New to Picnic Pie? This guide walks through setting up your bakery, from your first product to your first sale. Can't find what you need? Send us a message and we'll get back to you.
Getting started
- Create your account. Go to Start a Bakery and follow the signup steps. You'll name your bakery and pick a store address — your storefront lives at
picnicpie.app/s/your-store-name. - Pick a theme. Choose a look for your storefront. You can switch themes any time without losing anything you've added.
- Work through your dashboard checklist. Your dashboard shows the steps left before you can start selling: adding products, connecting payments and publishing your storefront.
Adding products
- In your dashboard, open Kitchen → Products and choose New Product.
- Add a name, price, photo and description. Organize products into Categories so customers can browse your menu easily.
- Add Ingredients to a product and Picnic Pie works out its allergens for you, based on the FDA's major food allergens. Always double-check the result before you publish.
Running a drop
A drop (or bake day) is a scheduled sale: you choose which products are available, how many you'll make, and when ordering opens and closes.
- Open Schedule → Drops and choose New Drop.
- Pick the products and set a quantity limit for each.
- Set when ordering opens and closes, and add pickup times or slots.
- Save it. Customers see a countdown on your storefront until ordering opens, and ordering closes on its own at the time you set.
After ordering closes, use the drop's prep list to see exactly what to bake, and the pickup scanner to check off orders as customers collect them.
Getting paid
Customer payments go straight to your own payment account. Go to Settings → Payments and connect Stripe or Square. You'll be sent to that provider to sign in and approve the connection. Customers can't check out until a payment provider is connected. On the Free plan you'll need to use Stripe.
Managing orders
- Sales → Orders lists every order, with its status and fulfillment details.
- Set up pickup, local delivery or shipping from Sales → Delivery.
- Turn on Custom Orders to take requests for one-off cakes and special occasions. You can reply with a quote, and the customer can accept or decline it.
Your storefront
- Use the storefront editor to change your pages, colors, photos and navigation. Changes stay in a draft until you publish them.
- Want your own web address? You can connect a custom domain from the Domains section of the storefront editor.
Customers & loyalty
- Customers keeps a profile for everyone who orders from you, including notes, tags and allergen preferences.
- The Loyalty program rewards repeat customers with points, tiers and referral codes.
- Discounts lets you create coupon codes for promotions.
Cottage food compliance
Every state has its own cottage food rules. The cottage food law guide summarizes each state's rules, and the Compliance section of your dashboard tracks your yearly sales against your state's limit and reminds you before a license or certificate expires. The guide is here to help, but it isn't legal advice, so always check with your local health department.
Your account & subscription
- Change your plan or billing details under Settings → Subscription. See Pricing to compare plans.
- Choose which emails you get under Settings → Notifications.
Still need help?
Check the FAQ, or contact us and a member of the Picnic Pie team will get back to you.