Guides
Written for people who bake to sell
What the law actually asks for on a label, the box and bag sizes that fit what you bake, how to sell online and run drops, and where small bakeries usually come unstuck. No legal advice, no jargon.
Labelling
What the law asks for on a label, and where small bakeries usually come unstuck.
Which label printer should a small bakery buy?
The thermal printer behind tens of thousands of our labels, how it compares with the MUNBYN everyone mentions, and printing plain PNG labels from BakeCheck.
ReadBake shed labels: what you need on a cake sold from your driveway
An unattended bake shed sells prepacked food, which means a full ingredient list with emphasised allergens on every pack. What that looks like in practice.
ReadBakers' food labels: everything that has to be on one
Prepacked, prepacked for direct sale, or non-prepacked — three categories with three different labelling requirements. How to tell which one you are in.
ReadNatasha's Law and PPDS: does it apply to what you bake?
One question decides it: was the food packed before the customer asked for it, on the site it is sold from? Worked examples, and the four ways PPDS labels go wrong.
ReadThe 14 allergens, and how to write them on a label
The full list, why emphasis is a legal requirement rather than a style choice, and the compound ingredients that hide soya, sulphites and milk.
ReadLabel printing for small bakeries: sizes, printers and paper
Label sizes that fit a real ingredient list, the printer and rolls we use ourselves, and the adhesive problem nobody warns you about until a label falls off in the freezer.
ReadMarket stall and celebration cake labels: when you need one
Bagging cookies the night before changes their legal category. Wedding cakes are not PPDS but still need allergen information — twice, if you sold at a distance.
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Packaging
Boxes, bags and tins: the sizes that fit, and the measurements that catch people out.
Selling
Shop pages, taking orders and running drops without overselling.
Bakery drops: limited batches, a cutoff, then bake and post
How to run a drop without overselling: stock that counts itself, fair limits, a consented email list, posting rules and postage that customers can predict.
ReadSelling bakes online without a website
What a bakery shop page has to do, why allergens typed into a website builder go stale, and the two ways to take orders from it.
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The label is the easy part
BakeCheck keeps the record underneath it — ingredients with their allergen data, recipes built from those ingredients, and labels that are approved and versioned before they print.
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