charging to much..?!
I am just starting to charge for cakes but when I broke down my cost t figure out what to charge I charged $20 for an 8" round cake! I felf so bad since I am so new and my work isn't great! I have looked on here before for some ideas of pricing and if I took my cost and X3 it would have been a $45 cake! I need some tips of how to lower my cost or a good price range for someone that is my level.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Jeanne on
-
Oh sweetie... it doesn't matter how long you have been doing this. Iif you can decorate you should be paid like anyone else. If you think you charge too much just think of me okay? I charge $100 for an 8" round cake... and I make no applogies for it.
You have to think of it differently. You are thinking like a customer, and you will set yourself up for failure that way. You can't think of what you would want to pay... you have to think how much do I need to charge to pay the bills. Cost times 3 is a joke of a pricing plan. I say that because you are not just providing ingredients. You are providing the service of making a cake for someone who either can't do it themselves, or doesn't WANT to. This includes... time spent thinking up ideas and talking with the client, time spent shopping for the ingredients, time spent mixing and baking, time spent decorating, time spent CLEANING UP THE MESS, the box and the boards and the piping bags, the lost sleep trying to squeeze it all in between kids and family. It is *SO* much more than just flour and eggs and sugar and a little magic.
Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to charge what I do. BUT... you do need to make sure that you are compensated for the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into your work. I live in a little town in NH... not a big city. I have a $100.00 minimum order and that is final. Just because someone wants Walmart prices doesn't mean they get them. You are not Walmart. You can't buy thousands of pounds of flour at once so your costs are much higher AND you do better work. You're not Elisa Strauss (not yet anyway), but you need to value your work. If you don't... no one will. =]
-
Permalink Reply by Tara's Cakes on
-
HOT DANG, I knew I liked you for a reason Jeanne......VERY WELL SAID!
-
Permalink Reply by Tiffany Wiegel on
-
I'm in excatly the same boat, I'm in the process of starting up my own business on the side, I actually work full time as a cake decorator at Walmart LOL (literally, its such a joke) but it pays the bills for now. I haven't wanted to charge since i'm not technically a business yet and I don't want to get in trouble so i've practically been giving my cakes away and most of the time losing a lot of money on them. One of my co-workers wants a wedding cake and the first thing he asked me was how much it'd be, before I could respond he said "or should I tell you how much king soopers would charge me" I know he didn't mean to be mean but jeez that's a low blow. So I came up with a price off the top of my head and he was thrilled because it's under what they would've charged him... GRRR! Now i'm stuck making a two tier wedding cake for $35. Also a thing to consider is the longer and more people you charge less to the harder it will be to raise your prices in the future because they are used to getting them dirt cheap. When I do start my own business i'm going to lose all the customers I have now because they won't want to pay my prices, but we all have bills to pay. You wouldn't walk into a dealership and ask for a car for free, so why give away your product that took time, money, blood sweat and tears to make.
-
-
$35 dollars??? Girl you need a whoopin' (in a loving way for course *wink*).
You hit the nail on the head though... you can't start off charging next to nothing and expect your customers to stay with you when you all of a sudden have to raise them because you are in business.
-
Permalink Reply by cristina grecu on
-
Hi!
My name it Cristina
I am looking for someone to make my daughter butterfly cake . A friend of mine supposed to make the cake but she is gone be out of town around that time.
I will appreciate if you can contacte me .I leave in the Syracuse area as well.
My contact information is greculcristina@yahoo.com.
Thanks
-
Permalink Reply by Kim Hamilton on
-
I'm in the same boat. I just quoted prices for a graduation cake for about 150 people and then a shower cake for 20 people. The prices I quoted were, don't laugh, just double the ingredients - and I think I scared her. I haven't heard back yet. I kept hearing Jeanne's post in my head, "think like a business owner, not a customer". I don't want to lose the jobs due to pricing, but geez...I don't think people have a clue how much time and mess goes into making a decent cake, and then how the house falls apart because you don't have time to clean anything but the kitchen. I'm so glad I read this thread a couple of days ago. I would have really lowballed myself even worse. I finally managed to get my exact cost of materials sussed out the other day - so I know exactly how much I can make on a cake. Which helps. At least I know I'm not LOSING money. Just hours of my life for people who don't understand. Thanks for the moral support and being strong, confident people. It really helps me to change my mindset, too. I know the lady at the fancy cake shop said she would have charged over $300 for that daisy cake I made (I showed her pics). She laughed when I told her I got $110 for it. She told me I was really underselling myself. She actually asked me for a card for overflow. Sorry for the rant. I'm just getting frustrated. The Rust Belt is it's own special hell.
-
Permalink Reply by Diana Viera on
-
We all go thru the "am I charging too much" phase at one time or another. Remember, you pay for ingredients, time taken away from other things that you could be doing, spending time with kids, cleaning, electricity, gas, loss of sleep due to staying up late, supplies, etc. If they like your cakes, they will pay for them and your customers will keep coming back. So what if you lose a customer here and there . . . the point is, they don't pay for your bills or time. AND STOP UNDERCHARGING!!!
-
Permalink Reply by L Welch on
-
Really interesting discussion ladies. I am in the same boat. I didn't really even intend to start doing cakes for others but after taking a bunch to the church bake sale my phone has rung off the hook! I like doing 3D sculpted things that are amazing but they take lots of time. People want that kind of spectacular cake but don't want to pay for it. I refuse to do weddings because I don't have the patience for brides. (God love 'em but weddings make normal folks crazy. I eloped to avoid the nutcakes in my own ceremony!) I start at $75 for a small sculpted cake. Then it goes up from there depending on the size and scope of the project. I don't want to spend all my time doing buttercream birthday cakes and piping makes my brain bleed, so I leave that to those who like to do them. I suggest finding what you are good at and like to do and focusing on that nitche market. I stand in awe at those of you who do wedding cakes and love it. You go girls!
-
-
I too have had a problem with pricing for my cakes. I felt guilty charging higher prices because of my lack of experience. I've been making cakes for others for about six months now and have gone up on my pricing as I felt more confident. You have to make $$ on them. I make a little more now than I did, but still not enough to account for all the time that goes into them. For an 8" round I charge 25.00. If there will be detailed fondant work I'll add to the price. You cannot base your prices on Walmart and the grocery store cakes because like somebody said those are not fresh homemade cakes and they are not specialized to your clients particular wants. They are frozen cakes and very generic. If they want the cake they will pay the price. You will gain more confidence the more cakes you do and you will feel better about charging more for your cakes. Of course, my family price is different than my non-family price, but you just have to do what works best for you! :)
-
Permalink Reply by Michelle Galloway on
-
OK, Im askin the pros!!! I have been makin cakes for years, but in the last year have decided to jump in and pursue this as a business. As with everyone, i have pricing concerns. I am in a small town and Publix cakes are all the rage!! LOL. My husband and I are arguing about pricing for a client comin up. So I'm askin suggestions for pricing for a spongebob cake like the one in this link http://jirehcakes.com/index.htm it will be a lemon cake w/ vanilla BC, fondant covered and decorated to serve aboout 20 people ( I am planning about a 9x13, cut to shape)....Thanx for any advice!! :D
Jeanne said:Oh sweetie... it doesn't matter how long you have been doing this. Iif you can decorate you should be paid like anyone else. If you think you charge too much just think of me okay? I charge $100 for an 8" round cake... and I make no applogies for it.
You have to think of it differently. You are thinking like a customer, and you will set yourself up for failure that way. You can't think of what you would want to pay... you have to think how much do I need to charge to pay the bills. Cost times 3 is a joke of a pricing plan. I say that because you are not just providing ingredients. You are providing the service of making a cake for someone who either can't do it themselves, or doesn't WANT to. This includes... time spent thinking up ideas and talking with the client, time spent shopping for the ingredients, time spent mixing and baking, time spent decorating, time spent CLEANING UP THE MESS, the box and the boards and the piping bags, the lost sleep trying to squeeze it all in between kids and family. It is *SO* much more than just flour and eggs and sugar and a little magic.
Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to charge what I do. BUT... you do need to make sure that you are compensated for the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into your work. I live in a little town in NH... not a big city. I have a $100.00 minimum order and that is final. Just because someone wants Walmart prices doesn't mean they get them. You are not Walmart. You can't buy thousands of pounds of flour at once so your costs are much higher AND you do better work. You're not Elisa Strauss (not yet anyway), but you need to value your work. If you don't... no one will. =]
-
-
I agree with the PP on everything but price. You have to sit and figure out what it takes for you to make a cake. How much for your vanilla cake recipe to fill a 9x13 pan. Also, a single layer 9x13 will not serve 40 party servings... it will serve about 25 2x2 squares, so if you aren't going to make this a 4" tall cake then you will have to make sure you adjust your servings.
I would charge no less than $5/serving, so my price would be $125. BUT... you need to be sure that you can make a profit like Denise said. If you are using more expensive ingredients, that might not be a big enough profit margin for you. You absolutely cannot compare yourself to Publix and you can't even consider their prices when you are thinking about your own. You can call around to other custom cake businesses if there are some in your area to get a feel for pricing, but the chain stores and the run-of-the-mill bakeries that just do simple cakes aren't the same as what you are looking to offer.
Michelle Galloway said:OK, Im askin the pros!!! I have been makin cakes for years, but in the last year have decided to jump in and pursue this as a business. As with everyone, i have pricing concerns. I am in a small town and Publix cakes are all the rage!! LOL. My husband and I are arguing about pricing for a client comin up. So I'm askin suggestions for pricing for a spongebob cake like the one in this link http://jirehcakes.com/index.htm it will be a lemon cake w/ vanilla BC, fondant covered and decorated to serve aboout 20 people ( I am planning about a 9x13, cut to shape)....Thanx for any advice!! :D
Jeanne said:Oh sweetie... it doesn't matter how long you have been doing this. Iif you can decorate you should be paid like anyone else. If you think you charge too much just think of me okay? I charge $100 for an 8" round cake... and I make no applogies for it.
You have to think of it differently. You are thinking like a customer, and you will set yourself up for failure that way. You can't think of what you would want to pay... you have to think how much do I need to charge to pay the bills. Cost times 3 is a joke of a pricing plan. I say that because you are not just providing ingredients. You are providing the service of making a cake for someone who either can't do it themselves, or doesn't WANT to. This includes... time spent thinking up ideas and talking with the client, time spent shopping for the ingredients, time spent mixing and baking, time spent decorating, time spent CLEANING UP THE MESS, the box and the boards and the piping bags, the lost sleep trying to squeeze it all in between kids and family. It is *SO* much more than just flour and eggs and sugar and a little magic.
Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to charge what I do. BUT... you do need to make sure that you are compensated for the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into your work. I live in a little town in NH... not a big city. I have a $100.00 minimum order and that is final. Just because someone wants Walmart prices doesn't mean they get them. You are not Walmart. You can't buy thousands of pounds of flour at once so your costs are much higher AND you do better work. You're not Elisa Strauss (not yet anyway), but you need to value your work. If you don't... no one will. =]
-
-
I figured that, but that cake doesn't look like it would be 2 layers tall... it looks like it's only one. =]
Denise said:Jeanne- I base mine off a 2 inch deep pan /two layers.
Jeanne said:I agree with the PP on everything but price. You have to sit and figure out what it takes for you to make a cake. How much for your vanilla cake recipe to fill a 9x13 pan. Also, a single layer 9x13 will not serve 40 party servings... it will serve about 25 2x2 squares, so if you aren't going to make this a 4" tall cake then you will have to make sure you adjust your servings.
I would charge no less than $5/serving, so my price would be $125. BUT... you need to be sure that you can make a profit like Denise said. If you are using more expensive ingredients, that might not be a big enough profit margin for you. You absolutely cannot compare yourself to Publix and you can't even consider their prices when you are thinking about your own. You can call around to other custom cake businesses if there are some in your area to get a feel for pricing, but the chain stores and the run-of-the-mill bakeries that just do simple cakes aren't the same as what you are looking to offer.
Michelle Galloway said:OK, Im askin the pros!!! I have been makin cakes for years, but in the last year have decided to jump in and pursue this as a business. As with everyone, i have pricing concerns. I am in a small town and Publix cakes are all the rage!! LOL. My husband and I are arguing about pricing for a client comin up. So I'm askin suggestions for pricing for a spongebob cake like the one in this link http://jirehcakes.com/index.htm it will be a lemon cake w/ vanilla BC, fondant covered and decorated to serve aboout 20 people ( I am planning about a 9x13, cut to shape)....Thanx for any advice!! :D
Jeanne said:Oh sweetie... it doesn't matter how long you have been doing this. Iif you can decorate you should be paid like anyone else. If you think you charge too much just think of me okay? I charge $100 for an 8" round cake... and I make no applogies for it.
You have to think of it differently. You are thinking like a customer, and you will set yourself up for failure that way. You can't think of what you would want to pay... you have to think how much do I need to charge to pay the bills. Cost times 3 is a joke of a pricing plan. I say that because you are not just providing ingredients. You are providing the service of making a cake for someone who either can't do it themselves, or doesn't WANT to. This includes... time spent thinking up ideas and talking with the client, time spent shopping for the ingredients, time spent mixing and baking, time spent decorating, time spent CLEANING UP THE MESS, the box and the boards and the piping bags, the lost sleep trying to squeeze it all in between kids and family. It is *SO* much more than just flour and eggs and sugar and a little magic.
Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to charge what I do. BUT... you do need to make sure that you are compensated for the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into your work. I live in a little town in NH... not a big city. I have a $100.00 minimum order and that is final. Just because someone wants Walmart prices doesn't mean they get them. You are not Walmart. You can't buy thousands of pounds of flour at once so your costs are much higher AND you do better work. You're not Elisa Strauss (not yet anyway), but you need to value your work. If you don't... no one will. =]
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next ›
Popular Cake Searches
© 2024 Created by Theresa Happe.
Powered by
