I'm just trying to wrap my head around this and I'm wondering if it's just me that thinks it's insane to charge 250 bucks (canadian) for a wedding cake for 20 people. It's not a fancy wedding, the reception is in a greek restaurant. It's a plain white pin cushion vanilla cake (the groom's words). The wedding is August 31. The only thing I can think of is that part of that cost is short notice charge, but realistically, in a large city (Vancouver, BC) one should be able to find someone who isn't completely booked. And on that note, what would you charge for 'short notice' for a cake for August 31. For 20 people. I dont know if it's buttercream, pin cushion sounds like it might be fondant? (groom has no idea lol).
That's $12.50 a serving. Sounds a bit excessive to me based on the design you mentioned, even if it is fondant. Is a delivery charge in that amount?
There's a great thread on here about pricing. I'll see if I can find it and post the link. I'm not a professional by any means, but when I get my business going, if I had the date available, I wouldn't charge any different just because it's short notice. You always have the option not to do the cake.
Depends on how complex the design was. If a 20-serving cake had decorations that took 4 hours to complete, $250 might be appropriate. Let's say there are $50 in ingredients plus 4 hours decorating time * $15 hourly wage + $15 commercial kitchen rent + $30 in per-order overhead, you have a $200 cost right there. Add a 25% profit margin and you're at $250.
My small tiered cakes are routinely in the $10 to $12 serving range. Smaller cake does not make a smaller price. It's nearly as much work if not more to work on them. If your price per serving is generally $4.00/serving, and someone wants a two tiered cake to serve 20, are you really going to do it for $100? Not worth my time.
Okay I will stick my neck out here. That is 3 times what I would charge for 20 servings of cake whether it was fondant or buttercream, and that is not exactly late notice for that small of a cake. I vote way too much unless it has gold inlay.
That seems like a lot to me, but based on the responses it seems like it could be reasonably justified. I saw a thread around here today about Walmart doing wedding cakes, if they want something cheaper, there are other places they can go. LOL
It may have more to do with how many servings are actually in the cake and not how many guests are going to be present. I have a tasting in a few weeks with a bride that only has 30 people coming to the reception. However, she wanted a 2-3 tiered cake. Even comping the top tier for her anniversary, her cake will come out to be $263.50 plus tax. It took a few minutes to explain to her, she is paying for how much cake she will be receiving, not how many guests she will be feeding.
Assuming you are not the decorator, maybe there is more to the story than is presented.
BTW, what is a "pin-cushion" cake? The first thing this southern US girl thought was a pillow cake.
It's really not the servings at all. It's the time to decorate. There is virtually no difference between a two tiered cake for 20 (time wise) than there is for 50. Why should it be substantially cheaper? You cannot apply an across the board per serving to all cakes, it does not work.
What size are the cake(s)? That would say more than just 'a cake for 20 people'. Is it a single layer or a tiered cake? I'm gonna assume tiered since most wedding cakes would be.
Maybe the smallest tiered cake they do is a 6/8 which would serve 36. That would be almost $7 a serving.
Maybe the cake is a 6/9 which would serve 44. That would be $5.68 a serving.
Maybe the cake is 6/10 which would serve 50. That would be $5 a serving.
Really with out knowing the exact size of the cake, what he means by the 'pin cushion', and if it is buttercream or fondant, it is really hard to say if that is too much for a cake.
Jason...where can you get a kitchen for $15/hour. That can't be your rate in SCC....or is it?
It is indeed what we pay at the commercial kitchen we rent in SCC, but we got a good deal because we prepaid for a full year a few months before the kitchen was ready. Regular rates at the kitchen are $22-30/hour.
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