Another Dreaded Pricing Question.. Sorta
Decorating By Kimskakes23336 Updated 27 Jul 2007 , 8:19pm by indydebi
Hi,
In my area, most of the home decorators charge approx. $3.00/slice for basic buttercream covered cakes and $4.00/slice for fondant covered. Of course, the price goes up according to the fillings and detail. Therefore, for an 8" round, yellow cake with vanilla buttercream I would charge $45.00, which is reasonable to me. However based on this pricing scheme, I should charge $180.00 for the same in a half sheet. 
This seems a bit steep to me. Does anyone here modify thier pricing for sheet cakes? If so, what do you think would be reasonable?
i'm not a pro here but i think that sheet cakes go for less since there's less work involved (for a basic at least). i think you'd have to come up with a base price for your sheet cakes and go up according to added decorations etc. check some other businesses web sites and see what they charge for a sheet. or call around to your local bakeries and compare.
i'm not a pro here but i think that sheet cakes go for less since there's less work involved (for a basic at least). i think you'd have to come up with a base price for your sheet cakes and go up according to added decorations etc. check some other businesses web sites and see what they charge for a sheet. or call around to your local bakeries and compare.
ditto to that.
based on your numbers, the 8" serves 15 and the sheet serves 60. STOP thinking of it as "cake that costs $180" and START thinking in terms of "cake big enough to serve SIXTY PEOPLE!" The sheet cake is 4 times the servings so LOGICALLY it will cost 4 times as much.
I have 2 prices: sheet cake pricing and non-sheet cake pricing. Sheet cake pricing does not include delivery, which is why it is slightly lower. (However, I do not deliver small non-sheets, either. A 6" or 8" 2-layer round does not have the profit of a 100-person wedding cake to cover the cost of delivery. Basic laws of overhead.)
indydebi
you seem to be one of the expert cc'ers when it comes to pricing.
so i hope you wont wind if i ask you a few questions.
pricing per slice vs. per cake
i know wedding cakes are priced per slice but what about party cakes?
for an 8" cake if you price per slice for a wedding (around 20 slices) it will cost more than if you price per slice for a party/family cake (around 14 slices)- due to the size of the slices - but it is still an 8" cake?
or do you just base all your pricing on a "standard size slice" - whether it is wedding or party?
You may have seen some of previous posts in which I stated that I use the Wilton Wedding Cake Chart to determine pricing, not necessarily to determine servings. I do not have two different prices for the same size cake.
My good 'ole stand by example: When KFC gives you a chicken strips meal, they have determined the serving size is 3 strips. You don't tell them how many pieces you want in the meal....they have pre-determined it and they have priced it accordingly. If you want more chicken....you buy and pay for more chicken.
I have pre-determined the serving size and quantity. The customer is welcome to cut it any size they want ... if they want to cut them bigger, they will get fewer pieces so they may have to buy more cake.
My non-sheet cake (a la carte) pricing is $2.50/serving (which is being increased eff 9-1-07).
Here's my example. Per the Wilton Chart http://www.wilton.com/wedding/cakeinfo/cakedata.cfm:
An 8" cake serves 24. Times $2.50/serving = $60.
A 10" cake serves 38. Times $2.50/serving = $95.
Someone calls and needs a 2-layer round cake for 30 people. They are getting the 10" cake for $95. I am not going to refigure the price of the cake just because THEY are going to cut it in bigger pieces. I also do not have time to calculate the price of each and every cake I make. I tell them the cake will serve 25-35, depending on how they cut it.
I do not go into how I calculate the price. I do not go into "well you need to get this cake, which really serves 38 times $2.50 per person gives you a price of $95." THey don't care. They just want (a) enough cake to serve their guests and (b) to know how much to write the check for.
Yes, they can get a 10" round cake at Walmart for WAY less than $95. (ANd your point is......? 
). To those people, I point down the road and remind them that Walmart is 3 minutes that way.
To those who may think $95 is really high for a 10" cake, please let me point out that my business is 95% (or more) weddings and/or caterings. If I am going to have to stop and mess with one lousy 10" cake, then it's going to be worth my time and it's going to have to cover the overhead. One hour mixing/baking time, plus decorating time .... the labor cost alone that I will pay an employee to make this cake is over $30, not including the payroll taxes I have to pay on top of it. Plus the ingredient costs, box, cardboards, rent allocation, insurance, utilities, vehicle cost, etc. etc. .....
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