ASo as of now I am living in a very "ghetto" neighborhood. It's definitely not horrible but it could be much classier. Of course, no one in my area can afford to pay a decent price for cakes. In the neighboring town 30 minutes away, it's a whole different story. That is the town I plan to cater to. My question is, would it be a bad idea to allows pickups? The neighborhood is not so pretty but my house is decent on the inside. Brand new carpeting and flooring. My partner thinks it would be bad for business and embarrassing to have customers pick up orders here. He's thinking delivery only. I'm not sure what is the best idea. On the one hand it's easier to have a customer pick up a cake and not have to drive for an hour , on the other I don't want it to portray my business poorly. What do you guys think?

AYeah that's another concern altogether. Do you offer delivery only?

Make it delivery only........unless of course you could turn the" ghetto" vibe into a positive, not to say lucrative thing?

I'm thinking Ivy League types with a little place in Martha'a Vineyard for weekends....they'd queue for miles to take a selfie picking up your cakes....might even be worth hiring a burned out car to place outside your house?

You will be judged by the neighborhood, not the quality of your carpets. I agree with your partner; do not allow pick-ups. It could end up driving business away.

maybe so -- i think making it as easy for your client as possible -- maybe do mostly deliveries but there will be the random person that really wants/needs to do a pick up -- i live in an area where some people think my neighborhood is ghetto and some people laugh out loud about it not being ghetto at all -- so whatever -- i had peeps come for pick ups but most were deliveries -- i think some might judge by your neighborhood but the majority will judge by your cake -- if you offer mostly delivery and your stuff is great -- they will happily buy --

don't worry about it

AMaybe chose a neutral spot to do hand offs? A bad neighborhood will not be good for business. I was reading yelp reviews on some cupcake places near me and one of them was a home based operation and every review said the cakes were delicious but they would probably go elsewhere because of the sketchy neighborhood. Location location location!

ADelivery. I ordered my wedding cake from a woman who worked from her home and the outside of the place was a disaster. I admit to being hesitant about going in, but she came highly recommended, so I went. The inside was lovely and clean, but the outside did leave an impression. Had I not has as much faith in her due to the strong recommendation I got, I am not sure what I would have done. I did question where the heck I had been sent by my friend though!

Thank you everyone for your advice. I will definitely not be allowing pick ups from home. Right up the hill is a very nice area so if a customer wants to pick up, we can meet say at the starbucks or something.

I take my hat off to all of you working in difficult circumstances in less than des res areas.

My "burnt out car" comment was tongue in cheek but I once knew a dressmaker in similar circumstances (she made period costumes for BBC) till her ship came in, and the very nature of her biggest client meant that the rougher the area they patronised...the better.

I've never been rich but have been fortunate for the last 30yrs to live in idyllic rural surroundings and bring my kids up in them......where do they want to live?

In inner cities where the action is....and where "cred" is very important to the young middle class.

Capitalise Phun Cakes capitalise xx

AGood point cake baby. I live in a row home because that is what we could afford, and my husband and I while both professionals amassed enough student depts to put us in some not so nice neighbourhoods in the past. I lived in an apartment compels where there were shootings and a car actually was burnt to a crisp in the parking lot. I was there for a year before we got our first house, and in our first place the police came to our neighbours door once a week for who knows what. Now we are in a nicer complex since we relocated for my husbands work. Still have a few problem neighbours, but the condo board keeps the property up well and gets after folks for their yards.

AI would lean towards doing delivery only as customers may think you living in a poorer part of town means the cake should be a bargain.