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Bakery Business
April 4, 2026 at 10:41 AM
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The bakery is one of the business types available in inZOI, introduced in the v0.5.0 update (December 2025) alongside the Baking skill and the small business management system. Running a bakery lets your Zoi bake goods at an oven, stock them in display cases, and sell them to customers who visit during operating hours. Revenue depends on the quality of the products, customer satisfaction, and how actively you manage the shop.
The bakery business type is one of nine available presets in the Business system. The others include Cafe, Restaurant, Bar, Florist Shop, Confectionery, Gym, School, and Open Lot. Each preset configures the lot with customer activities and management settings suited to that type of establishment. Because baked goods require the Baking skill rather than the Cooking skill, the bakery preset is designed specifically around oven-based products.
Before opening a bakery, your Zoi needs to meet a few requirements:
Life stage: Your Zoi must be a Young Adult or older to purchase and register a business.
Meow: You need enough Meow to buy a commercial property. Prices range from around 20,000 to over 100,000 Meow depending on lot size and location. Budget additional funds for furnishing the space and covering early operating costs before revenue starts flowing.
Baking skill: While not strictly required to register a bakery, having at least a few levels in the Baking skill before opening is strongly recommended. Low-skill products sell poorly and reduce customer satisfaction, which can cause the business to lose money in its early days.
Setting up a bakery involves purchasing a property, registering the business, furnishing the lot, and configuring your operating settings.
Open the game menu, go to the Edit City window, and look for lots marked as Business Property. Select one and purchase it. The lot becomes your dedicated commercial space, separate from your residential lot. Larger lots can accommodate more display cases and seating, which increases customer capacity.
After purchasing the lot, register the business through the Business App on your Zoi's Smartphone (press P to open the phone, then select the Business App icon). You can also click directly on the property and select Register Business. During registration you will:
Choose a name for your bakery in the Business Settings tab.
Set your operating days and hours in the Business Hours tab.
Select the Bakery preset from the Business Type tab. This configures customer activities and management settings for a bakery operation.
Pick which recipes to sell in the Recipe tab. Only recipes your Zoi has unlocked through their Baking skill level will be available for selection.
Enter Build Mode on your business lot and place the essential furniture and appliances. The quality of your furniture directly affects customer satisfaction, so invest in decent items when your budget allows.
In the Business App, adjust the price markup for your products. Higher prices mean more profit per sale, but setting prices too high will drive customers away and lower satisfaction. Start with a moderate markup and adjust once you see how customers respond. Set business hours that give your Zoi enough time to bake and stock the display cases before customers arrive.
A functional bakery needs specific appliances and furniture. The following table lists the essential and recommended items.
Item | Category | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
Kitchen Appliance | Required for all baking recipes. This is the primary workstation for producing baked goods. | |
Countertop | Needed for preparation steps before items go into the oven. Some recipes require a countertop. | |
Refrigerator | Kitchen Appliance | Used to stock display cases via the Fill Baking option. Also allows initiating baking as of the March 2026 update. |
Display Case | Where finished baked goods are placed for customer purchase. More cases allow a larger product selection. | |
Tables and Chairs | Dining Furniture | Seating for customers who want to eat on-site. Improves customer satisfaction. |
Cash Register | Handles transactions. Employees assigned to the register will process sales. |
Beyond the essentials, adding decorations and higher-quality furniture raises the overall lot value, which contributes to customer satisfaction scores and can attract more visitors.
The Baking skill is central to running a profitable bakery. Every product you sell is tied to a baking recipe, and each recipe requires a minimum Baking skill level to unlock. As your Zoi's Baking skill increases from level 1 to level 5, more advanced and profitable recipes become available. Levels 6 through 10 continue to improve the quality of baked goods without unlocking new recipes.
Higher-quality products sell for more Meow and generate better customer satisfaction ratings. A Zoi with a low Baking skill will produce lower-quality items that sell for less and may even hurt the bakery's star rating. For this reason, it is a good idea to level the Baking skill at home before opening the business, or at least during the early days when foot traffic is still low.
The Baking skill is separate from Cooking. While Cooking covers meals prepared through the refrigerator, stovetop, and induction cooktops, Baking focuses specifically on oven-based desserts and pastries such as cookies, cakes, pastries, and breads. If you want to sell both baked goods and cooked meals, your Zoi will need to develop both skills independently.
The bakery sells items produced through Baking recipes. When registering or editing your bakery through the Business App, you select which of your unlocked recipes to offer. The range of products spans from simple cookies and bread at low Baking levels to elaborate cakes and pastries at higher levels.
Each recipe has a Meow cost for ingredients, and the selling price is determined by the base value of the finished product plus your price markup. More expensive recipes that unlock at higher skill levels tend to have significantly better profit margins, making skill progression directly tied to business profitability.
As of the March 2026 update, a dedicated Baking Master ambition has been added, giving players a structured goal track for mastering the skill. Completing this ambition pairs naturally with running a bakery, since it encourages producing a wide variety of baked goods.
Display cases are the core sales mechanism of a bakery. Customers browse the cases during business hours, pick up items, and purchase them. To stock the cases:
Interact with the refrigerator on the business lot.
Select Stock Your Market Items.
Choose Fill Baking to fill the display cases with baked goods from your selected recipes.
Stocking happens automatically based on the recipes you have enabled in the Business App's Recipe tab. Your Zoi (or an assigned employee) will bake the items and place them in the cases. It is best to stock before business hours begin so that the cases are full when the first customers arrive.
Baked goods left in display cases for too long will spoil. Spoiled items hurt customer satisfaction and need to be removed. The current method for clearing spoiled food is to enter Build Mode and delete the display case, then place a new one. Stocking fresh items regularly is essential for maintaining a good reputation.
Bakery revenue varies based on several factors: product quality, pricing, star rating, customer volume, and whether your Zoi is physically present at the business. Community reports indicate that food-based businesses like bakeries typically earn between 4,500 and 13,000 Meow per day, depending on how well they are managed.
Your bakery has a star rating that reflects overall customer satisfaction. Higher star ratings attract more customers and increase daily revenue. The star rating is influenced by:
Factor | Effect |
|---|---|
Product Quality | Higher Baking skill produces better items, which customers rate more favorably. |
Pricing | Reasonable prices improve satisfaction. Overcharging drives customers away. |
Furniture Quality | Better furniture on the lot raises the overall environment score. |
Employee Responsiveness | Fast service and attentive staff keep customers happy. |
Freshness | Spoiled or stale items on display reduce satisfaction. |
Owner Presence | Revenue drops significantly when the owner is not visiting the business. Aim to check in regularly. |
On days when you do not visit your bakery, revenue can drop substantially. Well-managed gyms, for example, earn over 20,000 Meow when the owner visits but only around 6,000 when unattended. The same principle applies to bakeries: showing up matters.
As your bakery grows and its business level increases, you unlock the ability to hire more employees. You can hire acquaintances or household members through the Business App. Employees can be assigned to specific roles:
Role | Description |
|---|---|
Kitchen Staff | Handles baking and food preparation. Assign Zois with good Baking skill for best results. |
Cashier | Operates the cash register and processes customer purchases. |
General Staff | Helps with restocking, cleaning, and general customer service. |
Employee salaries are calculated based on business level, salary rank, and working hours. Wages are paid out after business hours close. Employees can negotiate their salary through conversations, so keep an eye on labor costs as they can eat into profits, especially during the early stages when revenue is still building.
A single household can run multiple businesses as a franchise, so once your bakery is profitable and largely self-sustaining with employees, you could open additional locations or branch into other business types.
The bakery works well in combination with other food and drink skills. If your Zoi also has the Cooking skill and the Coffee Craft skill, you can run a hybrid cafe-bakery that sells coffee, cooked meals, and baked goods. While the business registration locks you into a single preset, the products you offer can overlap. For example, a Cafe preset can include baked goods alongside coffee, and a Bakery preset can feature some drink options.
The Confectionery preset is another related option that focuses on sweets and candies rather than oven-based pastries. Choosing between Bakery and Confectionery depends on which recipes and product lineup you prefer.
Level Baking before opening. Higher-level recipes have better profit margins. Spending a few in-game days baking at home before launching the business saves you from selling low-value items to your first customers.
Stock before opening hours. Have your display cases full before customers start arriving. This ensures nobody walks in to empty shelves.
Visit your bakery regularly. Revenue drops when you are away. Even a brief visit each day keeps income flowing at its full rate.
Upgrade furniture over time. Better furniture improves the lot's environment score, which boosts customer satisfaction and your star rating.
Watch your pricing. A moderate markup is safer than a high one. Overpriced items can tank your satisfaction rating and reduce customer volume.
Replace spoiled items quickly. Stale baked goods in display cases hurt your rating. Restock frequently and remove old items before they pile up.
Hire strategically. Assign employees with higher Baking skill to kitchen duties for better product quality. Keep labor costs proportional to revenue.
Expand once stable. Do not rush into hiring too many employees or opening additional locations until the first bakery is turning a consistent profit.
As of early 2026, players have reported a few bugs related to food businesses:
Baked goods can occasionally disappear from display cases before being purchased. This appears to be a visual bug rather than an inventory issue.
The Fill Baking option sometimes does not produce single servings from group dessert recipes. Selecting individual recipes in the Business App can work around this.
Removing spoiled food currently requires deleting the display case in Build Mode and placing a new one, as there is no direct "discard" interaction yet.
These issues are being tracked by the development team and may be resolved in future patches.
