How Much Do People Think A Cake Costs To Make???

Business By TPACakeGirl Updated 23 Jun 2016 , 1:30pm by indydebi

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LoveMeSomeCake615 Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 12:15pm
post #271 of 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by Okiecowboy 

What I notice in many of these threads is people saying "well I am just starting out so I don't charge as much"

Either your product is good enough to sell or it isn't!

Would you let the Dr do your surgery for $65 because he is just starting out?

Would you take your car to get the brakes fixed to the guy that doesn't charge much because he just isn't as good ?

What other business does this.
either charge a decent price or don't sell your services..

Just my 2 cents worth as a new guy to the forum

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Quote:
Originally Posted by MELROSE315 


I hate the crickets! I get them all the time icon_smile.gif

Stupid crickets! I hate them too! Even though it is annoying to hear , "That's too expensive!" I'd rather hear that than nothing at all! Seems kind of rude to me to just not respond, you know? 

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AZCouture Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 2:06pm
post #272 of 434

A

Original message sent by Okiecowboy

What I notice in many of these threads is people saying "well I am just starting out so I don't charge as much"

Either your product is good enough to sell or it isn't!

Would you let the Dr do your surgery for $65 because he is just starting out?

Would you take your car to get the brakes fixed to the guy that doesn't charge much because he just isn't as good ?

What other business does this. either charge a decent price or don't sell your services..

Just my 2 cents worth as a new guy to the forum

You're right, and what happens far too often with this business is that people jump on in, without any clue to as the business side of things. And they spend years undoing their bad policies, or lack of any policies whatsoever, they try to raise their prices to acceptable levels once they realize they're headed for burnout, etc. etc. I spent a good 2 years making dummies and cakes for myself, building a portfolio and soaking up the advice from seasoned decorators before I started selling. I never dealt with a bride who couldn't be tracked down for the final check after the wedding, because I already knew I was to be paid in full weeks before the event. I've never dealt with losing customers because I decided my prices were too low and had to drastically raise them one day and lose the cheapy customers used to my low pricing, because I was appropriately priced.from day one. I don't come on here in a panic bragging for a tutorial 14 hours before a cake is due because I accepted an order I have no clue as how to execute. I don't get people trying to bargain and haggle with me over pricing, or friends and family asking me for free cake...and why not? Because I took my time and learned from other people what NOT to do, and what policies to set in place, and when to say no, and etc. etc.

So yes, everyone does start somewhere, but some of us take the time to start out right. I wish more people had the patience to learn how to do this the right way. And by the right way, meaning getting your ducks in a row first.

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Carrie789 Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 5:43pm
post #273 of 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZCouture 


You're right, and what happens far too often with this business is that people jump on in, without any clue to as the business side of things. And they spend years undoing their bad policies, or lack of any policies whatsoever, they try to raise their prices to acceptable levels once they realize they're headed for burnout, etc. etc. I spent a good 2 years making dummies and cakes for myself, building a portfolio and soaking up the advice from seasoned decorators before I started selling. I never dealt with a bride who couldn't be tracked down for the final check after the wedding, because I already knew I was to be paid in full weeks before the event. I've never dealt with losing customers because I decided my prices were too low and had to drastically raise them one day and lose the cheapy customers used to my low pricing, because I was appropriately priced.from day one. I don't come on here in a panic bragging for a tutorial 14 hours before a cake is due because I accepted an order I have no clue as how to execute. I don't get people trying to bargain and haggle with me over pricing, or friends and family asking me for free cake...and why not? Because I took my time and learned from other people what NOT to do, and what policies to set in place, and when to say no, and etc. etc.

So yes, everyone does start somewhere, but some of us take the time to start out right. I wish more people had the patience to learn how to do this the right way. And by the right way, meaning getting your ducks in a row first.


My first thought was AMEN SISTERS!! But, then I decided to tone it down to--you are so right.

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Okiecowboy Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 5:44pm
post #274 of 434

A

Original message sent by Norasmom

Well, everyone has to start somewhere, and the fact of the matter is, I'm just not as good or experienced as many on this website.  Seriously, I drool with envy at most of the cakes I see.  I will be excellent eventually, though, and people still order my cakes and love them, even knowing I'm new.  I'm not cheap, but I'm not expensive either.  Why give away $$ just because you are learning?    Also, not charging as much is not the same as completely undercutting.   The mechanic in my hometown, (also where most of my cake business is to be had), started out in someone else's garage charging very little.  He fixed cars, worked hard, was honest.  He was new and didn't have experience, but he was less expensive than the other mechanics.  Now, he's a multi-millionaire and still works on every car in town that's out of warranty...still doesn't charge nearly as much as the dealerships for service, yet is, like I said, a multi-millionaire.   Oh well...maybe he would be a multi-billionaire if he rooked people...LOL

HI You say your not as good as other people, yet you also say some people love your work and you get orders..

So which is it? Are you not good or do people like your work?

If you put your service out there on the market..it's up to you to add value to it..

I understand your situation..I really do.. I am a Photographer.....when I first started out, I had very low prices..i just opened a studio and was worried about not makinging it...and I was new....so I did a sitting fee of 20.00....compared to the compititions 100.00. Seemed fair because he is really good and has been there forever... Things went ok..had a few customers but nothing amazing...

Then I decided to run a special and drop price even more...down to 15.00 Had some flyers printed and had someone pick them up and start handing them out... Then I noticed a mistake made....instead of 15.00 the flyer said 150.00 dollars!! Simple miatake at the print shop...

I booked 5 customers the next 2 days...

YOU are the one that adds value to your work....if you think its cheap...everyone else will as well.

And no matter how long you do it...there will always be those better than you...that doesn't mean yours is worth less..

And to finish my story above.. I had to change my biz name and move my studio....I never could get away from setting up myself as the cheap pics guy..

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Stitches Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 6:25pm
post #275 of 434

O.k. so I'm not the brightest candle on this cake at this party, but how can the tone of this thread be so much different then the tone on http://cakecentral.com/t/759750/pricing-question/15 that thread. I say something about pricing for your time, and get called a snob.

 

You read someone's post on one thread where they say one thing, then you see them on another thread saying another......sheesh. I'm dizzy!

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jason_kraft Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 6:33pm
post #276 of 434

A

Original message sent by Stitches

O.k. so I'm not the brightest candle on this cake at this party, but how can the tone of this thread be so much different then the tone on [URL=http://cakecentral.com/t/759750/pricing-question/15]http://cakecentral.com/t/759750/pricing-question/15[/URL] that thread.

I don't think the overall tone of that thread is different, aside from the comments of one user who is not participating in this thread. And therein lies the difference.

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Stitches Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 6:38pm
post #277 of 434

WHEW.........good to know. How did a whole group of people miss that thread and not this one............

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costumeczar Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 6:59pm
post #278 of 434

A

Original message sent by Stitches

WHEW.........good to know. How did a whole group of people miss that thread and not this one............

You probably know this, but many people on here ask a question because they want to hear the answer they want to hear. If they don't, they get angry and call you a snob or a dream crusher. Don't worry about it, just don't waste your time dealing with them once you identify who they are :)

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AZCouture Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 7:12pm
post #279 of 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by costumeczar 


You probably know this, but many people on here ask a question because they want to hear the answer they want to hear. If they don't, they get angry and call you a snob or a dream crusher. Don't worry about it, just don't waste your time dealing with them once you identify who they are icon_smile.gif

Ding ding ding! They'll hold out for that one or two people who will pat them on the back and possibly tell people advising them correctly, that they are big fat meanies.

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Pyro Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 11:22pm
post #280 of 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZCouture 


You're right, and what happens far too often with this business is that people jump on in, without any clue to as the business side of things.

 

I just wanted to add to this. I don't know if some of you have heard of kickstarter. But basically you get an idea, you get people to fund you and you realize it.  Sometimes it looks like a store, but it really isn't. People are basically doing stuff like " give me 50$, I'll give you this " " give me 100$, i'll give you that or 2x this ".

 

Well last year, there was a lady who wanted to start a business of selling marshmallows. Well she got over 2500 people to fund her over 100 000$. Awesome right? Well this person had no clue wtf she was doing. Just like a lot of people on CC who jump in head first thinking sparkles and unicorns will show them the way. Well this was back in October, the " marshmallow rewards " people were supposed to receive in the binding contract was to be delivered in October / November / December. Fast forward to today, most of the people never got their marshmallows. ALOT of those who did got moldy / melted piles of garbage. And a very select few did receive what appeared to be delicious marshmallows.

 

This mom of 2 who " likes to bake goodies from her kitchen " had no clue what she was doing, how to turn so many " orders " into a production in a very short amount of time, probably had nothing to make all these products, probably was never clear to " send food all over the USA " and even internationally. All she ended up doing is sending bad food to pissed off people. All these people can sue her now. For fraud, breach of contract and whatnot.

 

This probably lovely lady had no business sense, business plan, realistic production plan implanted. She wanted a business selling marshmallows online and her instant popularity took her down in a ball of fire. She even cut all communications with all the people emailing her for refunds, products not received or received moldy and whatnot. Her name and reputation is ruined.

 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649827049/kerfluffles-marshmallows-all-natural-handmade-yumm/comments

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Pyro Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 11:22pm
post #281 of 434

And this is anything but an isolated case.

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AZCouture Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 11:36pm
post #282 of 434

Oh my word. That is stunning.

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jason_kraft Posted 19 Jun 2013 , 11:39pm
post #283 of 434

AKickstarter is a "buyer beware" type situation, and funding a company is more like buying shares of stock than placing an order. There is no binding contract (unless orders were placed separately outside of kickstarter) and if you lose your investment without getting anything in return there's not much you can do about it besides trash the business's reputation online.

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Pyro Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 1:38am
post #284 of 434

You're technically not even buying, since it's not a place to sell things. Even thought a lot of the projects look like they are selling items. You can read in the ToS that " By backing a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, you as the Backer accept that offer and the contract between Backer and Project Creator is formed "  " Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. "

 

People already started to sue people who aren't delivering on the rewards  ( even over 70$ ). http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/22/why-this-jilted-kickstarter-backer-decided-to-sue-why-he-was-right/

 

Without going into a whole kickstarter conversation, I was just pointing out that there are a lot of people out there just jumping in without doing their homework and getting burned.

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Norasmom Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 2:23am
post #285 of 434

Donating to kickstarter as an investment is just that...an investment.  Sometimes investments fail....icon_biggrin.gif  

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jason_kraft Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 2:32am
post #286 of 434

A

Original message sent by Pyro

You're technically not even buying, since it's not a place to sell things. Even thought a lot of the projects look like they are selling items. You can read in the ToS that " By backing a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, you as the Backer accept that offer and the contract between Backer and Project Creator is formed "  " Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. "

Interesting...so it sounds like there is recourse, which makes KS more like a product order than a stock purchase. Of course the question is how much trouble people are willing to go through to get a refund, and if there is any money left in the company to issue refunds (assuming an LLC, if not they can go after the owner's personal assets).

I wonder how long it will take before a KS lawsuit reaches class-action status.

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jason_kraft Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 3:16am
post #287 of 434

AI just finished a new article for my blog on the topic of market value (been working on it for a while), the link is in my signature.

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Stitches Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 4:12am
post #288 of 434

Great article Jason!! I loved it. If I can plant a seed, I'd love to see your next article discuss all the people who "aren't really a business" but sell their cakes to others. Is there a way to explain their impact so they can understand that every single person selling cakes (regardless of their pricing) effects the whole market.

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jason_kraft Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 5:16am
post #289 of 434

A

Original message sent by Stitches

Great article Jason!! I loved it. If I can plant a seed, I'd love to see your next article discuss all the people who "aren't really a business" but sell their cakes to others. Is there a way to explain their impact so they can understand that every single person selling cakes (regardless of their pricing) effects the whole market.

Thanks! Glad you liked the article. The next article will probably cover hobbies from the perspective of how hobby income is taxed, so I should be able to work that in.

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Pyro Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 5:23am
post #290 of 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by Norasmom 

Donating to kickstarter as an investment is just that...an investment.  Sometimes investments fail....icon_biggrin.gif  

 

True, but because many high funding projects went boom, KS reinstated they are not part of the contract at all. So you can't sue them. They also make it clear that if you get funded, you are obligated to try to achieve the results. This is what everyone who creates a project sees https://ksr-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/creator-responsibility.png .  They also added a new section to projects at the complete bottom that the creator tells you what the " risk and challenges " are.

 

Obviously if you fund a project like buying trees to plant in an area somewhere and 3 weeks of drought kills them all, the project technically failed. Everyone would understand the effort was made and well **** happens, you can't get your money back. But that being said, once people offer rewards, they are obligated to fulfill them or refund regardless of what happens to the project. That's also in the contract. And this, is where the problems happen.

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costumeczar Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 11:23am
post #291 of 434

AGiving money through kickstarter is a freakn' donation, don't kid ourselves. It's organized begging.

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kearniesue Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 11:48am
post #292 of 434

Loving this thread.  The title should be 'how much do bakers think a cake costs to make.'

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Norasmom Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 2:11pm
post #293 of 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by Okiecowboy 


HI
You say your not as good as other people, yet you also say some people love your work and you get orders..

So which is it? Are you not good or do people like your work?

If you put your service out there on the market..it's up to you to add value to it..

I understand your situation..I really do..
I am a Photographer.....when I first started out, I had very low prices..i just opened a studio and was worried about not makinging it...and I was new....so I did a sitting fee of 20.00....compared to the compititions 100.00. Seemed fair because he is really good and has been there forever...
Things went ok..had a few customers but nothing amazing...

Then I decided to run a special and drop price even more...down to 15.00
Had some flyers printed and had someone pick them up and start handing them out...
Then I noticed a mistake made....instead of 15.00 the flyer said 150.00 dollars!! Simple miatake at the print shop...

I booked 5 customers the next 2 days...


YOU are the one that adds value to your work....if you think its cheap...everyone else will as well.

And no matter how long you do it...there will always be those better than you...that doesn't mean yours is worth less..

And to finish my story above..
I had to change my biz name and move my studio....I never could get away from setting up myself as the cheap pics guy..

That's so interesting.  A friend of mine is a photographer, disses the "mall places"  and her sitting fee for 20 mins is $150.  She told me that $150 was too much for a Dr. Seuss Cake to feed 50 people!!!    I was SO angry.  How can one artist not understand another in terms of pricing?  I did politely say okay to her though, and to have her consider me some other time.  I know I cannot afford her photos, so I don't even ask.  I have a budget that says "mall photography place," and that's where I go.  I'm realistic about talent and creativity too.

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Annabakescakes Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 5:03pm
post #294 of 434

A

Original message sent by costumeczar

Giving money through kickstarter is a freakn' donation, don't kid ourselves. It's organized begging.

I'm glad you said it, now I don't have to!

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AZCouture Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 5:06pm
post #295 of 434

I can appreciate it for really ingenious/odd ball ideas that wouldn't stand a chance of being funded the traditional route, but a mail order marshmallow business? Uh, no. 

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Pyro Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 5:09pm
post #296 of 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by costumeczar 

Giving money through kickstarter is a freakn' donation, don't kid ourselves. It's organized begging.

 

It could be seen that way for some projects, but overall it isn't. Because some people go bankrupt after their project get funded. If it was pure begging and getting money, anyone with a project would walk out a winner.

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Bettyboo64 Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 6:46pm
post #297 of 434

ASpent days making fondant hocky pieces, you know school jersey, pucks, sticks, blades etc, 3 D graduation cap as well in school colors. Then baked a cake for 125 people, cake looked awesome, I dropped it off to the party place, co-worker was no where to be found her husband was though, his reply nice cake thanks. LoL. Monday co-worker comes to work pokes her head into my office says, great cake, thanks um we didn't use it we had ice cream cake instead! I thought how strange, and for the record the cost of this cake ZERO dollars because it appears my co-worker thought I had plenty of time on my hands, and I love her son as much as she does. ( I don't know him) so I shouldn't need to be paid. Although we had agreed on a very reasonable price. Never again lesson learned the hard way. ;).

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howsweet Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 8:43pm
post #298 of 434

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bettyboo64 

Spent days making fondant hocky pieces, you know school jersey, pucks, sticks, blades etc, 3 D graduation cap as well in school colors. Then baked a cake for 125 people, cake looked awesome, I dropped it off to the party place, co-worker was no where to be found her husband was though, his reply nice cake thanks. LoL. Monday co-worker comes to work pokes her head into my office says, great cake, thanks um we didn't use it we had ice cream cake instead! I thought how strange, and for the record the cost of this cake ZERO dollars because it appears my co-worker thought I had plenty of time on my hands, and I love her son as much as she does. ( I don't know him) so I shouldn't need to be paid. Although we had agreed on a very reasonable price. Never again lesson learned the hard way. icon_wink.gif.

I can't even think of any comment for that - you must have wondered if you'd stepped into an alternate universe. 

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shanter Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 10:05pm
post #299 of 434
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bettyboo64 

.... I shouldn't need to be paid. Although we had agreed on a very reasonable price. Never again lesson learned the hard way. icon_wink.gif.

 

Give her an invoice, payable immediately. You are not a charity. There are lots of these stories about cakers being abused by co-workers.

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costumeczar Posted 20 Jun 2013 , 10:36pm
post #300 of 434

A

Original message sent by Pyro

It could be seen that way for some projects, but overall it isn't. Because some people go bankrupt after their project get funded. If it was pure begging and getting money, anyone with a project would walk out a winner.

Not every beggar is rich...just because someone goes bankrupt after they beg doesn't mean it isn't begging. The online donation sites like that have to be looked at as a non-tax-exempt donation if you give money to someone, or you could look at it as an investment then end up suing the person when they don't follow through, apparently.

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