How to Make a Career Change With a Dessert Franchise

If you’ve got a sweet tooth and an entrepreneurial spirit, why not start your own dessert franchise? Turn your passion into profit in this sugary sweet sub-sector of the thriving UK food service industry. In this article, you’ll discover everything you need to know and everything you need to do in order to make a career change with a dessert franchise smoothly and effectively.

The dessert industry is huge right now, with JustEat reporting a 36% increase in dessert orders across 2020 [Mintel] and dessert popularity still on the rise in 2021. That means there’s never been a better time to start the sweets franchise of your dreams. Profitability is very much attainable, especially if you can find the right niche, make the right dessert franchise investment for you, and make it in the right way (fully prepared and fully informed).

Why consider making a career change with a dessert franchise?

It makes perfect sense that you would want to dedicate an entire shop to the best gastronomic experience of the day. Picture surrounding yourself every day with delicate crepes topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, or ice cream topped with sweet, sticky berries.
- Brand My Cafe

The dessert industry is by no means small, and there is so much room, even in this sub-sector, to find a smaller niche and chase an absolutely ideal career. If you love donuts and bakery vibes, there’s La Donuteria. If you love working on the move and Belgian chocolate brownies, there’s Chock Shop. The possibilities are quite literally endless, and beyond the rising demand, there are many advantages to running a dessert franchise. Advantages like: 

• The room to grow and scale your business with time
• The lower costs when compared with food franchises outside the dessert space
• The ability to easily respond to changing customer demand with menu changes
• The ability to fall back on your franchisor whenever you need to
• The chance to be creative at work
• The dynamic, varied working life

How to make a career change with a dessert franchise

Now, it’s time to dive into how to make a career change with a dessert franchise. Cover each of the following three steps, and you’ll know as you start your own dessert franchise that you’ve made a fully-informed and carefully considered choice, setting yourself up for long-term success and profitability...

1. Assess the suitability of your skills

One of the biggest advantages to starting a franchise is the support and training you’ll have on hand - which you wouldn’t, of course, if you were going it alone. This comprehensive level of training means that, in many cases, a franchise won’t ask you to have any prior industry experience or dessert-based qualification. Some will, and if they do, qualifications like these would be ideal: Cake Decoration Stage Two, a foundation degree in Hospitality and Events Management, a Baker apprenticeship.

Otherwise, franchise networks will largely be looking for certain transferable skills that they know, from experience, will set you up for success in the industry. Before you come any closer to making an investment, your utterly crucial step one should be determining whether or not you have the following skills and abilities (and therefore, whether you’d be suited to a career in the dessert sub-sector):

• Determination
• Initiative
• Creativity
• Attention to detail
• Customer service
• Communication and negotiation
• Manual dexterity
• People management
• Time management
• Business management

2. Research the industry and find your ideal niche

If the skills listed in step one sound right up your street and you’re sure there’s room for you in the industry, you’ll then move onto step two: Research, research and MORE research! What is the current state of the sector you’re about to potentially enter? Which dessert trends are dominating the conversation in late 2021? Which niche areas are performing the best? The worst? 

It’s all about finding your ideal franchise fit, and the best way to do that is to get a picture of the entire industry and narrow it down from there. From waffle-making with Bubblewrap to scooping ice cream with Rassams Creamery, there’s plenty to see and discover on your journey towards an investment. To get you started, here just a few of the latest dessert trends:

• Dessert in new contexts, like dessert charcuterie boards or dessert pizzas
• Lighter, healthier and lower sugar dessert options
• Vegan dessert options
• Environmental friendliness as a marketing focus/increasing priority
• Dessert splicing (e.g., combining a croissant and a donut to make a “cronut”)

3. Carefully consider the costs

Your final step towards investment, and towards a professional life spent running a dessert franchise and living your sweets-fuelled dream, is to practically and extensively assess the costs associated with the franchise opportunities that interest you the most. Cost doesn’t just mean that initial investment amount - you also need to account for ongoing running costs and fees. 

Fail to adequately assess the costs, and you risk over-investing. Over-invest, and you risk seeing yourself and your business suffer because you don’t have the money to support it before it reaches that all-important state of profitability. Here are some cost examples from the dessert, industry, to give you a sense of what you’re working with:

• Crepe Delicious - To become a Crepe Delicious franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £50,000, with franchisee fees of £16,000, a total investment cost of £80,000 and advertising and royalty fees charged at 6% and 3% respectively.
• Simply Ice Cream - To become a Simply Ice Cream franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £18,000, with franchise fees of £18,000, a total investment cost of £26,000, a monthly advertising fee of £100 and a royalty fee charged at 5% (but waived during the first three months).
• Sweet Spot - To become a Sweet Spot franchisee, you’ll need to make a minimum initial investment of £50,000, with franchise fees of £15,000, a total investment cost of £90,000 and monthly royalty and advertising fees of £150 and £500 respectively.

Start a dessert franchise today and you’ll enjoy a thriving career in the sweets sector in no time

You should now find yourself in the best possible position to invest with a dessert franchise, fully informed on the steps you’ll need to take to navigate your career change. For more support with the post-investment side of things, stay on Point Franchise. Discover seven tips for running your dessert franchise, or four tips for building a successful business plan for your dessert franchise.