Ive bent over backwards to give a bride a budget cake. Of course after 10 favors she needs another. She has hinted that she wants more cake and is already outside her budget  at $350. Her venue was $900, she wanted a 3 tier brides cake and grooms cake for $200.  I know she can afford $65 for a sheet cake but I would like to add a line to her contract prohibiting cake from other bakeries. What wording should I use?

Somehow putting in, "if theres cake from another bakery onsite I will not leave your wedding cake", seems unprofessional

Oh and her wedding is a week away She seriously just ordered her cake a week ago. (new venue, lots of referral potential)

Thanks you guys!

There are a couple of old forums on here regarding 'sole provider' clauses for contracts:

http://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/759580/non-compete-clause

http://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/776713/deliver-cake-to-find-mother-of-the-groom-has-made-a-cake-toowhat-do-you-do

http://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/743218/was-this-a-process-foul

A sole provider clause is totally useless unless you're willing to pick up the wedding cake and walk out of the venue with it. If you won't do that, it's pointless to say that you will unless you're just trying to scare the bride into not getting sheet cakes. Even if you do put a clause in your contract, she can bring in an entire dessert table after you set the cake up and leave and there's nothing you can do about it.

You are also running into an issue with the wedding being a week away. If you are set on a sole provider clause, it really should have been enforced PRIOR to the bride ordering her cake from you. 

Do you have a contract? If you do, you need to restructure it. You can add in the sole provider clause, if you choose, but you also need to add it something that the cake needs to be paid in full X amount of days before the wedding, the cake cannot be changed X amount of days before the wedding.

Setting things like this up in a contract will help you avoid brides who want to try new flavors the week before the wedding. That would not be happening with me! Good luck with your bridezilla. :)

Thank you for the link,  I did add the sole provider clause

 SOLE PROVIDER: All cakes, edible or display, for this event must be supplied by ______. If any cake is provided by anyone other than ______(including groom’s and sheet cakes), we will not deliver our cakes and all payments will be forfeited. This is to protect our reputation. 

My contract already includes 50%deposit, remaining amount and all changes due no layer than 2 weeks prior, etc.  

This one was a referral of a friend so I started off as a favor. Bluff or not,  I think mentioning it will help emphasize that we care about thier event and want to make sure things are perfect.

I probably won't do last minute like this again.  I can share my contract if anyone is curious. 

A week away??? She needs to pay in full, in cash, TODAY, along with a rush fee.  That's ridiculous.  And yes, it's all or nothing and she needs to understand that.

A 3 tier bride's cake and a groom's cake for $350.............that's unrealistic on a lot of levels to start with, but if she really needs more servings, you can always offer her plain iced, non filled sheet cakes for a reasonable price if you're worried.

Being sole provider is a popular theme on CC. But it's not a universal response from many successful businesses. If a customer prefers to chose additional items from another source, I don't understand why it's deemed a problem. There will always be people who get the food providers mixed up. My opinion: you can't police the guests, so stop getting aggravated about every issue. And as @costumeczar said, you have limited control. If a customer pays for your cake, they have met the terms of your contract. And you have made a sale, so good for you.  

I guess the thing that disturbs the bakers is that the guests will eat store bought cake and think they made it.  Honestly I don't think the guests care that much.  If they don't like it they don't think, "Who made this? I'm going to find out and never order from them, ever!"  If they don't like it they don't eat it and forget about it.  If they like it they might want to know who made it, but would only want to know who made it if they need a cake soon.  I think Mimi's got it, you got the job, got paid, be happy!

I do agree with all of you.  This is not necessarily a problem most of the time.  This bride was a referral of a mutual friend and therefore it impacts my personal reputation more than usual as the guests know me personally.  

So I will only include this clause on contracts of brides that are friends or family.  They are getting a 20% discount so it not an entirely unreasonable request. 

Properly drafted, an exclusivity clause can have a lot more teeth than some here are suggesting. 

I think that adding a clause to the contract regarding exclusivity after the horse has bolted is a sticky thing to do and could leave some unnecessary ill-feeling. The contract has already been agreed on, it is not professional to alter/add to it at this stage, however you feel. In any case, you are providing her with the "Piece de Resistance"... this is what people are going to talk about/remember. Any slab cake made is likely to be kept in the kitchen and cut as needed. Definitely consider it a learning curve for future contracts to include, if that is important to you, but this time let it pass x

www.showstoppersdecorations.co.uk

Dr_Hfuhruhurr  said: Properly drafted, an exclusivity clause can have a lot more teeth than some here are suggesting. 

The "teeth" in any contract's clause is whether the writer of the contract is willing to follow through on it, though. So my point is that you can have the best, toughest, most watertight clause about not having other baked goods there, but if you personally aren't willing to pick the wedding cake up off the cake table, in front of a room full of venue staff watching you and making notes about who the baker who took the wedding cake home was, and walk out of the place with it, then not refund any of the customer's money, you don't need to bother putting it in the contract. I don't know many people who would set a cake up, notice that there was a sheet cake in the kitchen, then take the wedding cake home with them because there was a contract clause that said they would. Everyone's too afraid of being sued by crazy brides, or even worse, GETTING A BAD ONLINE REVIEW!! **gasp!!***

True, I have no intention of removing the cake.  I simply felt that the thought hasn't crossed her mind that this would damage my reputation. 

This is an aquantance who found out I do cakes.  I made this amendment because I'm getting treated like a doormat. I'm ok with the clause making her uncomfortable enought to show respect. After 5 hours of creating 6 options and quotes, she needs firm boundaries. There will be cake pops there from another company.  This is fine. The clause is for sheet cake only. Sometimes when an aquantance uses me they are unaware that this is a professional service vs a hobby because they simply hear "she does amazing cakes". Usually this is fixed by showing them my website or sitting down for a tasting in my chef coat with logo branded boxes/order forms, etc. This bride was just not getting it. I felt like a used car lot in the getto. : )

This is not applied to regular brides who's aunt/grandma wants to do the grooms cake. Guests are not confused by this.  

So my sole provider clause is only for "friends and family" discounted wedding cakes. 

"Friends" include fellow church goers. 

Wish I could figure out how to quote posts using an iOS device. Oh well. In response to costumeczar:

Sure, I understand your point. Keep in mind, though, removing the cake on the day of the event is not the only leverage a baker can use to enforce the terms of the deal. Refundable deposits and stipulated damages are two other options that spring to mind, if you're really serious about exclusivity. And they are much safer than walking off with the cake, anyway, imo.

Concerns over bad internet reviews may be valid, but that's just a commercial decision the baker needs to make. If you don't want to play hardball, then quit worrying about 3rd-party sheet cakes at the venue. Or, if those sheet cakes are a big enough concern to you, then stick to your guns and put a strong clause about exclusivity in your contracts.