Have you thought about hosting an open house with free samples (sample=1 bite, not a whole cupcake or slice of cake)? Once people have eaten the product and you've schmoozed with them and they've seen all the fabulous cake dummies up in the shop and browsed through the photos in your cake portfolio, they might be more inclined to "splurge". An established shop might not ever need to do open houses, but when you're just starting out, you need to get your name out there. So, at the start of every season, have an open house, advertise it, send out postcard invites to the whole town, use it as an oppurtunity to unveil new and seasonal prodcuts, as well. You could even offer an incentive, say a 10% discount for those who book a cake AT the open house and a 5% discount for those who book a cake within 48 hours (or a week, or etc).

You might want to consider offering discounts for referrals, too. Say Sue bought a cake from you and then her friend Mary comes in to buy one from you. If Mary lets you know that she came to you because of Sue's recommendation, on Sue's next order she gets a discount (or a free dozen cupcakes, or whatever you want the incentive to be). This encourages people to get their friends to buy from you AND for them to repeat their business!

I love the open house idea....good one!

I've been following this thread for while and its fabulous! There are some really good ideas. I really like the open house idea

i love this site for the reasons so many have already stated...thank you for all the awesome ideas and help...i will keep plugging along.

thanks again for wanting us to succeed...you are awesome!!

I read the thread and you made no mention of your marketing plan. That is a huge factor in all of this as well. If you are not focusing on one specific area/market, then it's a waste of time.money.

My target is brides, so I gear all of my marketing to that area: brides, vendors, hotels, caterers, florists, etc. I market to all in the "bridal" sector.

What is your plan?

Wow!! Cakecentral is the bomb! I am going through this same situation and I will definitely take the advise and ideas into consideration. I live in the caribbean where our EC$ currency is lower than the USA. I don't have much competitors in the 3D, fondant and gumpaste arena so thats"s not a problem. The real challenge is charging more that $75ec ($28us) for any basic round or square cake. That"s why I have decided to do as CakeForte said and target the wedding market.

I don't have a business but one day in the distant future i would like to. I Like to bake cakes. What are some materials, tools ect that every baker should have. I am going to bake my daughters cake next month. It is her first birthday and i am hoping to design a dora the explorer cake. I would like to make doras head out of rice krispie treats and cover it with chocolate mold. Then her body out of cake. I want to stack the cake( pound) and add a mousse filling to it. I want to cover it with fondant. Is this too much for a first timer?

Your prices dont sound bad. Cheap actually. I think its more that you want to just do 3D type stuff and it sounds like that type of thing just isnt what is popular in your area. I live in Republic, Missouri, just about 10 minutes outside of Springfield. The bakeries in the city that do really well (Junes Cakery, Supreme Bakery, Beths Bake Shoppe are a few) do everything. A 3D only bakery, even in a city as big as Springfield (they 3rd largest in Missouri), would not make it. There just isnt a market for something like that around here. Im not sure what kind of marketing the bakeries I mentioned do, I think they are mostly word of mouth and bridal shows. Ive never seen an ad for any of them or heard one on the radio.

Anyone who has had a cake from any of the well known bakeries will remember it. I had wedding cake from Beths that was to die for. Simple satellite cakes on a beautiful crystal stand with little tea light candles underneath that let off rainbow prisms all over the table. Breathtaking. The cake was amazing. I would KILL for their buttercream recipe. So. Freaking. Good. Even though I do cakes myself I have no problem telling people how awesome these bakeries are and I recommend they all the time. They arent all that expensive either. I think Beths prices start out at $2.00 a serving for BC.

You may want to think about branching out and doing things other than just 3D. I wouldnt charge much less though.

Hmmm.... Well what do you know.. After almost a whole year of putting up posters i finally got my first wedding cake order today!! Wow. I guess it takes some patience. Just give it some time they"ll come around.

jaylene; have you worked with all those materials before? ie fondant, rice crispies.
and have you done anything like this technique before? im only just starting out oo, and i find its best to only try on new technique or material at a time. i find its much less stressful that way, especially seeing as its for your daughters first birthday! also what do you mean by chocolate mold? do you mean modelling chocolate?

Great discussion...lots of good advice. Thanks!

well i want to tell you that after much though and deliberation ( and alittle resistance) we redid our price structure and did a radio advertisment (trade certificates for air time)

we are getting more calls and have been busy the last week or so...i have two appts for tastings coming up and we haven't limited our selves to just fondant work. i can't thank you all enough for your support. i need to be patient and all of you reminded me of that and so much more!
Thanks again!