Moving Forward

After discussing the possibility of a small business with the family, I/we have decided last night to stick our collective little pinkie toe in the water and start a small business on a trial basis.

Assuming all preparations and plans go well, we will be at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market on a Saturday in December.  If the oatmeal bars are well received, we will take another step forward.

So I have a few things to take care of over the next few weeks as we start up the Larsen Family Bakery. 

1.  Apply for a Michigan business license, see Michigan's One Stop online http://www.michigan.gov/business
2.  Business taxes http://www.michigan.gov/business/0,1607,7-255-52647_49292---,00.html
3.  Nail down suppliers for ingredients, cost and price
4.  Fine-tune packaging options - compostable cellophane, twine, recycled paper etc
5.  Advertising/blog/web
6.  Farmers Market application http://www.a2gov.org/government/communityservices/ParksandRecreation/FarmersMarket/Pages/FarmersMarket.aspx
7.  Farmers Market display

The email address for local orders is larsenfamilybakery@gmail.com.  The thought right now is to have 6 standard oatmeal bar varieties and Design-it-Yourself-Oat-Bars (DYOB) for special orders.

Keep in ming that this is Astrid thinking "outloud" so some or much of this may change over the next few weeks as we move forward.  I'll keep you posted and wish me luck!

Astrid

PS, Almost Car Free in Ann Arbor reached 5000 page hit today!