I charge $4 per serving for buttercream cakes and $5 for fondant covered cakes. I'm starting to charge the general public for my cakes. I've worked out the costs, etc and have a few questions that I hope you ladies can help me with
1. How much do you charge if someone wants a cake to feed 20 people but your cake servings feed 28 people? $100 or $140?
2. Do you charge a certain amount per serving for a carved cake (say $6 per serving) or go you charge the fondant price but add on a flat rate fee for carving (say $30)?
Thanks Trish
yes advise them by the price of the cake and servings -- so you'd say my smallest cake is $140 and will serve 28 so you can handily get your 20 servings --
for sculptures and extra decor I mainly go by the full price -- your sculpture of a designer purse to scale and to serve at least 30 will be $320 (so $8 a serving)
but for a large tier cake that will have two hours of decor -- i'd include that in the base price same as for a small tier cake that includes an hour of decor --
if the decor takes me longer to make I'd up the price per serving and quote the total price to client -- not how you arrived at it -- confuses the client and otherwise gives them too much room to negotiate --
if it was covered with handmade flowers I'd give the base price plus the upcharge for the flowers --
just kinda depends on your mood at the time too -- when you're doing the custom work you have to be clairvoyant -- a cake that can seem straight forward enough at the consult can be an intricate nightmare to produce -- you learn how to do this by screwing yourself for a few years -- then it all becomes clear
Thanks K8memphis. I forgot to mention that the $5 per serving is just to cover the cake in fondant. I also charge extra for stripes, balls, large pieces such as flowers and things.
just be careful when quoting so you don't conjure up people micro-managing all the extras kwim --
another very important thing is that -- i'm not saying you -- i'm just saying in general -- people take way too long to make/set up/decorate cakes --
i would not charge extra for stripes, ball borders, a coupla flowers, things like that -- i'm efficient so that would be included in base price for moi --
best to you
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