Before you can charge for cakes you need to first make sure you can legally sell them...some states require a licensed and inspected commercial kitchen, while others allow home bakers to legally sell their products. Some venues also require you to carry liability insurance if you are delivering a cake there.
Once you are legal, you can set prices based on your costs. For a specific cake, you would determine total cost by adding the cost of the ingredients, labor (# of hours needed to make the cake * your hourly wage), and per-order overhead (insurance, license fees, inspection fees, etc.), then add 20-30% for your profit margin.
Our business is based in CA, which requires us to rent a commercial kitchen, and we typically charge $5-7 per serving depending on the complexity of the design.
In my area in central North Carolina for wedding cakes most legal home bakeries and commercial bakeries alike charge @ $3.50 - 4.00 per serving for butter cream and $4.50 - 5.00 per serving for fondant. This is for simple decor and minimal butter cream or gum paste work. Anything more extensive is additional. There are a few high end bakeries with well known designers in Raleigh that charge upwards of $8.00 - $10.00 per serving, but that is an exception. HTH
where would I find out this information in Massachusettes?
thanks
Try googling Massachusettes bakeries and look on some of the bakeries' websites. I googled a few and a couple that listed pricing started at $3, $3.50, and $4.75, but most of them didn't list pricing. Or you could try calling some near you and ask what price their wedding cakes start at per slice.
I meant where would I find out if i had to be licensed?
thanks
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