So I am quoting for an order of 200 cupcakes. My usual pricing is $3.50 each for these cupcakes. I know I need to reduce the price as it's a bulk order... But by how much?! I was thinking $2.80 each? Thanks all :-)

I personally would offer about 10-15% off since the slightly reduced oven use and economy of size/batch for me is pretty much offset by the increased pressure of keeping so many cuppies nice and fresh for a single day delivery (I'm a home baker)

Specifically for you though, consider;

How much will it cost you to make 200 cupcakes

What will your time commitment likely be? And be conservative in that estimate! 

Will your reduced income of $560 less costs leave you with a sufficient hourly wage in your own personal opinion? the extra $140 you are considering letting your customer keep would give me at least $10 an hour more 'wages'... to me that's too much of a personal loss.

Let us know what you decide? 

I am maybe alone in this opinion but I personally do not discount for bulk orders.  It still takes me the same amount of time to bake and decorate each item and the amount saved in buying 'bulk' is negligable until you are talking about buying in the 1000's or tens of kilos.  Unless you are able to use a special machine or something to make the baking process quicker (like factories can slurp out the correct amount of batter) or you have a commercial size oven then there are virtually no efficiency savings either.  Personally, I despise making cupcakes because they are so fiddly so I charge highly for them anyway but that's just me.  Good luck with the order xx

"Snowflakebunny23Posted

Mr_Grey, you are not alone. 200 cupcakes isn't really that much to start with. And I don't see the point. Yes, if you've got nothing to do anyway but making these 200 cupcakes and still make a profit...maybe I would consider it. But if I could make another cake order in the time...no. Cupcakes are very individually priced (per batch). Still need to make the batter, only fit 24 in my oven for baking, ice every single one of them etc.

 The little advantage of making a bigger batch of batter and icing (maybe double) would allow a 20% discount.

Oops, I meant snowflakebunny23...

Food for thought! Thanks very much everyone. It's great to hear opinions. 

Fortunately, I still like doing cupcakes, although this is triple the size of any other cupcake order I've previously done, so the love may be lost after this! Finding enough freezer space and Tupperware will be interesting too.

There's now a slab cake for 50 ppl to add in, so more quoting to think about! Cheers :)

I would not give a bulk order discount for a 200 serving cake , therefore,  I SURELY would not give a bulk order discount for 200 cupcakes.  Way more work involved with that many cupcakes.  

I do not give bulk discounts for 200 cupcakes. My daughter's school ordered 280 cupcakes, and with 3 pans, 2 mixers, making buttercream, mixing batter, cooling, icing, and adding the toppers, it was a total of 7 hours. If it was an order that was being placed a couple of times a month, I may consider it, but for 1 order...it wouldn't be something that I would personally do.

200 cupcakes just isn't that big of an order.  Now, if we're talking a thousand, maybe . . .

I wouldn't give a discount for 200 cupcakes.  I have done this many for a lot of orders and after baking it was a breeze to ice and decorate.  Of course I put the in the freezer and had everything ready for the icing of them.  No discount.