A little background... I had a lady try one of my cakes at a community fuction and decided that I *must* do her daughters birthday cake. So, she emails me and for the last three days we have emaield back and forth on design, etc. I gave her prices up front. She needs to feed 40-50 people and wants a three tier fondant cake. Well...at my rate of $3.50 per serving, that's $140 min... She asked me how much the cake was in a picture I sent her $87.50 and it was smaller... only fed 25.
Well, now she says she needs to just have a smallish $60 cake...
I emailed back saying I have a non compete clause and I don't do cakes if she is going to have Wal Mart sheet cake there too. It makes me look bad and drags down my work.
Keep in mind that this lady lives in a $500,000 home and is just wanting to not spend anything for a super perfect 3 tier fondant cake to feed 50.... I am tempted to tell her to go elsewhere b/c I am booked.
this lady lives in a $500,000 home and is just wanting to not spend anything for a super perfect 3 tier fondant cake to feed 50
My DD babysits for several folks who live in these elaborate, gorgeous, expensive homes......you go inside and there is just the bare minimum furnishings and nothing in the cupboards for the kids to snack on. Some folks just have screwed up priorities. 
Years and years ago when i was just a teen my mom use to clean houses for extra money.
One time she took me along to help her. I was floored with I would go into rooms that had no furniture in them!! They too had just bare minimum and nothing fancy at that!
My DH and I live on the outskirts of Hershey, Pa...yes, sometimes I can smell the chocolate. We have a modest size home with ONE bathroom for seven people and guess what.....we do it just fine!
Across the street is a HUGH $500,000 home and they have ONE child! I bet they have "bare rooms".....LOL!!
They want the look of money. But not pay for it. Don't back down She can pay for it. She wants to be able to say that she got it for a lot less than the rest of her friends.
I hear you Amanda. Some people are simply clueless when it comes to having any concept of what it is we do. And then there are the people(bless them!) who are so agreeable to whatever it is you present them with you just want to hug them. And then they tip you on top of it!!!
By the way, here where I live in Hoboken, NJ, $500,000 barely buys you a 2-bedroom condo. It's crazy!
Having the same issue here. A lady wants a cake for Monday ....1/2 sheet fondant and roses (which I have told her repeatedly I cant do very well). I told her it would be about $55-$60. She wants it for $30 cause she "figured out" how much everything would cost. *shakes head* Ugh !! Yet she drives around in a $45k car and lives in Palm Desert...ugh! I feel your pain darlin'.
Just tell me though... for a fondant job with a lot of deco work, is $3.50 / serv too much??? Riddle me that???
One of these days I am just going to man up and raise my prices to some crazy amount like $5 -$6 per serv and dub myslef exclusive and by referral only...LMAO
Many people it's no big deal to make a cake and think it should only be a few dollars. I think Duff explained it good to one of his customers. Just say "I don't do small cheep cakes. I'm known for my one of a kind WOW cakes" Then proceed to say "If you can't afford my fees you may want to check out Walmart or your local grocery store. They have the cheep, run of the mill type cakes."
Oh and here in CA for $500,000 you can get a small condo. That's a really cheep home here. Sad huh?
They have been building some track homes here for over a million. I don't know how people can afford to live here anymore.
I'm right there with you! I had someone call me asking for a cake to feed 25. Didn't care about design or flavor. Would leave it up to me. As a starting point I asked for her budget and she said 150 Thai Baht, roughly the equivalent of US$3.5....for the whole cake! I told her my cakes started at $7 a pound and she'd need at least 3 pounds. She was bargaining me down to $8.50 for a whole cake!!!! She said cakes from Tesco (like Walmart) only cost that much. Was sorely tempted to tell her that ishe should get her cake from Tesco then, but I bit my tongue & politely told her I couldn't do it. She banged the phone down hard on me.
The clincher.....she's a teacher from a presitigious private International school. A teacher with no manners and apparently no brains as well....hope that's not what she teaches her students.
I agree with JoanneK and that you should tell your customer your cakes are such-and-such a price because they are special and that is the end of it. If you lower your prices for one person, then other people will expect it also.
I must say that living here in Hoboken has its upside. I never once had anyone bat an eye at a price I gave them. Hoboken in just across the Hudson River from NYC, so around here people will pay anything for something unique and of good quality.
LOL Amanda ! I need to man up too !!! Im too nice for my own good when it comes to it. This same woman is notorious for saying " I can you make a cake for me....I need it Wednesday night" and its Tuesday morning....dumbass me says "Sure I can do it" I need to grow a pair and tell her no.
I told her since I DO NOT do roses and she was very adement (sp) on having them....I told her I could buy them at the local cake supplier but it would cost her a lil more.....cause I had to buy them. She said "how much more?" I said "well the large ones are 55 cents...the medium ones are 45 cents and the small are 35 cents. How many do you want?" She opted NOT to have roses, lol.
Oh yea....there are track homes going in around the corner here in Banning where I live.....they start in the low $600's. So when I saw $500k I was like...wow....thats not too shabby!
Wow. This is one of the things that scares me about starting a business. I'm just not assertive enough to put people like this in their place.
You definately need to tell her that although she "figured out" how much the supplies cost, she has no clue the hours that go into it.
Maybe we should start charging for cakes like auto repair shops, by labor!
I wanted to tell her that she can pay me by the hour. I of course would expect to be paid at least $9-$10 and hr (competitive wages out here in ca). LOL then she'd REALLY have something to complain about. $60 wouldnt sound so bad after all !!
People are funny about some things. Cake is just flour, sugar, butter & eggs right? 
People wouldn't bat an eyelash to get a slice of dessert at a restaurant for $10 or a drink for $12, but they don't want to spend $60 for a whole cake?
BTW around these parts, you couldn't get a fixer-upper for under $500k.
well,same story here .I have been making cakes for friends and family for years .I have only done 3 or 4 paid cakes and that were for friends who appriciated my work and insisted on paying.Now I get requests form friends of friends and even people I have only met once, and they all expect me to make there cakes for free.For friends I donot mind ,But now some one I barely know asked me if I will make their wedding cake and to add insult to injurry they offered to buy me ingredients.My friends are very angry with me and insist that I clean up my act.
It's just so frustrating... I just can't make the cake she wants for $60 like she wants to pay... and she wants it to feed 40-50...??? Sometimes I just wish people were more knowledgable about cakes and what it takes to make them....
Sounds like she's one of those who worries about her image ($500K house!). Wanna tick her off? Just flat out tell her, "Well it sounds like you can't afford me. You'd probably be able to get cake for 40 at that price at walmart."
Can you picture her face when you accuse her of not being able to afford a cake? 
(oh gosh sometimes I just crack me up!)
Just don't do it then there's no frustration - you've told her your price, she doesn't like it - she gets no cake. We're right behind you!
Just don't do it then there's no frustration - you've told her your price, she doesn't like it - she gets no cake. We're right behind you!
LOL - "No cake for you!!" Like the Soup Nazi
NOW I am really fuming... and wondering....
She emailed me back after I sent the "my cakes with no ther cakes" email. She said mine would be the only one... The original gues number was 40-50 and now she thinks a cake that will feed 17 will do??? and that's with 1 1/2 x 2 slices!!!
She said she needed to get the DJ thing out of the way first b/c that was the most important thing, then the cake. Call me crazy, but I remember great cake(and not just cuz I'm a cakie)... not who played the top 40....
PS... here the average home price is 150-250, so 500K is a nice nice house. Hubby got an offer in Seal Beach, Ca and we turned it down b/c of home prices there.... way out of our league...
(Look confused.... look perplexed when you say) "So you only want cake to feed 15? How are you going to determine which 25 people don't get any cake?"
I actually said that to a bride once. She was ordering food and cake for 175, but wanted to order chocolate fountain for 100. I asked her, "How will I know which 75 people I'm not supposed to let have any choc fountain? Are you going to issue them tickets or something?" She grinned and said, "well, I guess that's true." and ordered the 175.
I sell my cakes in package form. They try the "can I order the package for 100 and get sheet cakes for 50?" I ask them, "So 100 of your guests will get cake on a plate with a fork and napkin; and punch in a cup, but 50 of your guests will get a piece of cake laid on their hand and no punch at all?"
I call it my Dose of Reality Speech.
well,same story here .I have been making cakes for friends and family for years .I have only done 3 or 4 paid cakes and that were for friends who appriciated my work and insisted on paying.Now I get requests form friends of friends and even people I have only met once, and they all expect me to make there cakes for free.For friends I donot mind ,But now some one I barely know asked me if I will make their wedding cake and to add insult to injurry they offered to buy me ingredients.My friends are very angry with me and insist that I clean up my act.
This raised my blood pressure a little just reading! I mean who are these people? I could not even imagine calling a perfect stranger and asking them to donate me hours of their time for free.
they are th same people who see me bake a bday cake fro MY FRIEND (coworker who I ride with once an week and would be willing to deal with outside of work) and then say oooh i want a cake too. sure.. how many peoepl u want to feed ok, that will be this much ! (((evil grin)))
They want the look of money. But not pay for it. Don't back down She can pay for it. She wants to be able to say that she got it for a lot less than the rest of her friends.
Man is that true. But on the other hand, I have grandparent-in-laws that are Multimillionars and they are the biggest tight wads ever! I told them to stop being to tight because when they move on they cant take it with them! But all of these comments are so great! Its wonderfull to hear such support for a member!
btw: my husband bought us a custom built home for $300,000. Not to shabby, I just have to drive 2 hours to get to a walmart!
funny beachcakes, i thought the same thing, no cake for you 
indydebi- love the speech!!!!
What get me the most, is people who think that you can whip out a cake at next to nothing on no notice at all. Then they get mad when you tell them the best they could hope for is a sheet cake. I have even heard them say, "Well if I wanted a sheet cake I could go to Wal-Mart or Reasor's" We tell them to go right on, but a cake like they are requesting, tiered and fondant needs at the very least two weeks notice. Then when they find out the price, they balk at that as well. Like we have fondant covered cakes laying around just waiting for joe blow to call in and ask for a two or three tiered cake. Sheesh
Stick to your guns, if she can get a DJ she can pay for the cake.
What get me the most, is people who think that you can whip out a cake at next to nothing on no notice at all. Then they get mad when you tell them the best they could hope for is a sheet cake. I have even heard them say, "Well if I wanted a sheet cake I could go to Wal-Mart or Reasor's" ....
(1) Duh! 
(2) "Well, if you DIDN'T want a sheet cake, you should have planned ahead and be ready to pay for something more than a sheet cake."
(But then ..... I tend to take the smart a$$ approach!) 
People are just funny! I find it interesting to watch what kind of car pulls up for a cake pickup. Is it a Mercedes SUV? Or is it a junker? Its interesting to sort of mentally "poll" those who have money and enjoy flaunting it by ordering a fancy cake...or those who don't have money but want to spend it anyway....to those in the middle, who are usually the ones that go back and forth in the email trying to make sure the cake is what they want and still within their budget (the ones that take two weeks discussing their daughter's 25 serving birthday cake).
And after almost five years I still can't get over the fact that whenever we are ready to buy a home, we will have to fork over around $300,000 just to get a modest home in a decent neighborhood, with two bathrooms and four bedrooms (will be family of six, four boys who will be huge teens one of these days...). All the places I used to live, $300 grand would buy a VERY posh home!
I like that I can charge decent amounts for my cakes here but...I don't know how anybody affords it after they buy their house!
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