First Order, Don't Know What To Charge! Please Help!

Business By Marie_eveB Updated 26 Aug 2012 , 5:56pm by kelleym

Marie_eveB Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Marie_eveB Posted 26 Aug 2012 , 4:15pm
post #1 of 3

Hi everyone! I was asked by a coworker to quote for a baby shower cake for approximatly 50 serving. If I go by the rule of 3$ a portion we are at 150$! And that is for a basic cake. So I would like to propose a 10 inch round cake on top of a cupcake three, but how much charge per cupcake if we consider the 10 inch is already 25 serving (I do not count the tiny-mini portions of wilton chart that are ridiculously too small!) so 75$?!? I'm a beginer, dont do this for profite, but I just need to get into my time, material and class I paied for, this is why I go with the 3$/portion basic fee. I'm not super fast, so I figure I would need a 7 hours from begin to clean to complete the order. Thanks for your advice!

2 replies
FromScratchSF Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
FromScratchSF Posted 26 Aug 2012 , 4:44pm
post #2 of 3

Hello Marie,

One million dollars icon_biggrin.gif

My friend, there are a million threads like this, posted daily - new people that are not real business that want to charge like a real business but don't understand why real businesses charge the way they charge. They want us (businesses) to explain our pricing so they can charge what we charge but when we tell them why we charge what we charge or even ask questions of the person to get a better idea of what they should charge people get mad and think we are picking on them, being mean, and bullies.

I suggest doing a search and do some reading.

I can sum up: ingredients + overhead + wages + profit margin = amount to charge.

If you can't legally sell cake in your area, then zero.

That's why in jest I say one million dollars, because nobody here can give you an answer!

$3.00 per serving is not a "rule". Is that the standard in your area? If so, that's *not* what you should charge. Do you have a storefront and overhead? Employees? Do you buy in bulk? Equipment leases? Legal fees?

See? Not so simple.

On a personal note, I don't feel the person wanting to buy a cake from you should pay for your basic cake decorating class. Did they ask you to learn to decorate cakes? Just sayin, I don't believe that expense is something you should try and pass off onto your 1st customer unless it was a specialty class that cost thousands of dollars - that is an expense that we float over many orders, not just one. But a beginning cake decorating class that gave someone the impression that you can decorate cakes, to me, is a minimal investment that you should not expect to make your money back for. Just my personal opinion.

Good luck!

kelleym Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
kelleym Posted 26 Aug 2012 , 5:56pm
post #3 of 3

Hi - so if I understand your question, you would like to propose cake + cupcakes to help the customer keep her cost down? For me, that would not keep my cost down, because it's faster to bake and decorate one cake, than a cake + multiple batches of cupcakes.

Click on the blue words "How to price your cakes" in my signature, and read the article and take it to heart. You need to figure out your costs, your market, and which serving chart you're going to use, before you can decide on a price.

Quote by @%username% on %date%

%body%