What more can be said..... the one thing that made me smile is how many of us have been in that same spot, put this one down to experience and be sure to discuss cost before you make any future cakes.

Most of my family and friends have all had a FREEBY by now so the policy that I have is

*for IMMEDIATE family I only charge cost (and its good practice for us).

*For work mates I charge full price - minus 10% staff discount and I put that on the invoice (when they see that they think they are a little special for receiving a discount).

*For close friends I charge full price - and offer something for free (like a dozen cupcakes for the party or something similar) or just take off 15% and again mark it on the invoice that way they know as well.

*If you are just making cakes for the love of it then cost is fine but if you are trying to start a business you have to look after yourself and your friends. If they don't like it they can always order from someone else in future.

* I wrap my cake boxes in a beautiful ribbon printed with our business name and have the invoice inside a matching coloured envelope on the box under the ribbon, the invoice covers all the norm + a thank you for their order and of course a business card. I find this takes away some of the akwardness.

Hope this helps....

Did you say BEST friend? I can not. for the life of me. even think my best freind would even consider not paying me something for all of the work I put into a cake. How long have you been friends? Has she taken advantage of you on a regular basis?

As far as lunch goes, I would consider a nice champagne brunch acceptable for repayment.... got any House of Blues' by you? They serve a nice EXPENSIVE brunch!

I have only just read your post about your `best' friend. By now you may have come to some resolution about this issue, I don't know what you decided to do.


I'm sorry, but I would have a problem with anyone especially one of my best friends, accepting a gorgeous cake like the one you made and walking out the door, assuming that a lunch `one day' would compensate for the work, effort, creativity, time and cost of the ingredients.
I feel that the way you were already agonising over the price before hand shows that there was already a hesitancy to charge her. Nevertheless,
you are obviously very creative and have done some beautiful work on your cakes, which doesn't come to all of us without some time and effort expended to achieve a good result. Your customers are not just paying for the cake they walk out the door with. They are also paying for experience, expertise etc. that you have acquired over a long period of time. As far as writing this one off to advertsing for what you may get from other orders. Unless you are set up in a well run business and can charge it to your advertising budget, you are still losing out.

I feel sorry that this, as I understand it ,has been a sad situation for you.
I think that when these things happen you are going to learn for next time, to be a little prepared with a price list and a few well chosen words depending on whom you are making the cake for.

Whatever you have been able to do to console yourself, I hope it turns out for the better with your friend.
Karen

It would seem that a "best friend" would know you well enough to know if you would want money or not...hmmm....

Anyhow I guess if it were me, I'd be happy I had a gorgeous cake in my portfolio, I'd definately ask for my nice lunch.... and I would definately discuss any future cakes in more detail as to price.

So what did ya do?

Let me start by saying what everyone else has made clear, this cake, as well as all your cakes, is amazing.

Now that being said, I too would have to agree with "is it worth destroying a friendship over a cake" I know a lot of work goes into making the cakes we make, but a lot of work goes into keeping a good friendship alive too.

I would say give it some time, not to much, and then while yall are havin lunch, let her know you appreciate her taking you to lunch but you hope she understands that the next time you do a cake for her, you have to charge her for at least the cost of making it. That way next time there is no thinking it is going to be free, and noone is upset about not getting paid or having to pay at the last minuet.

I hope everything works out for you and for you and your friend. Just take a breath and move on always remembering this for next time.

Wow! All your cakes are amazing! You are very, very talented.

Have you done many (or any) free cakes for this friend before? Maybe that is why she assumed you wouldnt take any money? Not that I think it would be okay if that were the case, just trying to figure out the reason anyone would do that especially to a best friend.

I probably would not ask for payment now. However, I would wait for the right moment and casually bring up that I really had to start charging people (in general, not her specifically) because I was taking such a loss on every cake, and even though it was a lot of fun for me, I couldnt keep making them for free because I was spending too much of my own $ doing them. I would NOT single her out. Id just mention it the same youd tell your best friend anything else that was going on in your life, maybe ask her advice on how to handle it with customers versus family/friends. This will solve two problems. It will make her aware that it costs you A LOT to make such a wonderful cake so hopefully in the future, she wouldnt assume it was a freebie just because she was your best friend. And the other thing, it would prevent any hurt feelings or awkward conversations over the wrestling cake. If she offered to pay for the wrestling cake, I personally, would not accept it, but say something to the effect of I cant charge you for that cake now, but well talk about cost on the next one and let her know that you dont intend to charge her full price, while also letting her know you want her advice on how to talk to your other customers about cost because youre uneasy about it.

I know you probably really want or need to get paid for the wrestling cake. If you do decide to talk to her because of whatever reason, I think the way HollyPJ put it was very nicely said.

One thing that struck me first, is would we treat our friends that way? As for the lunch thing, I feel that you spend time with a friend because you want to be with them, not because you want to pay them back for something. If I let a friend borrow $20, Id want the cash back, not a free lunch. Thats them dictating how you spend that $20. If my best friend lent me $20, Id give it back to her AND take her to lunch as a thank you for helping me out in a bind.

The boys are the bestfriends...right?
She probably expects your son to show up at the party with a gift right?....
Well, I would have said the cake was from you and your son.....Probably too late for that though...
But next yr. if she inquires about you making a cake...tell her you'll need the money up front for the supplies...
A lot of people expect cakes for nothing... I don't know why...They wouldn't do it for nothing...And the prices for ingredients keeps going up...NOT DOWN!!!!...
Good luck for next yr.