A new customer contacted me about a cake. She had seen and eaten one I had recently done and was very complimentary. She left me a cake order at store that sells my cakes, never inquiring about price. I sent her price list so she would have the price of everything. Tonight she called and canceled order cake was too expensive. She wanted stacked 12x4, 8x4. WASC with home made lemon curd filling and Buttercream icing. She wanted a brown fondant ribbon around each layer with small bow on front. She wanted blue circles (polka dots) fondant of different sizes. The cake would be topped with "M&M" in blue fondant. She would also used my silver plateau. I quoted her $135 for cake (including separator plates and doweling). $20 for fondant work and $10.00 for delivery and set up (probably 20 mile round trip). Grand total of $165 plus tax. Is this out of line? Be honest do I need to adjust prices. The cake she saw and liked was the same price.

Thanks!!

Don't know what the going rate is by you, but that's only $2.30/serving. I think that's cheap for what she wanted.

For me, up in Cleveland, that cake would have been around $300.00.

For a lot of people - if it's not the 8.99 cake they can buy at the grocery store - it's just too expensive.

You can't drive a Mercedes if all you want to pay for is a Hyundai.

I would have charged her around $300 once the delivery and sales tax were added in.

Thanks for your input. I think she had me second guessing myself.

Thanks again for the input.

Darlene

I agree with the $300 range ... my eyes kept getting bigger and bigger as I read all of the detail she was wanting.

The Walmart mentality is the hardest obstacle we face.

Did she say what her target price was? I'd be interested to see what she expected to pay for cake that served about 80 people!

(And I'd LUV to see the cake she ended up with! )

I would have charged her $662 for that cake, plus a big FAT deposit on that stand.

I agree with the others, your pricing is more than fair. Stick to your guns, if you go any lower in price, you'll start to resent and dread doing them. Specialty cakes are just that... special. If people don't want to pay for it, then the occasion can't be all that special --- and they can order elsewhere.

Leave it to Wal-Mart!
Keep in mind this actually really did happen!!!! This is someone who was moving from a claims office.
Okay so this is how the conversation went:
Walmart Employee: âHello âdis Walmarts, how can I help you?â
Customer: â I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.â
Walmart Employee: âWhat you want on the cake?â
Customer: âBest Wishes Suzanneâ and underneath that âWe will miss youâ.
Walmart Employee: âDat all? Okay, Bye.â

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and laugh. Todays a new day and I'm moving on.

This site is great because you all know what I'm talking about and what it takes. And dingbat you are right. I enjoy this so much I don't want to feel resentful about the cakes and pay.

You all have a great day

Darlene

I would rather make one cake for $200 than ten cakes for $20.

okay...........I can't even believe that is a real cake!! Oh man..............that makes my side hurt it's so funny!!

I wonder if they paid more than $20 for that? .... I don't even like the writing, it's not centered and it seems crooked .... LOL!

WASC is delicious! (It's my best seller.) So, since she knows how wonderful your cakes tastes she will be disappointed with whatever she gets elsewhere. Don't second guess your pricing. You know what it costs and how much work goes into it. Maybe she just didn't have the budget for a special cake. I quoted a customer $125 for a cake and she told me that she didn't want to put that much into the cake and opted for a $75 cake. She was too embarrassed when she had to serve tiny pieces of cake and barely had enough for all the guests.

you have to stick to your prices because some people
1. Don't know how much a non-grocery store cake costs and 2. Some people will try to get "a better deal" no matter what.
That price seems VERY reasonable and I think that she'll get what she pays for