How do I take orders for my home bakery?

Why take bakery orders on your own website?

Because orders scattered across comments, messages and voicemails are how details get lost. A birthday cake ordered in a comment thread, changed in a direct message and confirmed in a voicemail can end up with three different flavors.

Your own website puts it all in one place. Customers see your menu, your prices, your lead times and your pickup days before they ask, and they can pay or put down a deposit online. Humfrid builds that website for you by text, so your menu is up within a day and every change after that is one text.

Google lets you add links on your Business Profile that help customers “Place a food order”, and they can take action directly from your profile on Google Maps or Search. Point that link, your Instagram bio and your Facebook Page at your own website, so every customer starts from the same menu and the same rules.

What should my menu say before anyone orders?

It should answer the questions you get asked most, so customers arrive ready to order. A good bakery menu shows:

• What you make, with sizes and prices, and which items are always available.
• What’s custom, like decorated cakes or large cookie orders, and that those are quoted separately.
• Lead times. How many days’ notice you need for regular items, and how much for custom ones.
• Your order cutoff, like Thursday noon for weekend orders.
• Pickup and delivery. Which days, what time windows, and where you deliver, if you do.
• What your kitchen handles, such as nuts, eggs, dairy or wheat, so people with allergies can decide before they ask.

How Humfrid does this for you

Humfrid builds your bakery’s website by text and keeps it right by text. Text your business name, answer a few questions, and your website is live within a day, with your menu, prices, lead times and pickup days on it. Nothing goes live without your OK.

Every plan includes online payments and deposits on your website, so a custom order is paid for, or held with a deposit, before you bake. Every plan also includes online booking, accepted and managed by text, if you offer tastings or custom-cake consultations. After that, you text the changes as they come, photos included:

• “Add pumpkin loaves for October,” with a photo.
• “Thanksgiving pie orders close Sunday at 6.”
• “No deliveries this Saturday, pickup only.”

There’s no app, no computer and no login. Humfrid also writes posts for your Google Business Profile, like your holiday order deadline, for you to post. You can see your website free for 14 days and pay only when you want it live on your own .com, with no contract and no setup fee.

What details do I need for every order?

The same short list, every time, in writing. Ask these in your first reply, or make them the questions on an order form if you use one:

1. Name and phone number.
2. The date they need it.
3. Pickup or delivery, the time window, and the address for a delivery.
4. What they want: the item, size and quantity.
5. Flavors, fillings, colors and any writing on top.
6. Allergies and dietary needs, asked as a direct question every time.
7. The price, the deposit if there is one, and when the rest is due.

The allergy question matters most. Ask it even when the customer doesn’t bring it up, and answer honestly about what your kitchen can and can’t keep apart.

Should I use an order form or a shop?

What matters most is a clear menu with set prices and a way to pay online. An order form helps with custom work: a wedding cake or a decorated cookie order needs details and a quote, so a form, or the list above in your first reply, keeps anything from being missed. For your regular menu, a box of cookies, a loaf, a dozen cupcakes, set prices on your website and online payment let the customer pay when they order. With Humfrid, your menu and prices are on your website and online payments and deposits are part of every plan.

Regulars who text you can keep texting. Reply with your questions and a link to your website, so they see the same menu and pay the same way as everyone else.

Should I take a deposit for custom orders?

Yes. A custom cake means you buy ingredients, plan the design and turn down other orders for that day. A deposit covers that if the customer cancels late or never comes. For regular menu items, take the full price when they order.

Taking payment online fits how people already pay. Pew Research Center, using Federal Reserve data, found that in 2025 credit cards made up the highest share of payments at 34%, while the share of payments made in cash fell to 14%.

Write down the amount, whether it comes off the price and when you refund it, and put it on your website. With Humfrid, you text that policy and it goes on your site. Our post on taking a deposit covers how to set a fair amount and write the policy.

What should an order confirmation say?

Everything you’d want in writing if there’s a mix-up on pickup day. Send it once you have the details, and ask them to reply to confirm.

Hi [name], here’s your order: [item, size, quantity], [flavors and decoration]. For: [pickup or delivery] on [day, date], [time window], at [address]. Allergies noted: [what they told you, or “none”]. Price: [price]. Paid so far: [amount]. The rest is due at [pickup or delivery]. Changes by [cutoff], please. Reply YES to confirm.

A short reminder the day before, with the time and place, cuts down on forgotten pickups.

What do cottage food rules mean for taking orders?

They decide what you may sell, where, and how it reaches the customer, and they differ by state. Before you take orders, read your state’s official cottage food page or call the agency that runs it. This is general information, not legal advice.

Two states show the range:

• Texas. The state health department lists the circumstances in which cottage food may be sold online. They include that the consumer purchased the food online from the operator and that the operator, an employee, or a household member personally delivers the food to the consumer. Before taking payment, the operator gives the customer the required labeling information by posting a legible statement on the cottage food production operation’s internet website. So in Texas, your own website is part of selling online. The rules changed recently: public health entities must comply with the new legislation beginning September 1, 2025.
• Florida. State law says a cottage food operation may sell, offer for sale, and accept payment for cottage food products over the Internet or by mail order, and that products may be delivered by United States Postal Service or commercial mail delivery service. The same law requires products to be prepackaged with a label that includes, among other things, the operation’s name and address, the ingredients and allergen information, and it says a cottage food operation may not sell, offer for sale, or deliver cottage food products at wholesale.

Your state may look like neither. Check how you may take orders, take payment and hand over the food, and set up your website to match. If your state asks for a statement on your website, as Texas does, text it to Humfrid and it goes on your site.

What do I do when I get more orders than I can bake?

Set a limit before you need one. Decide how many orders or custom cakes you can do in a week, and stop taking orders for that week once you reach it.

Say so where people look, on your website first: “Booked for this weekend, orders open for next week.” With Humfrid, that’s one text. Keep a short waitlist for cancellations, and tell people on it how you’ll reach them.

Text Humfrid your bakery’s name, and you’ll see your website within a day.