How Much Should I Pay....?

Business By sonia57 Updated 5 Sep 2010 , 3:17am by cakeville82

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sonia57 Posted 2 Sep 2010 , 3:47am
post #1 of 14

I have a very large project coming for October. A client wants me to make 10 9-inch decorated fondant cakes which will serve as table centerpieces. She also wants a couple of cake pops trees. Since this is probably a job for more than 1 person, I was thinking of asking a friend who is a baker by profession to help me out. If I provided all the materials, how much should I pay him for labor? I have no idea.

13 replies
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CWR41 Posted 2 Sep 2010 , 3:56am
post #2 of 14

Do you really think you need the help?
Is the decorating something that's elaborate or time-consuming?
What exactly would the baker be hired to do... bake or decorate?

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aundrea Posted 2 Sep 2010 , 3:57am
post #3 of 14

i think he would have to decide how much he wants to get paid for helping you. and if you can afford it or both of you come to a mutual decision thats great!
good luck! sounds like an amazing project to be working on.

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sonia57 Posted 2 Sep 2010 , 4:01am
post #4 of 14

This is a side business for me. I have a fulltime job. So, most likely I will need assistance for both baking and decorating for this project.

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CWR41 Posted 2 Sep 2010 , 4:10am
post #5 of 14

I agree with Aundrea.

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icesk8ermom Posted 2 Sep 2010 , 4:19pm
post #6 of 14

If it was me I would personally offer them 45-50% of my "profit". If they are a professional and have their own business then in order to help you they will need to stop their production to help you which means a loss of income to do so. You of course would get full credit for the job and hopeful references for the future as that you can turn this into your full-time job and do it on your own!

Looking at it as a marketing fee...It sounds as though there will be a lot of people at this function. Maybe you can make the organizer feel as though you are giving them a deal and in exchange they can plug you some how...like business cards available to guests, table tents with info on where the cakes were purchased, a blurp in the program etc

Good luck in whatever you decided sounds like a great oppotunity to get your name out there!

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dchockeyguy Posted 2 Sep 2010 , 5:27pm
post #7 of 14

Don't forget that you can freeze cakes. So I'd start out early and freeze the cakes in advance. I'm not sure how detailed the decorating on the cakes would be, but you could knock out the covering in an evening (though a late one for me since I also haev a full time job).

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dreamcakesmom Posted 2 Sep 2010 , 5:50pm
post #8 of 14

Unless this is a close friend that offered to help you as a favor to get your work out there I would expect to pay them an hourly wage. Ahead of time offer to pay whatever the going rate is for your are: For me it would be $10-12 an hour. At that point you have to assess how much time you really need from him and also determine how much can be done in advance

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sonia57 Posted 3 Sep 2010 , 5:05am
post #9 of 14

Thank you for all your replies. He is actually more of a baker than a cake decorator so I have decided to probably ask him how much he will charge to bake, fill and crumbcoat the 10 cakes. I will do all the fondanting and decorating. I guess if he charges too much then I might just have to do it all by myself. I just need to plan well. What do you think is a reasonable price for 10 cakes (yellow vanilla, chocolate, red velvet) 9 inch, 2 layers filled and crumbcoated with SMBC?

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cakeville82 Posted 4 Sep 2010 , 11:56am
post #10 of 14

Why would you agree to this order if you 1. Can't do it and 2. Don't know what to charge?

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online_annie Posted 4 Sep 2010 , 12:51pm
post #11 of 14

I'm with you cakeville.... sounds like the OP has taken an order but will need someone else to do the work....There can't be profit in this??...could there?? Also, I'm shocked a customer would hire someone for a job without knowing the cost. The OP had to give them a price of some kind to begin with right? And Cake Pop Trees...That's time consuming work...how many pops per tree? How many trees??... What did you quote your customer for all of this work? Nevermind what your "friend" the baker needs, how much to you have to work with, once the cost of supplies have been subtracted? That would be a starting place on figuring out what you could afford to pay someone else to help....

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adonisthegreek1 Posted 4 Sep 2010 , 1:14pm
post #12 of 14

If your friend is a professional baker, I would think you have to pay him competitively. You can bake and even decorate your cakes ahead of time and freeze them (depending on the filling). I think you are better off to offer a paid temp assignment to the top pastry student in your area.

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DefyGravity Posted 5 Sep 2010 , 2:59am
post #13 of 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by cakeville82

Why would you agree to this order if you 1. Can't do it and 2. Don't know what to charge?




I don't think it's up for debate how much to charge the client, I think OP is confused about how much to pay someone to help her complete the order...

...unless I missed something.

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cakeville82 Posted 5 Sep 2010 , 3:17am
post #14 of 14

I don't think it matters who she is charging, the customer or the baker/friend to make them she should know her costs and what she needs to charge to make a profit.

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