That's not to say that no one will pay it, though. I had someone just a few weeks ago who I charged $5 a serving for a 3D cake b/c it was very involved and a LOT of work and they paid it. I think its just a matter of dealing with the right people. So, what is the verdict? Raise my prices or keep them the same?
That's not to say that no one will pay it, though. I had someone just a few weeks ago who I charged $5 a serving for a 3D cake b/c it was very involved and a LOT of work and they paid it. I think its just a matter of dealing with the right people. So, what is the verdict? Raise my prices or keep them the same?
Charge what your gut is telling you. You know what you'll be happy accepting, and if you charge less, you'll start to feel taken advantage of.
I just thought I would tell you that I really like your website. It's so nice!
I agree! It's really modern and fun. Am I going out on a limb assuming that the other cheap-o decorators in town do not have websites?
"I just checked out your site and I noticed on the welcome page you have a typo (shopes).
I know that the fees depend upon the area as well. Cakes went for a lot more when I lived on the east coast then when I lived in the mid west.
With ref to spelling shops can be spelled in many ways depending upon which grammar rules you are using american or brittish. I find "shoppes" to be the nicer of all of them.
Good luck
I guess my gut says to keep them where they are at right now and have that be the starting price and charge more as needed.
Danielle
I checked out your website, too. Lovely! I noticed you don't charge extra for fillings, except for ganache?I would definitely, definitely change that! A lady I know who used to do cakes in Omaha always charged an additional 25 cents per serving for fillings, and had no complaints. And that was about 10 years ago.
From what I could tell, most of the shops did not have a website. A few do and those are the ones that charge $1.75 a slice. One of them that was even in the paper has a blog with st-... er...pictures that aren't hers (think Martha Stewart Magazine pictures). Like I said, there is the one that charges $3 a slice, but she also says she has something like 30 years experience. That's what I'm working with here. The local shops are the kind that turn out a jillion cakes a day and neither of them have definitive wedding pricing on their page but their birthday cakes are cheap in my opinion (again, not scratch, no fondant or other specialty things). <<<BTW, I'm not bashing these shops. They obviously get a lot of business, they just want to do something that I don't.
Oh, and thank you for the comments on my page. Its new and my mom told me last week that she didn't like it b/c she couldn't figure it out (sidenote, it took me an hour to help her navigate facebook 
Danielle
Sounds to me like you can carve out a little niche for yourself within the cake market since you want to do something completely different from these other bakeries. Just a thought.
Perhaps if you marketed yourself as the "trendy" cake designer that could help with bringing in a younger clientele. I don't know anything about what sells in Omaha, but in Dallas most brides want trendy, young and fun.
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I can't believe that someone charges .75/slice of cake. ARE THEY INSANE????
That is about what I think I will be able to charge , but there are no other places that do fondant around here. I honestly think you can charge more being that other people arent alot less than you, but we have a woman who only charges 1.75 p/s for buttercream.
This doesn't help - everyone wants to be a do-it-yourselfer!
Okay, I use the "why pay $94 an hour for the dealer to fix my car when I can fix it myself" way of thinking (I'm an aircraft mechanic, so I'm sorta qualified), but there are certain things that should be left to the pros. Cake is not just cake - it's edible art!
If you read the article you can see it's literally a recipe for disaster. I know there was a comment about "bake a cake and slap some frosting on it" somewhere in this forum...sounds like this is how to do it!
http://www.ehow.com/how_2182649_wedding-cake-less.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art[/i]
Another one....
http://www.ehow.com/how_2030424_save-money-cake.html
I couldn't decide whether to giggle my butt off or act insulted! 
This doesn't help - everyone wants to be a do-it-yourselfer!
Okay, I use the "why pay $94 an hour for the dealer to fix my car when I can fix it myself" way of thinking (I'm an aircraft mechanic, so I'm sorta qualified), but there are certain things that should be left to the pros. Cake is not just cake - it's edible art!
If you read the article you can see it's literally a recipe for disaster. I know there was a comment about "bake a cake and slap some frosting on it" somewhere in this forum...sounds like this is how to do it!
http://www.ehow.com/how_2182649_wedding-cake-less.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art[/i]
Lovely! Not once did the "instructor" mention doweling the cake. Just stack the cakes and ice. Hmmm...three tiers of cake with no support. Yeah, that'll work!
This doesn't help - everyone wants to be a do-it-yourselfer!
Okay, I use the "why pay $94 an hour for the dealer to fix my car when I can fix it myself" way of thinking (I'm an aircraft mechanic, so I'm sorta qualified), but there are certain things that should be left to the pros. Cake is not just cake - it's edible art!
If you read the article you can see it's literally a recipe for disaster. I know there was a comment about "bake a cake and slap some frosting on it" somewhere in this forum...sounds like this is how to do it!
http://www.ehow.com/how_2182649_wedding-cake-less.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art[/i]
Lovely! Not once did the "instructor" mention doweling the cake. Just stack the cakes and ice. Hmmm...three tiers of cake with no support. Yeah, that'll work!
There's a ridiculous number of typos also. I wouldn't read past the first sentence if I was seriously trying to find the correct way to bake a cake. I would wonder what else could be wrong with the directions, or missing, like you said, the supports. I think anyone can write those articles, or at least it seems like anyone can.
UGH- each time we click on those dumb ehow articles someone gets paid. I think I should write one with the cake "truth".
Some people can't afford me ... and that's ok.
If you put a small value upon youself, rest assured that the world will
not raise your price.
--- Unknown
Letting your customers set your standards is a dangerous game, because the race to the bottom is pretty easy to win. Setting your own standards, and living up to them, is a better way to profit.
-----Seth Godin
Excellence costs no more than mediocrity
---- Donald Trump
Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with.
---- Bob Wells
Love all these quotes. I am no cake decorator, has been trying to learn for the past one year. But, when people tell me I should start selling, I just smile and say 'I will when someone is willing to pay the price it is worth of ' and walk away. Because I know that freshly made with four layers (torted) 8" round 4 " tall cake would be around 60 dollars at least and people can get 4 times that cake for half the price in a grocery store. So, they'll think without considering what is the difference. (Believe me, I would think the same way two years back when I knew nothing about cakes)
I love how the second article suggests using nuts on the side becuase "frosting the sides is more difficult than frosting the top." Yeah. It's really hard to run the bench scraper along the sides. Chopping, toasting, and evenly distributing nuts on the sides will really save me a lot of time!
The article also suggests that hiring "at home baker" to make the cake would save money. The author never mentions that only a handful of states actually allow home bakers to be licensed, and conveniently makes no mention of the fact that many venues will not serve a cake made by an unlicensed baker.
Maybe I expect too much, but if someone is touted as the "eHow Wedding Editor" shouldn't they, I don't know, actually KNOW what they're talking about?
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