What is the best software for a home bakery in Canada?

A Canadian home bakery needs software that prices in Canadian dollars, can tell a box of four muffins (GST/HST applies once you are registered) from a box of six (zero-rated), tracks Canada's 11 priority allergens plus gluten sources from each ingredient, and fits whatever your province allows. ibakepro is bakery management software for Canadian bakers from home kitchens to bakeries with staff and wholesale accounts, from C$23 a month with a 14-day free trial.

The GST/HST rule every Canadian baker meets

Basic groceries, including bread and most bakery products, are zero-rated in Canada. The exception is sweet single servings. Under CRA's GST/HST Memorandum 4.3, cakes, muffins, pies, pastries, tarts, cookies, doughnuts, brownies and croissants with a sweet filling or coating are taxable when they are sold in quantities of fewer than six single servings, and a single serving is one that weighs less than 230 grams.

What that means across a week of orders, once you are registered:

You only charge GST/HST once you are registered. Registration becomes mandatory when your worldwide taxable sales pass C$30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters.

In software, that means you set your GST, HST or PST rates, put a different rate on the product categories that need one, and let a box of four and a box of six each carry the right tax without you deciding at the order. ibakepro sets tax by product category, so a pack size can sit in the taxable category and the dozen in the zero-rated one.

Provincial rules come first

Whether you can bake at home at all, what you can sell and whether you can ship it is decided by your province, and the range is wide: some provinces let low-risk home baking sell without a permit, others require a permit and an inspection, and at least one does not allow home-based food businesses. Find yours in home baking laws by state and country and check with your local public health authority before your first sale.

Almost everywhere, the line is refrigeration. Shelf-stable cakes, cookies and bread are the home baker's menu; custard, cream fillings and cheesecake usually are not.

Allergens: 11 priority, plus gluten

Health Canada names 11 priority food allergens: eggs, milk, mustard, peanuts, crustaceans and molluscs, fish, sesame seeds, soy, sulphites, tree nuts, and wheat and triticale, and also requires gluten sources to be declared. Mustard and sulphites are the two that bakers trained on other countries' lists tend to miss: mustard turns up in some savoury bakes and sulphites in dried fruit.

In ibakepro, each ingredient carries its allergens (contains, processed in or may contain) and they flow through recipes to products, orders and your shop, so a change of dried fruit supplier shows you which products to relabel. See allergen management.

The rest of a Canadian home bakery

• Deposits in CAD. Quotes with several options, a card deposit through your own Stripe account and reminders until the balance is paid. See payment schedules and deposits.
• Metric or imperial. Cost a recipe in grams while your flour comes in 20 kg bags and your customer thinks in inches.
• Two-way SMS. Canadian numbers can text customers and receive replies on a dedicated number, an add-on on any plan.
• Winter delivery. Delivery dates, zones and fees per order, and the practical side is in cold-climate cake logistics.
• Data region. Canadian accounts are held in the United States data region. See where is my data stored.

Which plan fits

Most Canadian home bakers start on Essentials and move to Growth for an online shop. The Canadian setup is on bakery software for Canadian bakers.