I was asked to decorate wedding cakes for a $1 per slice. The cakes and icings would be provided. I would be reasponsible for tiering, decorating, transporting and setting up. Does this sound like a reasonable deal????? Please give me some advice to this matter.
TIA
Sandy

Personally it is something I would probably pass on. You don't know what condition the cakes will be in, are they level, baked well? What about the icing? Is it an icing you typically use and know how it behaves?

How many servings is this cake? :O

I'm with Texas...You don't know what has been done etc with the cakes,icing..If you are not familiar with the products you use what are you gonna do if they supply you with a mess?? I'd pass also......

Not in a million years would I do something like that.

I would be decorating at their shop. I would be considered an independant contractor. One of my concerns is the transporting of the wedding cakes, my vehicle, my responsibility, insurance, etc. I'm not sure it's as good a deal as they are saying it is. What are your thoughts.

You should pass it up. They might turn on you if the cake doesnt come out to their liking. You have your own way of doing things and you know how to use your own icing... ect. Tell them, they can do it themselves. I would like to see their face.

I guess it totally depends on the volume and speed of work. If you can do a 200 serving cake in 3 hours or so, then an hour for delivery.. then that's $100 for 4 hours of work so $25/hour. But I don't know enough information about the demands on your time, etc. If its just buttercream and some swiss dots or scrolls, then yeah that wouldn't be *too* bad....

If it takes longer than that or more detailed work to get the job done, then they are totally cheating you. It really would be more fair to get an hourly wage, unless its high volume, low detail work...then it would be more fair to get "per serving" because you could work faster and make more money.

As long as your name is not on the cakes (no liability if it tastes horrible) and you don't mind the work...and the pay is good for your time...you have to take all that into account.

I'm curious as to the reasoning behind this?

Is this like a bakery deal where they want to hire you as the decorator? Or is this someone's grandma makes the best cakes and they want to use her cake and icing for the cake, but don't know how to decorate?

Or maybe they are a catering place where they can bake and buy premade icing but they don't have a decorator on staff?

If you are interested, you might want to ask them if you can do a test run with their materials...I work part time in a commercial bakery and they order in all of the cake, frosting, and fondant and don't make any of it on site. That's all well and good, but my first day, I was totally confused by their non-crusting buttercream! It took a while for me to figure out how it works and how to use it best. I hated it at first. I still wouldn't pick it over the homemade stuff, but learned how to work with it after a while.

First and most important, if they tell you when to come to work and how to do the job then under IRS rules you are NOT AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR. Yes, I'm yelling at you. Because the IRS is going to be knocking on your door for $$.

Run like the wind. These people are either business illiterate or morons or crooks.

You aren't by any chance located in Ohio are you?

(I know of a bakery that is in DIRE need of a good decorator, and this sounds like something they would come up with.) Not a good idea, IMO.

Wedding cakes are something the owners want to add to their selection. The bakery is a wholesale bakery, the staff doesn't know how to assemble or decorate wedding cakes, reason for their job offer. They've been advertising the position for some time now, but noone seems interested. They make the cakes and icing there and delivery to the venues. They only make a noncrusting buttercream icing which I'm not a fan of because it's not easy to smooth out like the crusting buttercream.

Leah-s,
Yes they would be telling me what designs to decorate and when I have to work. I told the owners I wanted to be put on the payroll, if I was to acccept the position but they don't want to do that. They just want to write me a check for the $1 per serving. If I was to claim the income why would the IRS be knocking on my door? Is this not legal? I'm beginning to think this isn't such a good idea!

The bakery doesn't have a delivery truck which means I would need to use my own vehicle to transport the cakes. My husband says, "no way"!! My insurance would probably go up and he doesn't want the wear and tear on the vehicle.

Yeah I wouldn't either...if you are in their bakery doing their work then you should be on the payroll. They just don't want to pay taxes on you or offer benefits.

I agree with everybody else this dosent sound like a good idea at all!!

I agree with everybody else sorry didnt know how to delete posts

I have a golden rule that I only decorate my own cakes. As the others said, you don't know how much notice or control of the number of orders you will need to do. What you receive from the bakery can be a mess. Why should you do all the fancy decorating work and they get the praise.

I would run a mile from this.

Allow me to add my own NOOOO WAAYYYY to the mix:

Ahem. "NO WAY, NO HOW, NOT HAPPENING, DANGER, WARNING WILL ROBINSON, MAY DAY, WE'RE GOING DOWN, RUN!"

You are too talented to be taken advantage of my friend =)

Jemoiselle

I would only take this job if they hired you as an hourly employee. They are looking for someone to frost cakes and not pay Uncle Sam.
If it were me...I would pass on this.

If they have been advertising for someone to do this for some time there must be a reason no one else will accept it either.

I guess my next question would be, how much should a decorator be paid hourly. It's not only decorating but also transporting and setting up. I enjoy decorating but I also take my time perfecting it. I take great pride in the work I do and wouldn't want to be told I have to rush on decorating someones wedding cake. It's too special a day to do a "whole sale" quick job.
I agree that the bakery is trying to avoid paying taxes for an extra employee and that's why they want me on as an independant contractor. I think someone is trying to get away as inexpensively as they can. Maybe that's why noone else wants the position!

Independent Contractors usually make better money then hourly employees because the companies don't have to pay taxes or benefits. Milage alone is $.50/mile this year, this outfit wants their cake and eat it too. Tell em to go take a flying leap.

Boy - it sounds like they are trying to get around something for sure.

If they can't fill the position normally, maybe they'd be glad to have you to refer to. For example, the caterer could say " nope, we don't offer cakes....however, we would love to refer you to sandy1, she bakes lovely cakes and would be happy to discuss setting up a tasting"

Does this caterer have a nice set up? Maybe one that you would benefit from outside of their referrals? Maybe you could strike a deal that way. Not sure what it would be really...but just brainstorming.

I would for sure want control of the details and timing...if you are going to have the RESPONSIBILITY of delivery and such.

If you're an independent contractor, then you'll have to pay BOTH sides of the social security tax. Both the part that the employee (you) pays and the part that the employer (also you) pays. And the state and local payroll taxes. You'll be both an employee and an owner. That's why Independent Contractors get paid a lot MORE than employees. You have to pay all the fees and taxes, plus keep all the records.

And transporting cakes for delivery in your personal vehicle? No way, baby.

Totally agree with everyone else here...and also your husband. You're assuming all the burdens with very little of the rewards. I'm curious to know how much per slice they are charging the wedding couple. Also, no delivery truck and they are a catering business? Why does that sound weird to me?

I'd pass on this deal. They want to pay you very little for the harder part of cake decorating. Not only that, they want you to use your car (remember wear and tear) and your gas to deliever the cakes. So in the little bit of money you are going to be making will in turn get spent on gas and your time to deliever and set up the cakes.

I'm with your husband on this one.

Unless they want to hire you as an actual employee, supply a car to delievey and pay for that time as well, you will be losing money on this deal.

And you can't just CALL someone an independent contractor. There are specific rules and criteria that must be met. TWO cpa's gave me a speech on this, so its obviously a very big deal.

Most (all?) companies would LUV for all of their employees to be independent contractors. They wouldn't have the added expense of payroll, payroll taxes, workers' comp (which is based on number of employees), unemployment insurance (paid entirely by the employer and the rate is based on number of employees). Yeah, it's a SWEET deal .... for the EMPLOYER.

Run, Forrest, Run. This is a company that is trying to skirt the laws and that right there gives you insight into their character.

Thanks everyone for your input!!! I'm going to pass on the position. They'll have to continue to advertise the position! I love this forum, everyone is so helpful.
Sandy