Ok, so I had three people ask me for quotes on cakes. All elaborate, flowers, fondant, cakes. I quoted all of them, and no one contacted went with me! I don't get it! What am I doing wrong pricing wise? Any tips on how to formulate an effective pricing chart! I am so disappointed, I can't seem to stick a cake! By the time I do all the work these people want, and charge the prices they want, I'd be making $5. Any suggestions!?

What were you charging per slice? I'm not a good one to help with pricing (I don't have to make a living from it) but we have some awesome people here that can help ou. I charge $2.00 per serving.

Jibbies

This is my pricing:

It starts with a basic price-
Buttercream- $2.50/serving
Whipped Cream- $3.00/serving
Fondant- $3.75

And then on top of that I have a specialty filling (anything besides buttercream) price per serving that ranges between $.25-$.45/ per serving

And finally a decorating charge. I charge $20/hour. I make an estimate of how long the decorating is going to take me outside of a basic iced and decorated cake. Depending on the cake I've charge anywhere from $40 to $200. It just depends on how intricate the work is.


Hope this helps! Good luck!

Hey jwrenn, I see you're new to CC. Welcome! The best rule of thumb is to price per serving and then to add according to the detail work. Personally I've not built up a clientèle that will support the fancy work so I just price per serving and if I add on extras, I figure it's just practice for me. But that's not going to last forever! I price $1.75 for buttercream and $2.25 for fondant. I personally don't charge extra for different fillings. I don't charge differently if its boxed or scratch. It's all the same.

Also, I see you're in Ohio. In Ohio, we're governed by cottage laws which keep us from being able to sell anything that needs to be refrigerated, such as cream based fillings, cheese cakes, ect. Just and FYI.

Good luck!

You may want to give your customers an a la carte quote, so if they can't afford a super elaborate cake they can choose to eliminate certain items and save money.

Our quotes are always listed out:

Buttercream Iced wedding cake / $4.25 per serving =$ 425

extra filling $.50 per serving = $50

Fondant covering /$1.00 per serving = $100

200 Gumpaste roses @ $3.00 each = $600

2 gumpaste bows @$35 each = $70

Total $1245

Sorry it took me so long to answer.
I'm strictly a box mix baker, no scratch for me.

Jibbies