Timing for a new patisserie

Hello,

I hope to open a patisserie here in Northwest Arkansas within the next year or so. Although we are in the Mid-South I feel that there is a niche for a specialty shop like this. We only have one American bakery in a neighboring town that almost everyone uses as well as some small cake shops that are pretty good but limited to cakes and typical American baked goods. They are also in the next town over.

My question is: Is this a terrible economic time to be a start up patisserie? Our area has experienced tons of growth in the last 5 years but of course we are feeling the housing crunch as well as seeing some chain restaurants and retailers closing.

We do have an affluent group of people here due to Bentonville being Wal Mart's home office. Many of their vendors relocate from the East and West coast and are looking for the amenities they had back home. There are new high end grocers moving in now and I don't want to miss an opportunity to get into the market before there are more specialty bakeries as well. At some point I would love to add bistro fare but I imagine that would be a while down the road.

Any thoughts? I would love to hear any feeback you might have.

Thanks!

Hi Izbnso,

Thanks so much for the encouragement! I feel you totally on the almost overwhelming amount of work (not to mention cash) involved in opening any new venture let alone a bakery. Then there are the crazy moments plagued by self doubt about everything from my experience and education to the knowledge that I could very well ruin us financially if this biz gets mismanaged or even if the timing is just not right.

I, like you, have been kicking this idea around for years and in the past really knew that I had nowhere near the amount of experience neccessary to begin. I was also unclear about the products I would offer and the marketing for them. One day while I was back home in California I stumbled accross 2 great books by Linda Dannenburg: Paris Boulangerie-Patisserie and Paris Bistro Cooking and I immediately knew that this was the niche I had been looking for. I needed something that no one else was offering in our area and not just great products but a great destination for people. IMHO it needs to be a place where people want to hang out, not just a place to come get your brioche (although the brioche must ROCK).

I still have so much to learn but now realize that I will have to look for help in the areas where I am weak. My brother is a line cook in Sacramento, CA and he may relocate here if I ever get it together. He would bring lots of restaurant knowledge that I lack having been private all these years. I need to educate myself on neccessary equipment, mass production (although I have done some) but the financing is probably my biggest hurdle right now. May I ask if you are looking for a biz loan or will you have investors?

It is still in the planned fantasy stage for me but I would love to keep in touch with you and see how things are going in your journey. Best of luck!