A Day in the Life: What It Takes to Run a Successful Dessert Franchise

If you think you’d suit the professional challenge of running your own business and you have a real love of all things sweet and sugary, you could find your ideal role as the owner of a dessert franchise. Keep reading, and discover all the regular roles and responsibilities you’ll fulfill as a franchisee in this thriving sub-sector of food service.

Making a career change with a dessert franchise is a really good way of becoming a business owner at a lower level of risk. Not only will you be entering a really successful industry that’s only grown in popularity post-pandemic [Mintel], you’ll also be fully supported and trained by your franchisor. This means that in many cases, you’ll be able to find success running a dessert franchise without any prior experience!

A day in the life running a dessert business

When you start looking into how to become a pastry chef, you’ll soon begin to get a sense of just how fast-paced, diverse and exciting the dessert world truly is. There’s so many niche areas to operate in, and so many different types of business to run. On one end of the spectrum, you could run an ice cream distribution franchise with Simply Ice Cream. On the other end, you could go all-out and launch your own multi-unit Baskin Robbins ice cream shop operation. Regardless of the type of investment you make, here are some of your likely responsibilities/regular undertakings as the owner of a dessert franchise:

• Creating and selling delicious products to UK customers
• Keeping in regular contact with your franchisor
• Marketing and promoting your franchise/your products
• Staying up-to-date on the latest dessert sector trends and developments
• Managing your team of employees (or yourself and your own time, if you’re solo)
• Managing your business, from operations to finances

Advantages of running a dessert franchise

Beyond the rising levels of demand already covered, the fact that the UK bread and baked goods industry is currently worth a whopping £8.7 billion [Hallidays], and the benefits inherent to franchising, there are even more advantages to running a dessert franchise. Advantages such as:

• The room to be creative at work
• The dynamic, varied working life
• The ability to adapt and change with customer wants and needs
• The endless room for growth and development
• The huge amount of space to carve out a niche
• The chance to run a restaurant-style business, if that’s your dream, for a far lower initial investment amount (fewer ingredients equals lower costs)

Challenges you’ll face when you start a dessert franchise

Like anything in life, starting your own dessert franchise won’t be free of challenges. Yes, you’ll have franchisor support, but you’ll still need to attract a local and loyal customer base, market your dessert business effectively and manage it well. The best thing you can do to ensure all of this is possible, and to ensure the long-term success of your franchise?

Choose the right dessert franchise investment for you, and be sure it’s right for you before you ever sign a franchise agreement. Seek out the type of investment that suits you on every level, from the suitability of your skills and how much you’ll enjoy the job all the way to the investment being a good financial match for your means and for the amount of time you have to dedicate to it.

Sweets franchise investment opportunities in the dessert sector

There’s so much to discover in this vast food service sub-sector, but everyone needs a jumping-off point, and this is something that Point Franchise is more than able to provide. Here are just a few of the best dessert franchise investment opportunities currently available to you...

1. Chock Shop

Chock Shop is an artisan producer of chocolate brownies. These brownies are sold on the go by Chock Shop franchisees, and are very popular with customers at food festivals, markets and live events across the UK.

• Becoming a Chock Shop franchisee: No prior experience is required, but you should enjoy working outdoors and meeting people. You should also be great with customers, organised, resourceful and energetic (no matter the season).
• How much you need to invest: You’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £10,000, with franchise fees of £15,000 and a monthly advertising fee of £67.
• What you get for your investment: You’ll receive a comprehensive support package including full training, on-site assistance and an initial supply of equipment, marketing materials and operational manuals.

2. Crepe Delicious

Crepe Delicious has been growing in size and popularity for a number of years. With the original idea for the business originating through a mixture of global influences, this franchise is bringing new and exciting crepe recipes to global audiences.

• Becoming a Crepe Delicious franchisee: You don’t need previous sales experience to start a Crepe Delicious franchise - you just need to be entrepreneurial and, ideally, looking to run multiple franchise units.
• How much you need to invest: You’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £50,000, with franchise fees of £16,000, a total investment cost of £80,000 and advertising and royalty fees charged at 6% and 3% respectively.
• What you get for your investment: You’ll have access to a full support package, with training and mentoring available on everything from product development, social media and marketing to construction guidelines and premises negotiations.

Now that you know how to run a dessert franchise, it’s time to enjoy all the benefits of business ownership

Having discovered all that there is to offer in the dessert sector, you’ve probably reached the end of this article even more keen to make your investment and get stuck in. If this is accurate, stay on Point Franchise to deepen your research and move steadily closer to the moment of investment. Discover the current state of franchising in the dessert sector, and find out four valuable top tips for building a successful dessert franchise business plan.