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There are few smells that make people stop short in their tracks, inhale as much fragrant air through their nostrils as possible and exhale with a loud and satisfied noise, but freshly baked bread must be one of them.

Alongside cut grass and your mother's cooking, the smell of a good bakery wafting through the air is enough to send the average shopper wild and make them part with their money. This is one reason crafty supermarket chains allegedly pump through the smell of baking bread to their stores so shoppers will feel hungry and fill up their trolleys.

But for the traditional baker, there is little better advertising than the aroma creeping out of a busy shop and enticing consumers in.

But it is not only the smell that brings people back into the world of bread. The freshly baked loaf is often the staple of many people's daily shops, adding a healthy slice to the otherwise chemically-rich pre-packaged loaves normally found in your average grocery store. And bakers not only provide bread, but a range of rolls, cakes, baps, paninis, buns, stickies, pastries, doughnuts and sandwiches.

Bakeries are an age old tradition, conjuring up the image of small, family-run affairs with a jolly fat man in a white hat getting warm bread out of a huge oven. However, modern bakers are quite different from this ideal, even those in smaller bakeries often diversifying to meet the demands of their market.

Several franchising opportunities are available to those considering the industry, with huge variations across the sector. Bakers, bread makers, artisan breads, organic bread makers and cake stands are just some of the areas available, although many established bakeries with franchising opportunities will cover several options.

One franchise in the US, House of Bread, offers the benefits of a proven system for producing a variety of baked goods in a franchising model, with support from the company including technical assistance in store layout, bakery location selection, equipment and supplies lists and procurement sources, employee training and various other support functions.

But potential franchisees should also be aware that they will need to invest a fair amount for the initial start-up fee and have at least a vested interest in bakery. The role of managing a bakery is particularly suited to those with previous catering or cookery experience, although with persistence and a business mentality, the hard-working entrepreneur would be able to capitalise on those gorgeous smells and make a success of the franchise.

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