Hi all, I was just wondering does everyone else get slow this time of year? I went from a crazy busy September, semi busy October and now hardly any orders. I know its not my cakes, just figured everyone is Christmas shopping and not spending extra money.

Last year at this time, I was whining to my husband that I had no orders. I couldn't believe that no one wanted anything for Thanksgiving!

This year, I have orders for pies, cakes, mini cupcakes, regular cookies, decorated cookies and yeast rolls -- I hope I have time to cook my own family's Thanksgiving dinner!

This is the lull for cakes. Everyone is focused on holiday baking and peak wedding season is coming to a close. If you only do cakes you will find that there are far less orders this time of the year and it lasts through February and into March. That has been my experience anyway.

I only offer decorated cakes and cupcakes, so this is my down time and I love it. I get to relax and enjoy the holiday season with my family and recharge my cake batteries.

I have been toying with offering pies this holiday season... but I'm still on the fence. I like not stressing this time of year.

Yes, wedding season is winding down, so if you did a lot of those, that's about over. But this is consultation and show planing season.

Me? I'm getting ready to launch into a frozen cookie dough biz just for December. "Take and Bake."

Really? I'm totally booked from October to December! Lots of Fall showers and Winter weddings. I'm also booking for Spring, including May already.

Oh by the way, Congrats Leah on the frozen cookie dough biz. Wishing you lots of holiday moolah!

We have been super busy in October and November, but we don't have as many booked for December so far. I think it's just because of the Holidays like you said.

I'm a lot slower this time of year even thoguh I'm booked with more than usual for Nov and Dec.

It's definitely slower for appointments, too. Things will pick up in January after all the brides get engaged over the holidays and go crazy with the planning at the beginning of the year.

I have at least one order per weekend until the end of the year, but I'm noticing people are being cheap about prices right now.

Yes, it's definitely slower. Try to enjoy the down time. Or, if you want to drum up income, put out a holiday special offer and make it really enticing. An offer they can't refuse

Flat out like a lizard drinking.
November/December is always busy.

My quiet time is usually January when people go on holidays.
Which I am looking forward to!

Thank you for posting this question, RetiredNavyChief! I have been searching all over the Internet for information on which months are slow for bakeries, and how soon I can expect to see an uptick in sales.

We are a small bakery in PA specializing in cupcakes and mini desserts. We've been open less than a year and I have no idea what sales patterns to expect and no data for comparison. The business grew consistently from April through August, but began trending down in September. I thought we'd see a swing up as the holidays approached, but sales continue to slow. I don't know whether to blame the economy, the season, or what (we monitor social media and ratings sites, and have plenty of mechanisms for customer feedback, and our products and service garner rave reviews across the board, so I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with our quality.)

I would be very interested to see any further feedback on this question!

Thank you for asking this! I am feeling the same way even to the point where I called my "cupcake phone" to make sure it was working, haha!