To do a catering course?

[johnsonshairpiece]

I’ve always loved to cook and bake. I have a dream of one day opening my own little cake and coffee shop or stand in some form. I’m not silly, I know it wouldn’t happen now, and I know it would be difficult because I’m in a seasonal tourist area. But it’s a dream of mine. FWIW, I can bake pretty well and everyone around me loves my cakes and cookies.

I’ve got quite a lot of free time at the moment and I was thinking this could be the perfect time to do something like that, so that I can put the wheels in motion, so to speak.

AIBU to do it? Or should I just give up on the dream?

YABU - it’ll never happen so it’s a waste of time.

YANBU - you never know

Do the course. It's always good to do stuff out of the home. It may lead to your dream, it may lead to a new best friend or just internal satisfaction and confidence

Do it!

look into buying a wee van but check out how you get the licenses to actually place it somewhere

then if it’s a success you can maybe open your cafe

I do think a van would be my limit purely due to work etc. in my area it’s pretty hard to have a successful business that starts up now, because it’s a tourist town.

If you do want to try to get into business, in the first instance see if you can rent space in an existing one when it's closed - eg a daytime pop up cafe at an evening only restaurant. Or try makers markets where you rent a stall. Likely lower start up costs than a van, that's going to be a significant five figure sum to get something that's reliable and in good condition.

Also look at unconventional locations that are currently under catered. I swim at a lake facility that has a cafe but has limited hours. It's incredibly popular in the summer and they've now got a couple of food trucks on site and they're always busy. A lot of town centres also have installed 'food truck' space in markets that are likely available to rent on a short term basis.

There’s a few beaches near me that I think could work! I just don’t know if it’s a pipe dream or could become a reality one day

By all means do your course, it may lead on to great things. Before you start spending other money though, come up with a business plan, remember there's a world of difference between knocking up a few cakes because you fancy doing it rather than because you need them to sell. From what I see the market for cafes, food vans and market stalls is pretty much saturated. There does still seem to be demand for special occasion cakes, but despite the high prices i suspect the makers are barely covering their costs. I bake because I enjoy doing it and like the end results, as do the people I give them to (or maybe they're just polite).