nose touching everything hands down their pants touching everything using a spoon putting it back in the pot touching everything swigging milk out the carton touching everything.

And for everyone boaking at the thought of a dog walking past a cupcake, have a quick check of your fridge. Look at the chicken shit and feathers on your eggs. Think about the pus that might be in your milk. The crap that’s been ingested by the fish. The noses and bum holes in your burgers. The cancerous tumours in your meat.

LuckyAmy1986 · 30/10/2020 09:24

If I knew about the pets it might make me think twice. That’s IF!! I have bought things from home bakers before and wouldn’t think to ask, the only thing I look for is the hygiene rating etc. So just be discreet about it I would say?

pollysproggle · 30/10/2020 09:42

You can have pets and a home catering business. I do!
I have two cats and my kitchen is 5 star rated with the council.
You have to have an action plan for days you'll bake.
I feed my cats and then they go into the garden for the day. The kitchen is blitzed, hoovered and all personal items removed, a good deep clean then I'm ready to go.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 30/10/2020 09:49

@pollysproggle yep! Easy to do, takes very little time once you have the routine outlined (which you have to for the certification). It's also why I only bake overnight 2 days a week. Dog is usually in his crate, asleep when I am baking.

if you're using local eggs or lots of chocolate etc the ingredients can tot up fast. Ah, but if you know the owner of the chickens and they too have a certificate then it can be a great selling point and quite cheap. I swap a bake for a dozen eggs and pay for the rest. We also coordinate meringue and custard making for when she has some eggs leftover from the beginning of the week. This is how I started the baking in the first place - when I owned the chickens and was desperate to use the eggs

ToffeeAppleCaramel · 30/10/2020 09:50

Wouldn’t occur to me to ask or worry about this.
If I liked the baking I’d happily buy from someone with pets.

pollysproggle · 30/10/2020 10:15

@CuriousaboutSamphire
I love an overnight baking shift it's so peaceful and productive

StormBaby · 30/10/2020 10:20

The pets won’t be what causes you to not pass the inspection. You need to prove they are not allowed in the area. You also need to have your laundry items done in a separate area. You need a separate business fridge and a home fridge. You need two sinks, one for food prep and one for hand washing. We didn’t bother getting our home checked for all these reasons for my DHs business and do all our food prep off site in a rented space.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 30/10/2020 10:20

And getting the last batch of muffins to the nearest shop still hot out of the oven. I get a free cup of coffee for that delivery

viques · 30/10/2020 10:26

I wonder if all the home bakers with animals in the kitchen would be happy to eat out in restaurants which allowed animals in their kitchens?

[And before anyone says it would never happen , I once worked as a waitress in a cafe that had a kitchen cat, and another time was horrified in another restaurant where not only did you have to walk past a permanently open door to the kitchen to get to the customer toilets but had to run the gamut of the chefs huge German shepherd who if he stretched his head up was exactly the same height as the food preparation areas.
Both places now closed, but the principle stays the same.]

CuriousaboutSamphire · 30/10/2020 10:28

@StormBaby

That makes it sound really complicated.

You need a separate hand wash basin, downstairs loo is fine, we passed as we have one of those 1 1/2 sink units and designate the half sink for hand washing

Separate fridge is desirable, not essential. I use the top self in mine as the designated Bake Shelf, no cross contaminaton as everything there is in sealed boxes.

And I have never heard of separate laundry facilities being needed only that you shouldn't use your washing machine whilst baking.

Ladybird345 · 30/10/2020 10:28

I'd say as long as your dog isn't helping you bake you'll be fine 😊
I find some people on here just hate pets full stop so will say no regardless of how hygienic you are. I'm sure they all think we live in squalor just because we have a pet.

Kissthepastrychef · 30/10/2020 10:30

I have cats. I also have a home based wedding cake business. I am rated 5* by my EHO who played with said cats on her last inspection. When I'm baking the kitchen door is closed and I have a studio upstairs that I decorate in.

Speak to your EHO but it most definitely is not illegal as some clearly unknowledgeable posters have suggested.

Kissthepastrychef · 30/10/2020 10:31

You need a separate business fridge and a home fridge. You need two sinks, one for food prep and one for hand washing.

No you don't. I don't

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Swipe left for the next trending thread