A friend and I are starting a cupcake decorating business as a partnership. She will do all the cooking and me the decorating. Our first order is for 300 cupcakes and I will be decorating them. She is doing them for cost (friend) and told me she would pay me. I am wondering if I place a gumpaste flower and gussy them up a little what should I charge? This will also kick start our business so I don't want to quote her an "average" rate. KWIM? Thanks for your time.

Carrie

What does a slice of cake go for in your area? I wouldn't price them any lower than that, they're once serving's worth, so that's what you should charge. Most of the cupcake places that have opened up around here charge between $2.50 and $3.50 a cupcake, depending on how big they are, decorations, etc.

Ok, I'm confused. you are partners but you don't know what to charge "her" for the flowers? What kind of pricing structure did you two come up with for your cupcake biz? If you're partners, shouldn't "at cost" issues be resolved and discussed before taking the order? At if you're in business, "at cost" means more than just ingredients.

Have you gotten to the point where you've drawn up partnership papers (with an attorney involved) yet? If not, these are the kinds of issues that need to be resolved before signing them.

And if you're not doing any kind of partnership papers, I'd strongly recommend that you reconsider.

For some reason I missed that part of your post...She's paying you to decorate them? Is that the arrangement that you have? If that's how you've worked this you need to get a rate sheet with what costs what, then there won't be problems. But I agree with indydebi, talk to an attorney to get this squared away.