I like the idea everyone has about putting your business name on the cake board. When I first read that, I assumed it would just be on the edge so everyone could see it and this lady could come up with a cover story for it or try to remove it or whatever, but someone said something that made me think that the business information would be in the middle of the cake board, under the cake. I love that idea! That way, the lady doesn't know about it and the customer will only see it when the cake has been eaten...then she'll know if she's been had. You'll know this lady's intentions if she mentions anything to you about it. What's the problem of putting it there if she's not doing anything wrong?

I agree that you should tell her no. Why should she make a profit if you are the one doing all the work? Is she going to pay for all the supplies and ingredients? I would giver her some of your cards and tell her that if her family and friends really want one of YOUR cakes, they can contact you directly.

I agree with everyone else..I would definetly tell her "thanks, but no thanks" and if SHE wants to start selling cakes, then SHE should learn how to make them
Good Luck!

Im in this situation myself but with my partners family. I dont take anything from them nor do I even worry.... When the subject comes up now I change it as fast as I can. They just ramble on and on. Cake decorating is an art! Its just like a painters painting... I bet there isnt many painters out there painting beautiful pictures and GIVING them to someone else to get credit and profit from their work. How these people think that this is right???... It gets me angry sometimes. Most of the time when people are willing to put money into your work and make a profit from it and not do anything are the ones that cant even think of even producing something like that if their life depended on it or are just jealous of your talent and that they cant enjoy working for a job... am i making sence? sorry about they long reply... guess I needed to vent haha

Explain that you only bake for your family and close friends and that when you want to make it a profession, that you will take the proper steps at that time. Then you recommend a good cake decorating class for her and suggest that she sign up for herself! If she has to do all the hard work, she just might move on to other ventures!

Good Luck!

What gets to me is not that she wants to re-sale it or even take the credit for your cakes...... She asked you to lower your prices so SHE can make profit. To me it sounds the same as " Hey, why don't you give me 20$ everytime you turn your oven on" it's ridiculous. She is obviously ready to step on you on her way up!

Okay- let me get this straight......
1. You work with this woman and she is not a friend or family member - correct?
2. She decided your prices are too high - correct?
3. She solicited customers for you, but wants to resell your cakes and not give up the customers and take a piece of the action - correct?
4. She wants you to email all your cake pictures to her - correct?
5. You never asked her to do this for you - correct?
6. And you want to know what we think and what we would do?

This is defiantly an egregious business misnomer and highly unethical!!!!!!!!

If you are legal than I would tell her politely, but very firmly in written letter that this is your game, company and your reputation on the line and you never asked her to join as a business partner. She needs to cease and desist immediately. Her advances for going into business together are unwelcome and inappropriate and if she continues to try and resell your products you will have to take appropriate legal action.

Funny how some people seem to know what is better for us than we do... I totally turn off when someone starts a sentence with "You know what you should do..." or "You need to..."

If she really wants to re-sell a cake, she should contact Rich's...they make everything from donuts to cakes for resale...

It ain't a bad deal as long as you get your price out of it and all responsibility removed.

If you want to advance your business...

then, yeah, put your card on the cake board.

If not, sell them to her and let her accept responsibility....after all, she wants the business, right.

Is this woman from Charlotte????

one woman I worked with asked me to go into business with her. I told her I would think about it. She said I needed to give her my recipes so, that she too could operate the business....she had the money only....I looked at her straight-faced and said, I don't think so....and decided then and there she was NOT to be trusted...you just had to see the look on her face when she asked for my recipes....

Is this co-worker related to Tony Soprano ? I mean this smells like this lady is trying to muscle in on your talent. I would NOT sell this person anything. Let her know that this is not the direction you want to take your business/hobby into. YOU have to follow YOUR dream/plan/idea, not somebody else's version of your dream. Don't forget to pray about this situation--God Bless you!

Since I started my business, I have a friend whose husband is really excited about it - almost like it's HIS business. He keeps giving me "tips" and making suggestions about what I can do. At first, I was really put off by this - but then I realized why he was excited. HE BELIEVED IN ME.

I have now offered him a "sales" position. I have told him that every wholesale account he sets up for me, he gets $30 from the first order over $30, and 5% of all orders from that customer for 1 year. He will also get 10% of any "retail priced" sale he makes for me, and $50 for each press article written about me or interview that he initiates (I don't want to contact the media myself - I'm the shy/introverted type).

If this woman believes in you and your product so much, I would be flattered. And you can't have a better salesperson working for you than someone who truly believes in your product. I would think this woman could be a great benefit to you - but YOU have to set the rules.

Something to think about anyway...

I havent read all the replies but I wanted to tell you our story.

Dh was doing a few cakes here and there for friends and we were approached by a woman in town who was opening a bakery to sell donuts, muffins, pies and things like that. She asked if we would do cakes for her. People would come in with an order, I gave her a sheet of prices, flavors etc and she took the order then called me and we filled it. I would deliver to the baker and they would pick up there. We charge $35 for a 12x18 single layer and she would tack on $5 for being the middle man. She always told customers that she had someone else who made them and would pass on our name too. It worked out ok but then she closed withing a year. The upside was that we ended up with a ton of new customers because of it. We still now have several repeat orders throughout the year that are people we met thru the bakery. One lady orders about 10 a year from us.

for your situation I think the lady is nuts if she wants you to lower the price so she can profit more.

You should definitely be upset!!

I WOULD NOT SELL ANYMORE CAKES TO HER!(Think of the legal issues that could come up if there was a problem as mentioned.) NOOOO WAY!

Either tell her you will not sell any more cakes to her or if you don't feel comfortable doing that TELL HER YOU'RE BUSY whenever she asks.

Well I'll be the oddball here lol I see an oportunity waiting to happen and one that a lot of us would love to have. First you have to ask yourself would you like to do cakes full time and if yes do you have the talent. If yes then ask yourself if you can afford to quit your job and do this full time or if do you have the time and energy to do both. If you still want to do this then tell her ok you'll accept her as the financial end but she would have to pay for you to be legalized and find a kitchen that you could work out of. Then if that goes well you could draw up a contract for say a one year see how it goes sort of partnership. Now if you dont want to ever do this as a living or not in the immediate future then just tell her NO plain and simple. I dont see the big problem here as you are an adult and have the right to refuse. As for putting your name on cards or boxes or whatever well she could still change that around so that is definiately not a solution. Just my 2 cents lol

So she wants to go into business, but doesn't want to learn the skills necessary to run that business? Emmm, NO.

It sounds like she wants the "glory" of delivering and procuring these cakes, but doesn't want to do the actual work. Why on Earth would you want to put an extra step between yourself and the customer? She's not bringing anything to the table excepts the names of three people who want to buy cakes, and you don't need them that badly.

You cannot control what happens to your cakes once she has these cakes. You can't control how she stores them or delivers them. How do you know she would keep them in cool dry place to prevent spoilage? What if her cat decides to rake a paw through the top layer? Then she delivers this damaged cake and the customer thinks you do second-rate, badly executed work.

Stay far away from this person and do everything you can to protect yourself from her "help." Do not do anymore cakes for her. Do not show her your work. And be prepared for the backlash when she figures out you're not going to participate in her scheme.

I agree with the "you hire her" idea. I always offer all my customers $10 off their next cake if they refer me a customer. And let me tell you - this really brings in business! You could offer her a small cut of each customer she refers to you; however it sounds like she wants to be more involved than that. Make sure YOU are the only one that delivers the cakes and directly deals with orders, prices, etc. The way she wants it though, there is nothing in it for you. Don't let someone try to make you change things for their own personal gain. If things are going well for you as-is, why change anything?

[quote="kansaslaura"]Funny how some people seem to know what is better for us than we do... I totally turn off when someone starts a sentence with "You know what you should do..." or "You need to..."

quote]

EXACTLY

Your cakes are beautiful by the way. Let her know that you appreciate the fact that she likes your cakes so much that she wants others to enjoy them as well. Then let her know that you would be more than willing to take names and numbers or let her hand out your business cards but you aren't willing to appear unprofessional and will only deliver then yourself. If she wants a "deal" on your cake tell her you will give a one time discount for referrals only.... then put your card on that cake and No Resale (just in case!)

I can see both point of view here, but if were me, I would run as fast as possible in the opposite direction. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. This is one of those things that can't help but end badly and you still have to go to work every day with this lady.
In her defense (if she has one) she is being up front about it. I had a customer several years ago that was THE hoity-toity caterer in town and a HUGE B***h to boot. I knew this, but she had always been decent to me, so, she ordered decorated cookies from me on a regular basis. Nothing out of the ordinary, a few dozen a month. Around Christmas time, she places a larger order (also not out of ordinary) and wants to know if I could not put my label on the boxes. I explained to her as I am a licensed kitchen, my product is required by the state to have a business name and address on every box. When she came to pick them up, she got pi**ed and with her car key, started trying to scrape the label off the box, telling me the whole time how mad she is that it's on there, she asked me not to do it, these were for a customer and she didn't have the time to go home and re-box them like usual. She concluded it on the way out the door by yelling back that she would never do business with me again. (Fine with me!) A few months later, I get a call from someone wanting train cookies for a birthday. I knew from the voice it was her, but I couldn't be sure. She gave me a different name and an out-of state phone number. Long story short, it was her daughter's name and #, so I called her back and told her that after the way she had acted in my store last time, I no longer felt comfortable doing business with her and that she should look to someone else to fill her future orders. Now, I don't really care what people do with their product once it is paid for, but to complain that I don't make it convenient for you to pass something off as your own, kiss my _______!!!!! Just my opinion! -Lori

The two issues that concern me with this situation is her asking you to lower your prices, and whether she is reselling them as her cakes or not.

Your prices are your prices I'd be sure to tell her that in no uncertain terms. I would not send my pictures to her to use on her own website, if she's setting up a consultancy service or whatever, then provide reciprocal links. If she resells them for more money then I kinda say whatever, as long as you get what you wanted, but if she is reselling them as her product I wouldn't be interested.

But if you don't feel comfortable going into a situation like this say no, if you feel she may damage your reputation down the line, then go with your gut and say thanks, appreciate the vote of confidence, but not interested. If you think it is something that might help get you more customers, then you be sure to lay down the ground rules and get everything in writing!

Good luck.

I think what I need to do is sit down with her and have a good old fashioned heart to heart. Good communication is always the best policy. That way I will know exactly what she is trying to do and she will know exactly where I stand on it.

That's just, how do I say this delicately, BALLSY!!! It would be one thing if you were even the slightest bit interested in doing business w/her but the fact that she's just assuming that you're ok with it or maybe not caring if you're ok with it is just unreal! I totally agree that you need to be very clear w/ this individual that you want no part of it and then don't sell her anything! I really liked the idea of putting your business name on the box and that it's not for resale.

Well, there are ways to approach someone about a business partnership and then there are ways NOT to approach them.....

Seems to me this woman used all the wrong tactics--with someone she feels that she knows well and who she thought would jump at the chance to go along with her one-sided plan....Doesn't sound to me like a good ambassador for ANYONE'S products!

I see no "history" for this woman's assumption that she's the one who needs to make money off of someone else's back. I don't see where the OP ever gave this woman the idea that the OP needed a salesperson who would scoop off any percentage of the cake price--Susan doesn't even HAVE a business, per se.

I do see an opportunist who thinks that there's an opening for her make some quick, easy money after the OP has done all of the HARD work. I see someone who, I think, would be very quick to take credit for any compliments ("Oh, yes, I came up with the design and found the perfect person to make your cake!" and very quick to shift blame for any negative feedback ("Oh, I didn't make the cake. I'm so sorry that you're not happy with it. I'm sure that Lazy_Susan with refund your money [but of course, my fee remains intact...]). After all, she merely wants to make the quick and easy money of mark-ups on delivery and product without having to invest in time and materials....

In this case, I would never get over that engaging opening line of, "Susan, you really need to lower your prices SO THAT I CAN RE-SELL YOUR CAKES AND MAKE SOME MONEY OFF OF (your talents)." No concern at all for Susan, that I can see...

Sorry, this lady has been watching way too many late night infomercials about how to buy property with no money down!

Send her packing--and NO MORE CAKES FOR HER!!

JMHO
Rae

I respectfully must disagree with just about everything you have said.

Perhaps she went about it the wrong way... however, since they had previously discussed doing business together, it's not like this was completely out of the blue or uncalled for.

Again, they had discussed doing business together previously - so perhaps this woman thought it was still a possibility and she was looking for a plan that might benefit both of them.

So selling products isn't hard work? All of us have people flocking to our doors demanding our cakes, and we have no need for salespeople or advertising, right? Gosh... I only WISH I had that problem.

Unfortunately, dealing with people is not my strong point. I am too close to my product that if I were to attempt to "cold call" someone and they said no, I'd feel personally rejected. I recognize my need to have someone doing sales calls for me - and giving me good (free) word of mouth advertising. And for all of his hard work, I intend to compensate him as much as I can afford to. Fair is fair.

It's business, and if you believe only the person who came up with the original idea should be making ALL the money - well, then let them do ALL the work (including sales). Kind of reminds of the story of Henny Penny (in reverse). Sure, she got to eat all the bread in the end, but she also had to do all of the work, and had nobody to enjoy that bread with.

I don't see it that way at all. This woman obviously believes in the product. And she obviously wants to SELL the product. Why would she want to criticize the product or the "manufacturer"? I guess people who are looking for the negative will certainly see it... If it was just about extra money, she could sell Avon.

Again, making sales IS work. She IS investing her time as well. Why do so many of us (decorators) think that only OUR time is valuable? We're decorators, not divas... the world does not revolve around us (just ask my children. They'll tell you that THEY are the center of the universe. LOL!)

[/quote]

Perhaps she went about it the wrong way... however, since they had previously discussed doing business together, it's not like this was completely out of the blue or uncalled for.
[quote="BlakesCakes"]

Sorry, not to be argumentative but, did they ever mutually discuss going into business together? Unless I missed it in the thread somewhere, each time this woman brought it up she was told no. I could see her following up on the idea if they had at some point both been interested but this woman sounds like a maniplator bent on getting her way. I say hold your ground and tell her to take a hike.