AI sent out a few emails to party planners, florist, ect. I offered them a free sample of cupcakes in return to have a few of my business cards laying around. I got a response right away from a party planner, he first asked if I was licensed and worked in a commercial kitchen. I reply ed yes with the information, he then said let's me over coffee we set up a time. Then he emailed me the email below. I'm not at all new to cake decorating, but I am newish to the business part. Does this sound like a legitimate thing? What questions should I bring up during our meeting?

[I]" contract out wedding venders. If you are interested in becoming part of my team, let me know.

I send you the folks, and am paid only if they book you. You and I would have a contact, and I disclose this to my customers.

I have this relationship with several event venders" [/I]

i don't think so

no pay ugh uh

So you would have to pay him a finders fee ??? Am i getting this right?? Would you have to raise your prices to compensate for that??

AIt depends on what the contract says.

AWould it be rude of me to ask him to email me the contract to go over before we meet?

A

Hello Lovelycakes4us, i read your post and sorry but i must admit that i dont know much about business but i am planning to conduct my daughters sweet 15 (i am puerto rican and we celebrate 15 instead of 16) but i am going crazy trying to find someone to help with this and honestly i am having trouble looking for a party planner...anyway, are you near me and if yes how can i go about to contract you?...thanks and sorry for the bother Angie AKA Babe 2dabone, please email me...thanks

A

Hi, you can look on Craigslist.com in the Event or Creative sections, that is were I found this party planner.

A

Can you explain more why you wouldn't think its legitimate?

i mean why cut him into your affairs

so he's gonna pay you if you refer him as a planner and he gets the gig

you can get tons of cake orders w/o him by just playing the game

and building it up yourself as you are doing

i don't know if it's legit or not legitimate per se--i din mean that exactly but i would not wanna do that

i don't wanna be part of anyone else's team unless i'm getting a nice fat hourly wage

AThere's nothing wrong with selling products through other people at a markup, businesses do this successfully all the time. If the contract says that the planner will just give customers your name in exchange for X% that probably wouldn't be beneficial, but if you can work with the planner to provide your cakes as a component of party packages at a markup (meaning that you would make the same as if you had sold the cakes yourself) that could be a very good deal for you, especially if you rent a commercial kitchen and need to spread out your fixed overhead.

it might be beneficial and it might be too complicated for words

the cake biz is hard enough dealing with brides, financials, humidity, scheduling, rising prices, the competition, family etc etc

add in some more business minded professionals

just say no

that's me

my sister says it this way

y'know what people call people they don't like?

entrepreneurs

 to me this is what a good deal looks like

if you became the exclusive baker for a venue

like if they had a kitchen and wanted you to do the cakes

or even if you did them from your kitchen

now that's worth the extra effort to allow in another business entity

or at the least got on their recommendeds list

those are good deals to me

but a party planner making money off my hard work? where's the beef

just my jaded little thoughts

AI would say no, no planner who's legitimate around here would ever ask for a kickback/finder's fee/whatever. There are some who probably do mark things up, but I refuse to work with people who want to be the middleman. My contract is with the bride, not with a planner. If you found the guy on Craigslist that sends up all linds of red flags for me personally, since Craigslist is skeevy.

I'd get the contract before meeting with him and find out what he thinks he's getting out of the deal just for a laugh.

AOkay I went ahead and got a contract from him, to bad I can't copy/paste it!! Anyways it talks a lot about his share, paying him on time, his percentage ect. Yes I found him on Craig's, odd enough the email that I emailed him originally from is a private email, meaning I do not list it ANYWHERE I have another email for marketing and such. Out of no where I got a email asking about 250 cupcakes, asking if I did cakes and the cost. I found this odd knowing darn well I never ever give out my private email to take any cake orders, this person emailed me this about 5 minutes after I asked the wedding planner for his contract. Then once I replied to this unknown person the wedding planner emailed me straight away I found this odd.

I looked the wedding planner on Google, Facebook, website he seems very legitimate, maybe I am just paranoid!

you can track people through their website domains & stuff--did he have your website?

you're not in business to support him

AOh hell no..lf only he has that email then he's scamming you already. I'd pass on this so-called opportunity, it just has a bad smell to it. Anyone can set up a legitimate looking website and facebook page, but it doesn't mean they're doing any business. I can tell you about a bunch of businesses that have come and gone in my area over the past ten years. They all had websites and looked legit, but they weren't making any money and ended up closing. A website proves nothing.

I often work with caterers.  When they want their clients to hire me to do a wedding or bar mitzvah cake or a dessert buffet, they send the client to me and I deal with the client.  The caterer does not get a kickback, referral fee, or anything like that.  Often, one of the caterers will ask if I can do components of a dessert or items for a dessert buffet that they will include in an event they are catering.  In that case, I often will give a small discount (if it isn't last minute) just for good will and because I appreciate the ongoing volume of business.  However, this is up to me, and is not a for sure thing.  

My attitude is that a venue, planner, caterer, etc. should be referring to me because they like my work, not because I am paying them.  I have turned down several who wanted a contract and paybacks.  I suppose there isn't really anything wrong with doing that if everyone agrees to it, I just would rather not.  

AI recommend doing a google search for your private email address, it may not be as private as you think.

On the net anything is accessable, I have even googled myself one time and was surprised what came up.Not surprised because it was bad but because I did not think stuff like that would come up.

AI would say that if this guy will recommend anyone to a bride/client so long as he's getting a kickback, then you risk being tarred with the same brush if he has a reputation for making bad recommendations.

AThe timing of receiving a request on a non-business email at exactly the same time she was emailing the planner is suspect, IMO. I agree with itsacake that a planner should refer to you because they like your work, not because they're getting a kickback.

I won't work with people who expect a kick back for recommending me. I bet you dollars to donuts that they wouldn't want to give you some of their hard-earned cash when the times comes that you have recommended them, either! 

I was looking at a retail location to rent in a little shopping strip that also had a seamstress, a dress shop, a florist and a DJ, and they were super excited to have a cake business in the center, and were trying to market it as a one stop location for wedding vendors. The dress lady gave me her card, then said she would take as many of mine that I could give her, and would expect a "donation" for recommending me, and SHE HAD NEVER SEEN MY CAKES, OR TASTED THEM! I just smiled and nodded and waved, and beat feet outta there. 

This situation sounds odd, I'm not a big fan of the finders fee or whatever but I'm not against it. A lot of wedding planners don't use them and instead prefer you to pass on the discount to the bride, but it's not uncommon for planners/venues to do it the other way. They usually take a 10% fee from you and they are transparent about it. Luxury planners and venues do this quite a lot, we just don't know about it!

If a reputable external business is bringing you regular orders over $1600 for example then the 'kickback' is minor imo, and chances are you wouldn't have been able to secure those orders even if your cakes are great because of how they work. I don't know, I just don't feel that its that much of a shady way to work.
 

AThe way that the planners I know work, though, is that the advantage that they have when they refer people to me is that I'll try to make room for their client if I'm already semi-fully booked. Nobody gets a kickback or whatever, and the client doesn't get discounts for being referred by someone. When the planners try to control the contracts is when I know they're telling the client that the cost of the cake is what I told them plus some extra $$$, and they're keeping the extra. The client has no idea that the planner jacked the price up and skimmed some off the top. Those are the people who I won't work with. Also the ones who want a finders fee,as I said before...

Can I just say one thing in defense of the party planner? It's not a kickback, it's a commission and very common in every service industry. That alone, doesn't make him nefarious or shady.

Since he said he was working with several vendors already, I'd be interested in hearing what they had to say before making any kind of commitment.