Is free cake a bad thing?
I have baked since I was a kid, but started cake decorating last Summer. I have tried promoting myself by giving away free cakes to get people to try them. I've given cake to family, friends, and sent cake to work with my hubby. I've spent a lot of time doing this and have really wanted to impress. Everybody has raved about the cakes and complimented the look and the taste. My hope was that giving freebies would lead to orders. I at least thought I could count on my family and close friends to give me a little business. None of this has happened. In fact, it seems that people who have received free cake just want more free cake. They don't want to pay. (I've also tried other forms of advertising--some free and some not--and that hasn't been very fruitful.)
My husband said that when you give things away for free, they loose their value--even if people like them. He suggested that I stop this free for all stuff, but how else will people know the cakes taste great? What do you all think? Also, how in the heck did you get started? I'll take any insight that I can get. :-)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Shani Braxton on
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Thanks. I actually discovered Vistaprint when I was planning my wedding. I couldn't believe the stuff you could get on there--some of which was free and only required that you pay for shipping. Thanks for the tip with charities and SMALL samples. :-)
Julie Hatley said:I found doing business fairs, charity events, etc. is a good way to "give" away cake-in samples! Such as, mini cupcakes of the cakes you make the best. Doesn't cost much, and you can decorate them with just a little swirl from a big tip such as the 1m tip or 2d.
Have some business cards made up, and give them away with your samples. YOU WILL get business, your best customers will be strangers, though. Everyone you know will expect a discount or freebie cause the know you. I do the give aways all the time that way, and it's been great! Also I've sold regular size cupcakes, too at the same places.
Vista Print is a great place to get your business cards, too!! Good luck!
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Crystal--My family always gets me like that, too. I'm like no store gives away free flour, eggs, etc., so why am I expected to pay my $$ to make something for you to take to work or wherever? Well, Crystal, now you know that you are not alone! :-)
Crystal Stricklin said:Shani you sound just like me right about now. My mother always wants me to make a cake for somebody and use my own money to make ingredients but don't want to pay. I had to start letting her know that this is not cheap and she needs to buy the ingredients. For instance this past weekend she had me made a pound cake for her missionary group and she was going to sale slices for me then they ended up canceling so I ended up giving my pound cake away to the neighbors. That's how I feel like right now. I try to make cakes for my kids and husband just so I can get practice.
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Permalink Reply by Crystal Stricklin on
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Thanks Shani. I'm glad somebody's on my page.:)
Crystal Stricklin said:Shani you sound just like me right about now. My mother always wants me to make a cake for somebody and use my own money to make ingredients but don't want to pay. I had to start letting her know that this is not cheap and she needs to buy the ingredients. For instance this past weekend she had me made a pound cake for her missionary group and she was going to sale slices for me then they ended up canceling so I ended up giving my pound cake away to the neighbors. That's how I feel like right now. I try to make cakes for my kids and husband just so I can get practice.
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Permalink Reply by Kathy Kmonk on
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I have discovered that "free cake" is generally a good thing until the folks who have been the recipients of the "free cake" think money grows on trees in your backyard and that they should get "free cake" all the time. I have been sending my practice cakes to work with my husband with the idea that it would generate cake orders. Recently one of the gals in the accounting dept. told him it would be a good idea if I sent another cake in. AND it would be an even better idea if it were banana with chocolate icing. I asked him if this was a "paying" customer and of course the answer was a big fat NO. So I made a 6" cake and sent if off making certain he knew this was going to be the last FREE cake that would be traveling with him to the office.
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Permalink Reply by mary lacy on
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I have found that when you give something, those people take advantage of you, if the goal is to make money you will never survive. It's costing you money to buy the ingredients, your loosing money and from the sounds of it your loosing alot of it. if the actual goal is to make money and your work, then set up pricing and stick to it. If they are family members let them know there will not be any more freebies. They will get over it .
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Permalink Reply by Eileen S on
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I also give away gift certificates, but it is usually for a free cheesecake (easy to do), or $25 off a specialty cake. When asked to provide something for a potluck or meeting of a group I'm a member of, I will usually do some kind of cake. That way more people get to "sample" without the expectation that they, too, will receive free cake. It has generated a lot of leads.
Does this mean I never give away cakes? Of course not. :) My close friends are frequent recipients of cupcakes and practice cakes. One thing I've done a few times is raffle off my practice cakes on Facebook. I post a picture and description of the flavors (since you really can't tell from a completed cake what's inside) and tell all my fans that it is up for auction, bidding starts at $5, and the auction will end at 6 p.m. I usually get between $10 and $15 per cake which at least covers my expenses.
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I took cookies and cake to work, too. My boss even remarked that I made "the best pound cake she ever tasted." I couldn't really take credit as the recipe I used was given to me by my grandmother, but I loved the compliment. I figured if my boss liked the cake that much, she would surely be willing to buy. Anyway, when I set up my website and started selling, nobody was interested in buying. There's a birthday pool at the office that you can contribute to and every month there's a little party for the people who had a birthday in that month. I even offered to do the cake for that, which would have been waaaaaay better than the grocery store cake we always got. Needless to say, I stopped giving freebies since I couldn't get a sale. I don't know what it is about cake or any baked goods for that matter. Maybe people don't see getting freebies as a big deal because it's food...? I say that becasue I sold Mary Kay a few years after college and NOBODY ever expected free makeup or skincare! Just a thought.
Diana Viera said:I started out making cakes and taking them to work so that my co-workers can try them out and give me their opinions. Well that went into "I'll sample anything you make". Giving away free cakes gets extremely costly and you end up frustrated because your intentions are to build a clientele not feed those that can afford it. If you must give away a free cake, do it by samples or make cupcakes and do it that way. Steer towards the schools, places you do a lot of business with, your children's dentist office or even the one you go to, etc. Good luck!
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The nerve of that lady to not only want a free cake, but to want a special request! Amazing. I thought only I knew people like that. I'm so glad that I started this discussion.
My husband does part-time consulting for a non-profit and they liked the samples that I sent in so much that they asked me to bake cookies and cupcakes for one of their events. I was so excited to get the order that I gave them a price that was way too low aned ended up not even making enough to cover the ingredients. Anyway, I baked and baked like I was a freakin' Keebler elf and would you believe they gave me a bad check? That's right. I gave them a super duper discount and I was rewarded with a bouncing check! Needless to say, that was the last time that will get anything from me.
Kathy Kmonk said:I have discovered that "free cake" is generally a good thing until the folks who have been the recipients of the "free cake" think money grows on trees in your backyard and that they should get "free cake" all the time. I have been sending my practice cakes to work with my husband with the idea that it would generate cake orders. Recently one of the gals in the accounting dept. told him it would be a good idea if I sent another cake in. AND it would be an even better idea if it were banana with chocolate icing. I asked him if this was a "paying" customer and of course the answer was a big fat NO. So I made a 6" cake and sent if off making certain he knew this was going to be the last FREE cake that would be traveling with him to the office.
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The facebook auction is a great idea! I'll have to try that since I do practice cakes often to test recipes and different techniques. I know a lot of decorators use cake dummies for that, but I feel like I need actual cake to practice on sometimes.
Eileen S said:I also give away gift certificates, but it is usually for a free cheesecake (easy to do), or $25 off a specialty cake. When asked to provide something for a potluck or meeting of a group I'm a member of, I will usually do some kind of cake. That way more people get to "sample" without the expectation that they, too, will receive free cake. It has generated a lot of leads.
Does this mean I never give away cakes? Of course not. :) My close friends are frequent recipients of cupcakes and practice cakes. One thing I've done a few times is raffle off my practice cakes on Facebook. I post a picture and description of the flavors (since you really can't tell from a completed cake what's inside) and tell all my fans that it is up for auction, bidding starts at $5, and the auction will end at 6 p.m. I usually get between $10 and $15 per cake which at least covers my expenses.
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Permalink Reply by Milinda Shay on
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Shani Braxton said:The nerve of that lady to not only want a free cake, but to want a special request! Amazing. I thought only I knew people like that. I'm so glad that I started this discussion.
My husband does part-time consulting for a non-profit and they liked the samples that I sent in so much that they asked me to bake cookies and cupcakes for one of their events. I was so excited to get the order that I gave them a price that was way too low aned ended up not even making enough to cover the ingredients. Anyway, I baked and baked like I was a freakin' Keebler elf and would you believe they gave me a bad check? That's right. I gave them a super duper discount and I was rewarded with a bouncing check! Needless to say, that was the last time that will get anything from me.
Kathy Kmonk said:I have discovered that "free cake" is generally a good thing until the folks who have been the recipients of the "free cake" think money grows on trees in your backyard and that they should get "free cake" all the time. I have been sending my practice cakes to work with my husband with the idea that it would generate cake orders. Recently one of the gals in the accounting dept. told him it would be a good idea if I sent another cake in. AND it would be an even better idea if it were banana with chocolate icing. I asked him if this was a "paying" customer and of course the answer was a big fat NO. So I made a 6" cake and sent if off making certain he knew this was going to be the last FREE cake that would be traveling with him to the office.
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The way I do free cake stuff, is that at baby showers and stuff, my gift is the cake. This works two fold, one I don't have to buy a present, two, everybody tries my cakes and loves them. Another way to get your name out there is coupons. Make up some coupons to hand out for 10% off a first time cake order and pass them around everywhere you go. People will come to you just because you gave them a coupon. Find your prettiest birthday cake and prettiest wedding cake to put on the bake of the coupons so poeple will know that you can bake both. Do no put your address on it, only your phone # and email add. If you are going to advertise outside of your friends and family, be sure to check out the licensing laws in your state to keep from getting fined.
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Permalink Reply by Christina Cramsie on
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Hi there,
I'm in a similar position to you, I've been making cakes from home for approx 10 yrs, and I'm self taught. I usually have about 3-4 cakes a month, but to be honest that is enough for me, I get asked for more but I am a single parent of 2 children and I have a part time job as well.
I do make "free cake" but I always do it as a raffle prize at the childrens school (christmas etc). I also work in a large office so I just ask for an token amount to cover ingredients, and the cakes are raffled off in aid of a charity. We make quite a lot of money for various charities this way, and I have had a few orders from work due to this. The only other way anyone gets free cake is if I make a cake as a present, or for one of the childrens birthdays, I always make a large one and given everyone in sight a piece!
I had business cards made up, and put one in every cake box when I've made a cake for someone, and I know a couple of people with shops so I give them cards to leave on the counter.
I don't know if thats any help for you, I can see what your husband means, maybe they have all had a taste of your lovely cake now though, and they will buy one at their next special occasion! Tell them you will make it at a special price since they are such a good friend/neighbour/relative and flatter them!
Good luck and I wish you every success!
Christina
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