I just have to vent, I could have hit this bride in the head!
A man called last week to make a consultation appointment for today. He told my new associate that they were serving 125 guests and did not want to spend more than $500 on a cake. My associate sent a confirmation email, including our pricing. It was too late in the evening when I found this out about their budget, so I emailed them and said that as my cake prices BEGIN at $4 per serving, for 125 guests, tax and delivery, they were looking at least $575 to begin with, depending on any "extras". "Let me know if your budget is flexible and you would still like to come in"
They showed up, 30 minutes late!! I went through the whole spiel, they did the cake tasting, I presented the price and the bride says "I am not going to pay $500 for a wedding cake"
Well she can kiss my hiney !!! I cannot believe that she was so rude and never even bothered to read the emails sent about pricing, they drove over an hour to get here and wasted my time and theirs!
I am so mad I could scream! WTF???? ARE THE IDIOTS MULTIPLYING???
Do your homework people!!

As my 77 year old mother says "They walk among us."

Yes the idiots are multiplying!! I had someone (a friend) call me about a wedding cake for their friend. I said that I would be happy to talk to the, it started out to be for no more that 150 and due to circumstances I would charge them just $300. (easy buttercream cake, and I was going to get to try something new). Anyway, the bride didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to get the details ironed out and waited an extra week to get with me, at which time she advised me of the cake she size she wanted, which would feed over 260. I promptly told her that I would not be doing a cake that large for $300, and she had the nerve to say "But we talked about all of this" I advised her that no, we talked about 150....certainly not 260. I then advised her to find another baker that I would not be working on this cake for her, and after a few more texts, she finally left me alone. I just kept thinking, the absolute NERVE of some people! I am NOT a doormat, so don't think you can walk all over me! Sorry to rant, but this is still stuck in my ........

cakequeen50, the problem might be poor communication between the couple. He was in contact with your business and had the initial information. She might have assumed that he knew how she felt about what they would pay for a cake. Great way to start a marriage.

For an important communication like that I would have called the customer the following morning and made sure they understood that the minimum price for their cake was already greater than their budget.

This is also why I charge for tastings.

I remember a bride wanting a cake for so many people, ok i charge her, but she went up in people, which means more servings which mean't i went up in price. She had the nerve to say. Its just cake. I said yeah and more to decorate, too. She paid me what i wanted.

I refer you to Indydebi's great article:

"Doing The Math or "Going Math-Dumb"

http://cateritsimple.blogspot.com/2010/11/doing-math-or-going-math-dumb.html

I love this column. I can read it over and over and it is still entertaining!
Here's an excerpt:
"One example (and trust me, it's not the only one I received like this!) is the bride who checked off:
- "I expect a cake to cost $2-$3 per serving."
- "I need 250 servings."
- "My budget is $150."

I can't say anything about the associate, but I have NEVER EVER allowed my friends or family members to quote prices for me. If a customer is interested in what I have to sell, the customer can call me directly, and I will send an email to them confirming what we have discussed in an appointment. I always have them send back a confirmation stating they received the email and then they also have to bring the confirmation email in with them when they place their order, as I talk to alot of potential customers in an unrelated business.

MTC

It could be poor communication, but it might also be that they just want the whole wedding planning experience that people think they're entitled to, and they don't care if they can't afford your cake. They still go do tastings regardless.

I had a woman I worked with (4 years ago) track my phone number down through mutual friends to ask me if she could pass my name onto a friend of her daughter for a wedding cake.

She went on and on about how SHE told the friend that I would NEVER "rip her off" with a cake price and I would do it "very reasonably". Okay, I'm also not free, and I'm much more expensive than any local grocery store bakery. The conversation was more than 30 minutes about how "reasonable" my prices would be. She never actually asked what my prices were.

So the next week I received in the mail the photos that this girl had picked out and sent me. 4 tiers, fondant and covered in gum paste flowers. Okay, no one is going to want to hear my prices now.

The girl actually calls me. The very first thing out of her mouth was "I think that the wedding cake is the least important thing at a wedding" I don't know, maybe this is a new technique to get a cheaper cake, so I gently told her that I have been doing this for more than 20 years and wedding cakes were pretty important to me.

Well, she laughs and says, "No one even eats any cake, it's always awful, no one cares about cake anymore. They care about the flowers and the dress."

So I'm thinking (but I didn't say it) that the GUESTS only care about how much free booze they can get into their systems, how good is the music and how good is the food!!??

She then tries to tell me that the wedding cake would only need to feed a few people, even though she mentioned 250 guests, because it just is not important. The whole time I thought I just need to tell her that if it isn't important, why have one??

SOOO, the conversation ends, she is somehow worried about seeing my work and gives me her email to send her a quote (though she doesn't say how big, just for a few people, but with 250 guests) and to see some of my work. I told her if she went with fondant and gum paste flowers the cake would easily be over $600, but she didn't budge telling me her budget. Nothing.

I actually did sit down and email her a drawing and three photos of similar cakes I had done. My daughter even watermarked them for me. Big shocker, I never did hear anything from her. Two weeks before the wedding date her FRIEND called me and wanted to know if I was still available for that date. I told her sure, but at that late date I would need cash for the cake. She also mentioned that I never emailed the photos, I told her, yes, I did and I never received a bounce back notice. So, that night I emailed the same email again.

Needless to say I never did hear from her. No loss of mine. I just can't imagine telling a Professional Cake Designer that cake just isn't important. I suspect that the emails are STILL sitting in her spam folder.

It did really make me not care one lick about HER cake.....that's for sure!!

I never did figure out what "not ripping someone off" for a full blown, fondant and gum paste flower wedding cake would actually cost. I should have asked her up front.

+ to costumeczar for both responses.

People LOVE "the whole experience of doing tastings." They believe it's their right to do them. Since I only do cakes for a very few people, and absolutely no tastings, I had people who have had my cake, know they want my cake and wouldn't order because I no longer offer the "tasting experience." Yeah, taking up my time and getting to eat three bites of free cake is a life altering experience. Sheesh.

And the whole cake isn't important makes me nuts. I had the occasional bride actually say the same things as quoted above to me, and I always responded with, "Well, this is how I earn my living, and I assure you cake it VERY important to me." Some even understood that what they said was highly insulting. Another continued in clueless land.

I'm glad not to be doing wedding cakes any more.

Here's a quote from a day on the food truck, though. Guy comes up to my window and asks, "Don't you feel silly standing in a truck?" My answer, "No, I'm just a girl with a truck trying to earn a living." He slinked away. And I posted the exchange on Facebook.

Yeah, the pricing thing ticks me off too. More often then not I get phone inquiries asking for a "general" idea on what the price will be. I always asked if they've visited my website first which has my per serving price clearly listed, and when they say yes, I'll say something like, well, if you take my per serving price times the number of guests, that'll give you a "general" idea of your cost.... the confusion & silence on the other end is tangible...so then I have to say "for example, say you need a cake for a 100 people... times that by 3.25 and a you get $325 .... then comes that predictable response "ohhhhh, wow that's really more than my budget and I'm expecting 200 people".... UGGGGHHHHH!!!

But ......I bet when they order the 200 chair bows and $2+ a piece they don't even blink! lol!

okay, so now I REALLY have to laugh -- just got off the phone with another math guru!

As stated in my previous post, my website lists my base per serving price, as well as my minimum order (dollar amount) requirements but I guess people can't do math or READ anymore

Caller "Hi, I got your info from your website....could you tell me how much it would be for a cake to feed 50 people"
Me: "what's the occasion?"
Caller: "a wedding"

Me: "Well.... as my website states, my minimum order requirement for a wedding cake is...."

again... UGHGHHHHHH!!!! I don't get it, do they think by inquiring by phone, the prices will magically change?

Don't get frustrated.

Some people think the wedding cake is a table decoration.

Some people do all their wedding buying online which changes the mindset.

Some people watch Cake Boss where a huge tiered cake is put together in a half hour show. They don't notice that there are a dozen people with machines doing that..all they see is the "wave your hands and voila, cake" part.
And boy they don't see the price tag either.

It's good business manners to repeat to people what the total price will be when they ask. If a person confirms "not over $500" and your charge will be $575, then just don't schedule the consult. Period. You have better things to do with your time, don't you???

Anything that you email should also cc to yourself.
ALWAYS. Employees sending out emails MUST cc you the owner. ALWAYS.

If you want a positive confirmation, say so. Say "The appointment cannot be made until you confirm your acceptance of the total estimate".

Don't forget--when people buy online, they get to see the total before they hit "BUY". You have to apply the same strategy to scheduling consults.

ALWAYS spell out the contract in writing even for a friend. The contract has to say in writing how many servings, the payment schedule, any delivery charge, and the last date for changes. If you have the capacity, you say that you may accept extra servings added late for a higher fee. State clearly what the late fee will be (like, double the per serving charge).

Not wedding related, but a person called me today asking for the price of a Bailey's cake, 12 Red velvet Cheesecake cupcakes and 12 Turtle cupcakes. She was obviously on my site because they were the exact names of the products. The prices are in bold on every product.

I can't tell y'all how good it feels to know I am not alone! I've been upset about this stuff off and on for two weeks.
I had a MOB asked to meet with THEM to discuss her wedding. I told her to check bride's schedule and call me, I would love to meet with them. Three days later, bride contacts me on FB asking what I would charge for wedding cake to serve 150 and grooms cake for 50, all fondant. I told her that I charge $4 preserving for fondant, so wedding cake would cost $600. Then asked what her budget was. She comes back with, it's way out of her budget....which is only $450. She then tells me she has talked with a bakery in another town, 40 miles away, and they were too expensive at $3.25 a serving. I shared with her ideas to save money, like a kitchen cake for some of the servings. She thanked me and told me that she had an appointment with the bakery and if they could do a wedding cake to serve 125 ppl for $400 and a fondant grooms to serve 50 for $50, she was going to go with them. (Okay...) Then I get another message from her asking how many the cake in my profile picture on fb serves, "I just want to get an idea of what a cake that serves 175 ppl looks like" (???) In all this, she won't sit down with me and talk about this cake. I live 6 miles from the venue! She knows me and my work. I just don't get it.
Then on the 4th, I'm working on two cakes to deliver and making ice cream for a party I am attending that day when I get a phone call. Caller wants a cake for Sunday, feed 50, three tiers, basketball on top, graphics of Celtics. I ask her about a budget, "Oh, I really didn't think about it, what would this cost?" When I tell her that's a $200 cake, she says, "that's WAY MORE than I wanted to pay!" Okay, but you aren't telling me what you want to pay.....so she sends me two cake photos after the call. The one I mentioned and a 1/2 sheet cake with a fondant jersey covering the whole cake, minus one corner, which has a basketball on it. I send her a quote of $90, less than $2 a serving. She responds with, "this is a little out of my budget" Really? Now we have a budget, we just aren't willing to SHARE it??? So, again, I ask her what her budget is....she responds by sending me a photo of a two tiered fondant covered cake, in zebra with a pink loopy bow on top and a message saying, "I got this for my step daughter for $50"
She ended up ordering from a friend, a 1/4 sheet cake with no fondant or basketball and 2 dozen cupcakes for $50.
Why are we playing these games? I'm so confused. Don't send me a photo of the queens cake and ask for a quote if you want to spend $50. Just tell me what you are looking to spend so I can help you!!!! Ugh!!!

Oh, and I should add, in the last message from that bride, asking about a cake to serve 175? Her "simple, fondant covered cake" went to, "something with a square bottom, round on top, then a smaller square and another round on top" I thought, she's already said she is going with the XX bakery, I am not going into why this will increase the cost of her cake by nearly $200.