Business phone system for retail bakeries

Retail bakeries in the United States

County Business Patterns counted 9,219 retail bakeries in the U.S. in 2023 (NAICS 311811, Retail Bakeries). They employed 87,547 people in mid-March and paid $2.4 billion in annual payroll. The average establishment has 9.5 employees. That is 2.7 establishments for every 100,000 residents.

California has the most (1,377), followed by New York (897), Texas (699), and New Jersey (448). Relative to population, Wyoming leads with 5.8 per 100,000 residents, and South Dakota has the fewest at 1.1.

Why the phone matters for retail bakeries

Bakeries take custom cake and special orders by phone, and those orders carry detailed instructions. Recording and summarizing calls helps avoid mistakes.

Calls retail bakeries commonly handle:

• A customer calls to order a birthday cake.
• A café calls about a wholesale order.
• A customer calls about allergens.
• The bakery calls a customer to confirm an order.
• A customer calls about holiday hours.

Texting and after-hours calls

Bakeries text order confirmations and pickup reminders.

After-hours calls are mostly order requests.

How big retail bakeries are

48.1% of U.S. retail bakeries with employees had fewer than five people in March 2023. 69.3% had fewer than ten. Most phone decisions in this industry are made for small teams, where one shared number and sensible routing matter more than a desk phone per person.

Retail bakeries by state

Establishment counts for the 51 states (and DC) where Census published a figure, with the rate per 100,000 residents.

Largest metro areas for retail bakeries

Census published retail bakery counts for 358 metro and micropolitan areas. The 25 largest:

What a phone system costs a retail bakery in the U.S.

The average U.S. retail bakery has 9.5 employees, so the comparison uses a 9-person team. Per-seat business phone plans bill every one of those people. At month-to-month list prices checked September 28, 2026, 9 users on RingCentral RingEX Core cost $270.00 a month and 9 on Ooma Office Pro cost $224.55. On Callata the same 9 people cost $179.00 a month, less than either per-seat plan.

The annual difference against RingCentral's monthly list price comes to $1,092. Some vendors discount annual contracts; the table shows month-to-month prices.

How Callata works for retail bakeries

Callata Office costs $99 per month for up to 5 people, and each additional user is $20 a month. That covers up to 3 local numbers, calling from a browser or your cell, transcribed voicemail, recorded calls with AI summaries, after-hours routing and E911 on each number.

Existing numbers can be ported at no charge, and team texting turns on after the one-time $49 carrier registration (10DLC) is approved.

Optional AI agents (receptionist, sales, support or scheduler) can answer calls after hours or when nobody picks up, take messages, text, email and transfer to your team. They are billed from prepaid AI minutes at $0.25 per minute, identify themselves as AI, and may only place outbound calls to people who consented, between 8am and 9pm.