Contributed by Amie Smith
KANSAS CITY, MO — As the saying goes, “Never put all your eggs in one basket.”
Diversifying what you offer at your bakery is a surefire way to secure incoming revenue streams. By providing various products and services, you can create a consistent cash flow without relying on one segment of the business to support your operations.
One of the most profitable — yet underutilized — ways to boost income is offering classes and workshops. It’s an investment that takes planning, but once you establish a process, you can rinse and repeat.
Here are several things to consider when planning a bakery workshop program.
Type of classes, content and pacing
When getting started, owners and operators need to lay out every piece of the puzzle and fill in any holes. Are the classes going to be hands-on? Demonstrations? Sweet? Savory? How many recipes per class? How many classes will be offered? How often? For how long? Classes should include enough hands-on activity to occupy downtime during proofing, baking and cooling. In our bagels class at AMIE Academie, students make the dough, shape, boil and bake it, and the class learns to make one flavored cream cheese spread to accompany the finished product while the bagels are in the oven.
Class format and prep
In our workshops, we demonstrate first while students observe so they can focus on the process. This means while the demo batch bakes, the instructor can guide students as they replicate the recipe. When their batches are ready for the oven, the demo batch becomes a time for tasting the results and explaining any nuances. Staying ahead keeps the classroom engaged, and creating a plan for each class that includes a prep checklist and task timeline keeps the instructor on track.
Staffing
Don’t forget to allocate prep time to mise out the ingredients to reduce the risk of mismeasuring or wasting. Most classes are held after business hours to use ovens without impeding production, but it’s essential to have an assistant who can operate ovens, step out for any necessary tools, and help with set up and clean up.
Tuition
Fees should depend on class content, length, cost of ingredients and overhead. Do not forget to include a cancellation policy. If we get a cancellation far enough in advance, we can check our wait list to see if we can fill the seat. If we cannot fill a seat, we advise gifting or selling the seat to someone else. We charge an extra fee for the room rental.
Marketing
Set up a few templates for email campaigns and schedule them accordingly. Create one for promoting your class lineup, a last chance reminder to sign up, a day-of reminder for registrants, and a follow-up thank you and request for feedback. Create signage to hang around your shop and promote on social media.
Add value to the class
Do students get to take products home? Are you providing professional handouts? Do you offer samples of your products as a snack during class to market what you offer? We sell wine or mimosas with classes, separating them with two ticket types: alcohol or no alcohol.
Create an experience
For our pasta class, the finished pasta is prepared, and students get to enjoy a buffet with garlic bread and salad. We open our bakery cases so we can sell products as well. Extra details like creating certificates and doing an informal graduation ceremony always end classes on a high note, and the students love it. If you’re able to offer aprons or other branded merchandise as part of the class fee, it’s a nice added touch and marketing dollars well spent.
This story has been adapted from the December | Q4 2025 Craft to Crumb mini-mag. Read the full story in the digital issue here.
