So this lady orders a cake for 55-60 people. Well, she is a referral from a very loyal customer, so I end up doing a 12" round, 7.5" square, and 6" round - for design purposes(it was a castle atop of 'grass'). So, using Earlene's chart, it's for about 70 ppl. (photo attached)

ANyway, she calls about two minutes after I drop it off and says it's not big enough and needs more cake. Well, when I saw the set-up of the party, I noticed that she invited more than 55-60 people. Dude, like I'm supposed to know that you invited more people?! i told her, for the 55-60 people she ordered the cake for this was plently of cake and that as a matter of fact she should have enough for up to 70 people.

But dude really, how am I supposed that she needed a larger cake?! I gave her more than enough cake for the amount of people that she ordered!

Isn't that part of the cake decorator's job description? Your cake is beautiful, btw. Very nice job!

Becca

In the words of Bugs Bunny .... what a Mah-ROON!!!

A wedding planner told me a story of a wedding that was having 25 people. The room they booked was MAXED at 30 people. They ordered food for 25 people. Well evidently someone forgot to tell the bride or somebody that it was being planned for 25 people because somehow 75 people got invited!!! It was less than standing room only, obviously there wasn't enough food, drinks or cake (and they were more pi$$ed about not having enough alcohol than they were about not having enough space!)

And the bride wants to ream out the wedding planner for not having enough of anything! Dumba$$es!

Now that is crazy!!

Thanks Becca!! I was proud of how it came out and got to use my airbrush machine for the first time!

I recently got an order for a birthday cake to serve 100 people (even though the hostess was having about 250 - 300 people at the party). I told her I would be making the cake to serve at least 100 people and asked if the caterer will be cutting the cake. She said yes. I told her as long as the caterer cuts the cake, she will get 100 servings, if it some other Joe-blow who does not know how to proprely cut the servings, I won't be responsible if she does not get 100 servings!

I happend that they did not even cut the cake...everyone was enjoying themselves too much to fuss about the cake (too pretty to cut and eat ). It was alot of work to do...her original order was for a cake to service 400 people! I asked if she was having other deserts, and she said yes...well I suggested a cake for 100 or less. With that crowd a beautiful cake they may not want to cut and eat!

ccr03 - tell her you are not "Miss Cleo"

Jeannie

I've had to tell people before "I made the amount of cake you ordered". Geesh....some people just expect the impossible!

Sometimes I just don't know what people are thinking!

This is a little off topic, but Debi's story reminded me of a wedding I did about three or four years ago. The bride was one of my sister's best friends, and I was doing the cake and also directing the wedding (just directing the ceremony and reception -- not planning!). The bride was a little ditzy. She was expecting 300 people, but told the caterer 150 people "to get the price that she was wanting!" About three days before the wedding, she was talking with the caterer and accidentally threw out the 300 number. He was so mad! He told her to have an accurate number to him by the end of the day and he would make it work AND charge her accordingly!!

He and I do a lot of weddings together, and we were joking about this one a few weeks ago. He said she better be glad he found out before hand, or they would have had a huge problem at the reception!!

Edited to add -- sometimes I think people see a cake and think they are going to cut huge hunks of cake like they would with a cake at home. Or, as I tell my boys, their eyes are bigger than their stomachs!!

Sometimes, I think that ESP would be helpful. We joke about that all of the time in our office.

Another side of the story: I was invited to a co-workers wedding and got the invitation several weeks ago. About 2 weeks ago, he asked me if I was coming and mentioned that they weren't getting any RSVP's. I said "Ron, there was no RSVP mentioned in the invitation". Sure enough, they had created their own invitations (very pretty) but forgot to include anything about RSVP. Oops!

I think that part of the problem is that when people order their cakes they aren't expecting to serve such "small slices". WE KNOW they are big enough for the stomach... but apparently too small for the eyes. Maybe you should keep a frozen slice or a dummy slice on hand that way you can say, "Look, this cake will serve 70 ppl IF cut correctly, this is what a slice looks like." That way if THEY don't think it's enough then they can order a bigger cake. More money for you, less complaining for them since they were warned. Another problem is ordering Ppl just expect a mile out of an inch.

I had a CATERER try to tell me I didn't have enough sheet cakes at the last wedding I did! He asked how many I had, and I told him they were double-layer 12x18 and how many servings he should get from each.

He says, "Gee, that means you have it marked in only 1" increments...that's pretty small"

I'm thinking, this is the caterer talking to me about small cake pieces? What was he thinking? Big "home-size" chunks?

Then I very calmly tried to explain to him that these cakes were 4" high and that the industry standard cake piece size is 1"x2"x4" and if he cuts is exactly as I have it marked, the pieces will be plenty big enough and will be enough to serve all 250 guests!

I was at the wedding, and he did cut it as I had it marked....good size pieces...and they had cake left over.

Some people are just plain cheap! I had a bride come in last year that I had met at a bridal show. I got the vibe she was a cheapskate at the show but I figured I could get a good order and she could get what she wanted so maybe the "cheapness" would get better. She was expecting 400 guests. We talked about a cupcake tree and I was really excited...it was at a very prestigious country club so I thought "how cheap could she really be?" Anyway, she shows up to the appt with her mom and MIL and tells me she wants 200 cupcakes. So I was like "wow! The guest count changed dramatically!" and she said no I just can only afford 200 cupcakes. So I proceeded to explain she couldn't get extra servings from a cupcake...they are ONE serving each...and so forth. She just wouldn't budge on this number and just as I was about to tell her I couldn't do the wedding her mom piped in and was VERY angry! She asked me what it would cost for the 400 cupcakes and I told her....she wrote me a check. Then she TOLD her daughter to step outside while I was filling out the contract....oh man did she give it to her! She was on my porch yelling at her about how she couldn't keep doing this and if they couldn't afford to feed the people they invited then she should have invited less people! Momma was and daughter got what she deserved!

I hear ya on the country club thing! I did a wedding where the bride nickled and dimed me to death! It was awful! She had her wedding at the top country club in our area, with the big fancy golf course and guarded gate and the whole nine yards but she wouldn't spend a penny on her cake. I wonder if she blew her whole budget on the venue and my DH pointed out that a lot of brides are having daddy pay for everything but the cake, photographer and dress. So you never know!

Start charging by the minute - $3.99 per minute - KA-CHING$$$!!!

Theresa

OK, I mailed 100 invitations, so I'll need a hundred servings -right?? Well, how many of that 100 invitations were to a couple, or a couple plus kids? Oh, OK

YIKES!!! What you all are discussing this sounds like it could really be a nightmare for a baker, if the client is not that bright. From what I've read so far why in the HECK! would you even ask for a cake to feed less that the number of guest you've invited? Jeezs give me a break already!! Has anyone thought of when you take an order for a party size cake making sure the client has maybe a copy of the cut chart ? I need to get copies of those charts & whenever I do a large cake I will make sure the client sees it, understands it & agrees to it.

Had a wedding where they ordered food for 100. They told the bartender 100. They increased it last minute with me to 125-150. Bartender was still working on the 100 number. They had 170 show up. Bartender was in the kitchen on his cell phone trying to get add'l supplies (so it wasn't just me!).

BUT ...... the aunt who made the wedding cake for FREE was told 160 guests! The food and alcohol that they had to pay for, they told us 100, but the free cake was planned for 160.

The only thing I ran out of was meatballs .... and the mother who never handed me a check (step family deal) told me that *I* should have planned better! Kiss my a$$ babycakes!

Amen to the "kiss my a$$", Debi!

I've had many catering clients try to play the numbers game, and get screwed. Once, I had a large local realty company tell me a meeting was for 45-55 people, for 2 sessions. It turns out that it was around 75 people for the first session, carmmed and hot as he!! in there, and people were yelling at ME because there were not enough seats, drinks, food. DUH. Of course, that was the day I decided to save my labor costs and do it myself. So for the second session, I had to bust my a$$ and break down a room that was already set up for the function the next day, and set it up for those aholes. Argh.

My mom kinda pulled some crap on me with my wedding. I had it at a country club, sent out about 450 invites ad had like 305 RSVP to attend. My mom ended up inviting all sorts of people she crossed paths with, and my wedding ended up being even bigger. People were coming up to me saying "I know you don't know me, but I'm ......". One family of 5 who was NOT invited allowed their teenage child to bring a friend!