how can a high school student open a bakery

Technically... yes, it is possible. However, it puts you at a huge disadvantage, so I'm going to recommend a different course of action: work for a bakery first and learn all of the different functions before you go out to raise money and/or borrow money to open your own bakery. Here's why I think this is a good idea:

1. First, success requires a lot of knowledge that you may not yet have but could easily acquire within a couple of years apprenticing under another bakery owner. To open and run a business you need to acquire knowledge of not only baking, but also marketing, bookkeeping, accounting, bank lending, recruiting talent, picking which talent to hire, the legal responsibilities of employing people, investment contracts if you choose to split ownership of the business with other people in order to get their money to launch your business, how to evaluate a piece of real estate for your location, how to evaluate a leasing contract, how to setup payroll for compensating employees, how to file reports with the IRS, how to invest and manage earnings with your bank, how to pick a bank to use, and more. I can tell you from first-hand experience that it is not fun to do any of these things if your real goal is just to enjoy your craft and serve happy customers. There's nothing that stops a high school student from learning these things, but I do believe that it's easier to learn them through apprenticeship than it is through first-hand experience.


2. Some things are actually harder to do as a high school student in a way that is not your fault at all. A good example is getting a bank loan. You'll need a lot of cash to run your operation. You'll need to cover costs for a few months and shell out big bucks in the beginning to purchase your equipment and stock ingredients. If you have an investor who is willing to front those costs (e.g., a rich relative) then maybe you're ok. But if not, you're going to need some financing from a bank loan or some other source. To give you money the lender is going to want to have some confidence that you can repay them if the venture fails (or else they'd be taking a big risk on you, right?) and the normal way they assess that is by looking at your credit history, your assets, and your historic earnings. The problem? You're a high school student, so you have almost no credit history, almost no assets, and almost no historic earnings. This isn't your fault, of course, but it's a very clear reason why you will have a harder time getting that financing at this stage of your life. But, if you can go to them after 2 or 3 years working at a great bakery, with some earnings, and a little bit of a credit history, that will really change the conversation and improve your odds. Getting a bank loan is just one example of this. Another one is convincing employees to work for you. They need to have confidence in you in order to take the risk of joining your bakery, and even if it's not your fault, they're going to be more skeptical of working for you if you are untested and unseasoned!

Now to get back to your original question, if your heart is set on opening your own bakery, on your own, right now, here's a little hint into how you might get started: first, you'll need to create a really solid business plan. Lots of great books, articles, and templates online about how to do that. Then you'll need to figure out how you'll get the financing necessary to open your doors. Then you'll need to find that great location, get a lawyer, and start drafting all of your agreements and proposals (e.g., with investors, landlord, bank, employees, etc.), then start recruiting your employees, and hopefully you'll get to the business building part where you create your menu and start marketing and baking and selling.

Source: I'm an entrepreneur. I have never owned a bakery, but I have a cousin who owns a bakery. I've also got a few friends who are very active in Boston's restaurant community and have educated me on some of what happens inside restaurants. But if you get someone here with first-hand experience owning a restaurant, listen to them instead of me :)

Listen to Jared. I owned a commercial kitchen which is similar to a bakery and went through all the steps he listed. However, I'm in my 50's so I have good credit but in the end I used my savings and raided my retirement funds.

To keep income going after you open your bakery, consider renting it out to other bakers or someone who teaches. There is risk there in that they might abuse your equipment or even steal it, so put in a camera system too and have good insurance.

Hi Isabella! Strongly urge you to work in a bakery first. Running a business, hiring employee's, creating positive cash flow and being responsible for payrolls and staring work at 4-5 AM 6 days a week, then cleaning up at the end of the day are a "real commitment"
check out - The New England Center for Arts and Technology is located in Boston, Massachusetts and opened its 11,000 square feet Center in October 2013 with Culinary Arts job-training classes. google it. They are turning out some pretty amazing students who are winding up with some amazing opportunities. World class instruction! Create and bake some "real neat" stuff and enjoy the oohs and awes of those cooing in amazement while someone else attends to the messes. :-) The best! Paul