New Venture Bakery. Sole trader, limited company or cooperative?

Hi Guys,

My wife and myself are thinking of setting up a bakery.

We have the perfect location and while I am still working on the business plan the figures do look good.

We are yet to decide on sole trader or limited company. I am reserving judgement until I finalise our projected income.

While talking to my neighbour (a bookkeeper) this evening she recommended that we set up as a co-operative. This is not an option I had thought of or know anything about and she couldn't really explain it very well.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Hi Defiant1

Best of luck with the bakery by the way.

Co-operative societies would be more suitable for a larger group of people rather than yourself and the wife. They are well suited for groups (e.g. like sports, agriculture with a common purpose among many members but create additional compliance requirements. You should look at icos.ie

Companies are so popular because they are relatively simple and business friendly.

I hope to write up on my blog next week, the definitive guide to the pros and cons of company vs sole trader and I can ping it to you if you PM me.

Best
NumbrCrunchr

Companies are far from simple and business friendly. There is a lot of legal obligations and filing requirements that must be met every year.

I'd advise looking into the sole trader or partnership route for now, these are by far the easiest form of business set up - more info [broken link removed]

Have a look at this: [broken link removed]

How to Start a Co-op
One important service that ICOS offers is to take groups through the different steps involved in incorporating their business as a co-operative.
ICOS has many years of specialist experience in this activity and can provide you with all the advice and information that you need.

• A minimum of seven persons is required to incorporate a co-operative society.
  
  
• These seven people, together with a Secretary (who may also be one of the seven), must sign two sets of Model Rules and an application form for registration.
  
  
• A suitable name must be chosen for the co-operative and the name must include the word 'Society' and 'Limited'.
  
  
• A registered office for the proposed co-operative must be identified to which all correspondence can be sent.
  
  
• Two sets of model rules (available on this site and copyright to ICOS Ltd.) and an application form (available via e-mail from ICOS) must be signed and returned, with a registration fee to the ICOS Head Office, which will in turn submit them to the Registry of Friendly Societies.

Click to expand...

Forget the idea of a co-operative. To put it bluntly, its a lunatic idea for a small owner-managed startup (both on the grounds of compliance costs and complexity) and an irrelevant one at that, given that a minimum number of members are required on formation.

For what its worth, ICOS are merely a representative body for Irish co-operatives and have no regulatory function. The regulatory body for co-operatives is the Registry of Friendly Societies, a division of the CRO.

Thanks guys, now i know what a co-op is it seems to be a lunatic idea alright...