The short answer: a bakery website needs a custom cake order form that collects the date, servings and pickup details up front, a menu written as text, clear pickup and delivery information, and real photos of your work. If you want to sell boxes, preorders or holiday items online, WordPress Ultimate with WooCommerce handles the store, but check your state's cottage food rules first if you bake from home.
The pages a bakery website needs
Whether you run a storefront panadería or bake custom cakes from home, the core pages are the same. Each one answers a question customers would otherwise ask by message.
Home with an order button
What you bake, where customers pick up, your hours or order days, and a button to the custom order form on the first screen.
Menu
Everyday items, flavors, fillings and sizes, written as text, with prices or starting prices you set.
Custom cakes
Styles you make, starting prices by size, how far ahead to order and the order form.
Shop (optional)
Cookie boxes, cupcakes, preorders and holiday items customers can buy and schedule for pickup.
Pickup and delivery
Where, when, how and what happens if someone is late. More below.
Gallery and about
Real photos of your cakes and bread, and the story of who bakes them.
For the general checklist every business site needs, see what you need for a business website.
A custom cake order form that collects everything in one step
The custom cake order form is a bakery's high-value action: it's where a visitor becomes a paid order. A good form collects the details you need to confirm or decline in one reply, instead of a week of back-and-forth messages.
| Field | Why you need it | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup or event date | Tells you instantly if you have room | Show your minimum notice next to it, such as "order at least two weeks ahead," using your own policy. |
| Number of servings | Sets size, tiers and price | Servings are easier for customers than inches or tiers; you translate it. |
| Flavor and filling | Defines the bake | Use a dropdown of what you actually offer. |
| Design notes and inspiration | Shows what they're imagining | Ask for a description and tell them how to send a photo, such as replying to your confirmation email. |
| Message on the cake | Spelling matters | Ask them to type it exactly as they want it. |
| Pickup or delivery | Logistics and cost | If you deliver, ask for the address and a time window. |
| Allergies or dietary needs | Safety and honesty | Say clearly what you can and cannot accommodate. |
| Name, phone, email | To confirm and invoice | Ask which they prefer for updates. |
After the form, tell people what happens next: when you'll reply, how the deposit works and when the order is confirmed. Those are your policies to set; writing them down prevents misunderstandings. For how to design the path from a visitor's first look to a sent order, read our step on the user journey and high-value actions.
Put the minimum notice and a "starting at" price right above the form. It filters out orders you can't take before anyone fills in eight fields.
Selling bakery items online with WooCommerce
If you want customers to pay online for ready-to-pick-up items, a store is the next step after the order form. WordPress Ultimate, at $22.99 a month on an annual plan, includes WooCommerce selling, so you can list items, take payment and let customers choose pickup. It also includes unlimited malware removal and on-demand backups, which matter once a site handles orders.
What sells well online for a bakery is usually what's predictable to make:
- Cookie boxes, cupcake dozens and bread loaves in fixed sizes.
- Holiday preorders, like pan de muerto, rosca de reyes, Thanksgiving pies or Valentine's boxes, with a cutoff date.
- Gift cards or deposits toward a custom cake.
- Weekly preorders for a set pickup day, so you bake to order and waste less.
Custom cakes usually stay on the order form, since each one needs a quote. If you only need a simple payment button, Website Builder Business ($9.99 a month) includes a PayPal Buy Now button that can work for deposits.
Cottage food laws: check your state before you sell from home
If you bake at home, your state's cottage food law decides what you can sell, how and where, and those rules vary widely. The National Agricultural Law Center explains that states differ on which foods count, how much you can sell per year and whether online or third-party sales are allowed. Your website should follow your state's rules, not another baker's.
As one example, Arizona's health department runs a cottage food program where home bakers register online and upload a food handler training certificate. Other states handle it differently, some with permits, some with labeling rules, some with sales limits. Find your state's agency, read its current rules, and if something is unclear, ask that agency or an attorney. Then make sure your website reflects it: what you offer, where customers pick up, and whether you ship or deliver.
Pickup and delivery details that prevent no-shows
A clear pickup and delivery page saves you more messages than any other page. Customers want to know exactly where and when to come and what to do when they arrive.
- Where: the pickup address, or the general area plus "exact address sent with your confirmation" if you bake from home and prefer privacy.
- When: pickup days and time windows, and how you handle holidays.
- How: parking, which door, whether to text when they arrive.
- Late or missed pickups: your policy, written plainly.
- Delivery: if you offer it, the area you cover, the fee structure you set, and the time window. Tiered cakes travel best when you've decided in advance who carries the risk; write it down.
- Care tips: how to transport the cake and whether to refrigerate it.
Allergen information on a bakery website is your responsibility
Allergen information is the bakery owner's responsibility, and what you write on your website should match what happens in your kitchen. The FDA lists nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Most bakery items contain several.
On the menu, note the major allergens in each item and say whether your kitchen handles nuts or other allergens that could cause cross-contact. Avoid promises like "allergen-free" or "safe for allergies" unless you can guarantee them. Labeling requirements depend on your state and on how you sell, so check with your state agency. Write the menu as text rather than a photo, so allergen notes are readable on any phone and by screen readers, as WCAG's guidance on images of text recommends.
Trust signals that sell cakes
Customers ordering a cake for a once-a-year moment want proof you can deliver. The strongest signals are simple:
- Real photos of your own cakes, bread and packaging, taken in good light. No stock photos.
- Starting prices and policies written before they order.
- A link to your reviews where customers already leave them.
- Your state registration or permit shown if your state's rules call for it.
- A business email at your own domain on every confirmation and invoice.
What to put on Google Business Profile as a bakery
A storefront bakery should have a complete Google Business Profile with the same name, hours and phone as the website and a link to the order page. Home bakers need to read Google's rules about home-based businesses and service areas before setting one up. Our step on setting up Google Business Profile covers who qualifies, categories, photos, reviews and tagging your website link.
What a bakery website costs: three paths
Your monthly cost depends mostly on whether you need an online store. All three paths use the same domain and email.
| Path | What you pay | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself | Domain $24.99 a year, plus Website Builder Business $9.99 a month for an order form and PayPal button, or WordPress Ultimate $22.99 a month for a WooCommerce store, plus Professional Email from $4.99 a month per inbox | Bakers who are comfortable building and updating their own pages and products. |
| Have Force Domains build it | A written quote with a fixed price before we start, plus your domain, hosting and email paid separately | Bakeries that want a fast custom site with a solid order form, pickup page and menu, in English, Spanish or both. |
| Start with domain + email | Domain $24.99 a year and email from $4.99 a month | Home bakers who want to claim the name and a professional address now and build the site as orders grow. |
For a full breakdown of monthly and yearly costs, read what a small business website costs, or compare plans on our prices page.
Which storefront products fit a bakery
The right product depends on whether you take custom orders only or also sell online:
- Website Builder Business ($9.99 a month): hosting, SSL, SEO tools and a PayPal Buy Now button. Enough for a menu, order form and deposits.
- WordPress Ultimate ($22.99 a month, annual plan): WooCommerce selling, unlimited malware removal and on-demand backups, for bakeries running a real online shop.
- Professional Email Pro ($5.99 a month per inbox): invoice builder and read receipts for deposits and design approvals.
- Email Marketing Beginner ($9.99 a month): 500 contacts and 5,000 emails to announce holiday preorders and new flavors.
If you'd rather stay in the kitchen, our done-for-you website design builds a custom cake order form, a pickup page and a text menu with allergen notes that load fast on a phone, organized for Google and AI assistants, with tap-to-call and your domain, email (with SPF, DKIM and DMARC), Google Search Console and analytics connected. You own the domain, files, hosting and email. Store setup or monthly menu updates are things we can include in your written quote. Still choosing a name? Start with domain names for bakeries.