Logistics of starting "healthy" dessert delivery business?

[Sarah]

It has been my mother's life-long dream to open her own bakery. I have a Business Management/Entrepreneurship degree and I am a new mom so looking for another option besides the 9-5 grind. She is a cancer survivor and we are both interested in healthy eating but have a lot of love for desserts. Mom works 40+ hours/wk plus 10 hours of commuting and makes a very small salary. She has been looking to leave her job but needs to have a "purpose" and something she can contribute to.

I am fortunate to live in a town surrounded by very affluent neighborhoods; health food, specialty and high-end food stores thrive here. Also, there is a local commercial kitchen that rents out space for about $20/hr. I did a detailed search and can't find any local delivery options for healthy, "homemade" desserts. I would have been interested in running the business from my home, but I wouldn't be allowed to sell to the public. We live in a suburb of Chicago (within 5 miles of city limits).

Besides my degree, I also have a background in advertising and graphic design, so I could cover the bases as far as web design and media for the business.

***The main purpose of my post is to gain as much information as possible so that I can try to determine if this business is a possibility or not***

***Please fill in the blanks of things I may be missing***


Needed to use commercial kitchen: business license, insurance, recipes, ingredients

Needed to start taking orders: menu/website, pictures of desserts, printed ingredient lists, business paypal account, quikbooks softeware?

Needed to start making deliveries: vehicle, packaging


If I can convince my husband that this is a worthwhile endeavor, I will most likely have up to $1500 of start up cash to use. I plan to use a social media approach to advertising, as well as advertisement in local businesses and print media. The short-term goal of the business since there are barely any $ heavy investments I need to make would be $1000 profit per employee per month, and then to expand from there. The goal of the business is to supply "homemade" gluten-free, low-sugar, fat-free as well as low-calorie options for local delivery. I initially plan to offer delivery once per week, which means that we would most likely need to rent a kitchen for about 8 hours overnight and then deliver the next day.


Any information you could add/share as well as possible pitfalls would be greatly appreciated!!
After reading contribution, edited to add: My mother receives her insurance through her husband and he is the main bread winner in their household, although her income does help them make ends meet. thank you for contribution!
Also, I am in the Air National Guard and receive my insurance through the military
I realized I left this out...the goal, since I would aim to deliver to these neighborhoods with very high expendable incomes, would be to have a subscription service. I worked for an organic grocer and they had one also. The idea being that you pay $20/wk or something (delivery included) for weekly delivery of 12 servings of desserts, or bi-weekly, etc. They would need to order over website and use paypal probably, because they will be billed once a month, because if they aren't home to accept delivery, how could i accept their credit cards?