I have only started decorating this year. When a woman I knew asked me to make her a birthday cake, I gave her a great price since I knew her and was just starting out. I let her know I was giving her a good deal as well. Well her second cake was more work than the first so I uped the price and she was fine with that (first cake was a Nintendo DS, second cake was a present with a bow) Now she called. SHe wanted me to make a bike. 2 6in single layer cakes for wheels and make an 8 in square cake and cut it up and piece it together to make the rest of the bike. Again, more work, more time, so I upped her price again, only by 5 dollars this time. I asked if 40 was OK. Now I know that a cake with that kind of work would probably go for 50 or more, but I have been giving her a deal. Well she informed me that her husband told her and she agreed that 30 dollars was a good price for a cake and that was all they would pay. She said she can get a cake from another place with a picture of a bike or the edible image on it if I didn't think it was worth my time. Well I politely explained that doing a cake that specific was a lot longer and that if she wanted me to make a round layer cake with a picture of a bike on it, I could easily do that for 30 dollars, but doing all the extra work ect to do a bike cake wasn't worth my time at 30. SO needless to say she hasn't called me back and I don't expect her to. It really is frusterating. Sorry so long but I just needed to vent.

You don't need her anyway..She was using you to get a good deal on a cake!! Good for you for standing your ground!!

You made the right decision! Make sure you stand by it! She knows your work and she must be willing to pay for it.

You do a great job on your cakes and you sure don't need customers like her.
Let her go to walmart or the supermarket bakery and get a commercial picture cake that tastes YUCKY!! It will serve her right.

Well, I know what you mean... Sometimes you have to get suspicious about certain people... They may come to you with stories to see if you can lower the price and I have tried to stick to my guns and leave it at a price that its deserved.

Not only does it cost more to pay for electricity, it also does for ingredients and supplies... Then it goes to the extra work involved depending on the design.

No one seems to see that, they just look at the final product and not all the work behind it.

Well, I know what you mean... Sometimes you have to get suspicious about certain people... They may come to you with stories to see if you can lower the price and I have tried to stick to my guns and leave it at a price that its deserved.

Not only does it cost more to pay for electricity, it also does for ingredients and supplies... Then it goes to the extra work involved depending on the design.

No one seems to see that, they just look at the final product and not all the work behind it.

sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't follow the lead of auto mechanics.

totally itemized bill w/
parts list: ingredients, electricity for oven and fridge

"disposal fee": cleaning/washing supplies, hot water (more electricity)

hourly rate: hourly rate -- which they get and maybe we should too from a book that list the "standard" amount of time it takes to do a given task...and they charge for the full time even if they can do it faster. (1 3" rose = 3 min (min./inch?), icing 2 layer 9" round w/ bc filling: 20 min., etc.)

and if you haven't noticed, that hourly rate in many areas is $45+/hr.!!!!

Ooh I hope she gets one of those nasty images too that you have to remove from the cake before you can even cut it! Those stupid paper-like things that you can't cut though - I hate those! Or even worse - it could be one of those "plastic plate" type decorations.....

Good for you for sticking your ground!

I to am wondering about this stuff. I had a lady call wanted 2 11 x 15 cakes one white one chocolate. One with a dinasaur theme the other with a doll cake on top (just a small one) so i figured out the price and she was stunned I think. She only wanted to feed 20 to 25 people, so I refigured it with a smaller cake to put the doll cake on and with the both of them it was about 63.00 does that sound like to much? Maybe I over priced it, but with decorating and time and just ingredients cost i was only makeing about 10 to 13 dollars. What do you all think.
mushbug9 - I think we have to stick it out. We are doing a lot of work. Hang in there.

Good job for standing your ground! It is difficult, but for your sanity, you have to know what you will do and what you won't. Otherwise, you are working SO hard to please everyone and get the cakes EXACTLY to THEIR specifications. Remember, you are an ARTIST! And I think it will make you more appealing as a cake decorator in the long run if you know how much you are worth and don't settle for less!

I hate that when people thinks about cake like it a magic trick that takes a few seconds to make.... I had a lady that called to ask for a cake to feed 40 people for a Bridal shower. She wanted carrot cake, with creamcheese frosting, and calla lillies on the cake because the wedding will be with calla lillies. I told her 75$ and this was with 3 handmade calla lillies. She asked if I was kidding. Told her, without the callas it would be 60$. She said she'd called back but she never did. I'm sure they went for the cheapest cake they found, and it wasn't like they wanted. Come on, it's easy: if you want something special, you have to pay the price, no? The best way to deal with those is to stick to our guns, and they'll know we mean business. If we lower the prices they'll think it's nothing and we don't appreciate our own work.

Don't give up!!!!

I had a lady today griping about $32 for a half sheet cake from a specialty birthday party establishment. The kids go and jump around in those big blown up thingies, then have cake. I told here that $32 was a good price for a half sheet and she was amazed. I told her that mine would be at least that, and probably more since it would be homemade and decorated specifically for her kid. She acted like it was highway robbery. Get this: I've priced parties for my kid at this place, and for a 2 hour party with however many kids she wanted to invite, it would be $300, not including the cake!!! and she's upset about a $32 cake. amazing.

I do not decorate cakes- I took a class thirty years ago, thought it might be fun . I simply do not have the patience to fiddle around with frosting. My final project cake was lovely the instructor even wanted samples of the royal icing violets I made. However, I took the cake to work the next day and left in the teachers' lounge to get rid to the dang thing. Several people asked me to make cakes for them after that and my reply was you couldn't pay me enough to do it. People don't realize what goes into putting together a fancy cake. I am a great baker- got the blue ribbons to prove it, but any thing more complicated than a border and I'm outta there.

The point is people don't think about the skill and effort that goes into making a decorated cake. They see cake mixes on sale for a buck and cans of frosting for a bit more and think you can whip out their fancy cake in an hour or two. They don't even think about the equipment involved much less the time. Besides it is women's work which usually means it isn't worth much.

So sad that this situation comes up, over and over again!

I think we should all take a step back and ask:

What Would Colette (Peters) Do? This should be our new mantra.

For short - WWCD


What do you think?

I think what everyone needs to remember is people will only think our work is worth what we think it is.

If we keep giving a price and then saying "Is that ok" or coming down off our price when they say "I will only pay this much" well then they will keep doing that.

Do you think the top cake decorators get paid such a low amount? NO WAY! Why? Because they know they are good and thier cakes are worth what they are asking for.

So you need to be sure of yourself when you give a price. If they can't afford you then they can't.

Don't short change yourself just because someon can't afford you.....you are worth it.

Joanne

Yep, yep, I was just talking to my husband last night about this topic... I was going thru my cake baking and decorating book, breaking down prices of butter, flour, eggs, etc. to make sure I would get expenses covered when I did cake for friends.... I don't do this as a business but when they ask to pay me for my expenses, I want to make sure I am charing correct.

Anyway, I told him, you know, people think this is a piece of "cake" . It takes at least 3 good hours of my time from the time I take the cake from the wrapper, to level it, tort it, soak it in simple syrup, to fill it, to ice it, and then to start decorating. A simple one may take me 1 1/2 to 2 hours only because I stare at if for a while to make sure I am getting the look I want on it.

I used to pay this lady for cakes and her cakes were not cheap but they were delicious and I knew that I was getting my monies worth because they were handmade and I couldn't get a cake like hers at a store.

Yeah we have to stick with our prices. People think we just throw the cake together. They don't realize how much work and time is put into one cake. We're not doing simple cakes here. You stick to your prices...your work is worth every penny and more.

I like the what would Colette do?

Did you ever look at the cakes over on Toba Garrett's site? Those are in the thousands of dollars. Now, I ain't Toba, so I don't charge thousands. But, I ain't a big box, so I don't charge twenty either.

Stick to your guns girl. Charge everybody full price, and if they don't like it, let them eat somebody else's cake! Eventually, you will be rolling in the orders, and charging the big dollars!

As what we all know, a sucker is born every minute, but this one sounds like she was not born a minute ago, instead she been a sucker all her life.

If I were you, I would stick to what you've told her (price), because if you give in on her, she'll keep doing it in the future.. You're the one who makes the cake and does the services, so you have every right to be the one to put the price on what you do, not her.

If she still disagree with you on the price, then drop her, tell her she's welcome to go elsewhere. We've been seeing soo many of these, and it's really sad...I am not in the business, but I can relate how much effort and time you put into making a beautiful cake.

I've been decorating for about 3 years and am getting more and more frustrated with these same issues. It infuriates me when I have a bride that is on such a tight budget and wants everything for nothing, then you show up to deliver the cake and she has spent more money on her cake top than you charged her for the cake!
Also, you are expected to tip the food caterers, bar tenders etc, but I have yet to receive a tip and have done many of the behind the scenes jobs that I am not paid for, like lighting candles and arranging decorations.

Well the update to this topic is that I never heard from her after that call. I realized the day she wanted the cake delivered that she never called back to order even a simple cake. Oh well. I am certainly not crying about it. Thank You all for your support. I know in my heart I am worth the relatively SMALL price of 40 dollars for what would amount to over 3 hours of my time. After expenses I would make less than 5 dollars per hour. I just figuered out what I was going to make this month on my 4 Wilton classes, I am going to be getting about 18 dollars per hour for my time. THAT is worth my time. She isn't.