Cakes - I need a name!

There's a cake maker in London called Maisie Fantaisie & that has stuck in my head! Also The Magnolia Bakery. And the Hummingbird Bakery.

I like the name "Cakes by Claire", so it's a shame that it is a write-off.

I always remember ones that sound a bit twee...like..."Lola's Kitchen" and "Crumbs and Doilies."

x

Ooo, difficult one because, as you say, there are hundreds of Cakes by, Creations by, Celebrations etc. What about A portion of heaven, Conniseur cakes by Claire, Classy cakes, Eat Me Now!

A piece of cake?

Theres a shop by me called 'Fancie'.

I don't know, what about ''Clairey Cakes' like 'Fairy Cakes' :p

Sugar Plum Fairy Cakes ?

yummy scrummy cakes ?

Occassion Cakes by Claire...you might as well put your name in there somewhere ?

Speaking as someone who has been exactly where you are right now I have to say this is the hardest part of starting up as a business - and one, I have to admit that I didn't get right and regret not going into in more detail as I can't change it now without huge ramifications.

I called myself Celebration Cakes by Catherine Scott but didn't really go into it in enough detail to realise that there is another Celebration Cakes by MB (another name) very close to me - we have orders from the big suppliers go to the wrong place and our accounts are always being mixed up.

Also I now run it as a company with (including me) 7 staff, so although it's my business I wish I hadn't really included my name. I had no idea in the world that I would grow my business as much as I have when I first started out like you but now I wish I hadn't chosen this name.

Also having a name beginning with C, as we both do, you will find, as you obviously have, that there are hundreds of Catherines Cakes, Cakes by Catherine etc just because it trips off the tongue so easily.

However, my advice would be to look very carefully at the other cake makers in your area. If you get a website, people won't necessarily be searching for Claire's Cakes - they'll be more likely to be searching for birthday cakes in Cheshire for example - so do lots of searches based on your area and the type of cakes that you'll sell so you can see who comes up. Try to imagine what people will search for if they don't know any cake company and do loads of searches that way. HOpefully once people know you then they'll go straight to your website anyway whatever you call yourself.

I hope this helps a bit.

Catherine

Sorry I should also have said that what I did was ask some family members and friends to write down a list of potential names - no matter how silly/stupid they may sound and let me have them - my parents came up with literally hundreds - lots of versions on a theme (e.g. Cake Creations, Creative Cakes, Creations in Cake etc etc) as you also need to discount the ones you don't like. I then did searches on the ones I quite liked to see if they were already used, if they were, how close they were to me etc etc.

Then I still ended up with the name I did - so feel free to ignore me and my advice!

I really wanted to call myself Cakes for Connorsieurs but as I couldn't spell it (and still can't!) I thought better of it! Not sure if that was the right decision now or not!

Catherine

Wow! Thank you ladies for all the idea... I'm loving Clairey Cakes! hehe

Catherine - thank you very much! I've done that with family and friends - and offered a free cake to the person with the best suggestion! hehe! I'm not quite sure of the legality/paper work side of the business though - do I need my kitchen inspected?? Health and safety?

Thanks Catherine - where are you based?

Claire x

Hi Claire ?

I'm a "cakes by leni" but leni is quite unusual so it works for me. I didn't really have a choice either as I was debating about going into business for a while and then on christmas day my OH said one of my presents hadn't arrived so he'd show me a picture on the internet, so I sat with my eyes closed and when I opened them, he'd bought me the domain "www.cakesbyleni.co.uk" and had put a happy christmas/good luck in your new venture message ?

A few months later the girl who sat next to me at cake class started a business and called it "cakes by xx" I wasn't pleasedas her name started with a letter before mine in the lphabet but hey ho!

I'd recommed you register with the British Sugarcraft Guild which is £21 a year and they have a free to use website, the forum is free also and has so much good, friendly advise on setting up business to cake inspiration. You can also get cheap insurance through them if your just starting out!

Good Luck!

I also thought of e-claires ?

Hi Claire

I'm based in Reading, Berkshire - where are you?

You do need to get your kitchen inspected by your local council's health and hygiene department. It's something I would recommend doing asap and really nothing to worry about. As long as you have a normal domestic kitchen and all your equipment is in good working order and it's obviously clean you should be fine and rather than being there to catch you out they are very helpful with advice on how to run your business in general, they cover everything from making sure your kitchen is clean to storing your ingredients and equipment, maintenance and also logging your supplier details etc. You probably won't be able to get insurance until you've had an EHO inspection.

Cake making is very 'low risk' as far as food preparation is concerned as we use meat or fish etc so there's no problem with having to have two fridges for cooked/uncooked food etc. You will have to declare whether you are going for just a low risk celebration cake type business or whether you are going into desserts and other gateaus etc which involve fresh cream, fruit etc which is much more high risk and involves specific levels of refrigeration etc. My advise is to stick to the sponges and fruit cakes and steer clear of the dessert stuff as the requirements are much more stringent.

HTH
Catherine

Loving both e-claires and Clairey Cakes! I agree with Catherine, think it through and make sure there's no one too close with a similar name or you will get muddled. Saying that, if you can make your name work in a quirky way it can be fun too - my name is Georgie and my business is ByGeorge! which people do remember too. At the end of the day, working on a consistent brand image will make you just as memorable as your name. Good luck!