Do You All Price Your Ingredients Before Making Quotes?
Decorating By berryblondeboys Updated 27 May 2007 , 8:59pm by mjs4492
I just went to the grocery store and bought this:
2 dozen organic eggs - $6.00
2 boxes of unsalted butter - $7.00
2 bags of unbleached flour - $5.00
2 bags of Domino sugar - $5.00
3 bags of powdered sugar - $7.00
1 large container of sour cream - $2.50
one large container of crisco - $5.25
Then, at the cake store I bought the SMALLEST Satin ice they have (2 lbs) for $14.50.
I'm making two 11x15s. I will use 16 eggs. That's like $4.00. I'll use all the unsalted butter, so now we're to $11.00, I'll use about $5.00 of powdered sugar and about a $1 of crisco, so we are at $17.00. FLour and regular sugar - winging this one, but $3 of those? so $20.... , $2 for decor, and if I use the satin ice $14.50 more.. so this diaper cake is costing in INGREDIENTS ALONE about $35.00!!!! About double what I thought it would cost!!!!
When I see that this cake (which is big yes) costs in ingredients ALONE $35 and I got some of this on sale!!! HOW, HOW do you all sell cakes for $20 or $30??? ESPECIALLY fondant cakes?????? What????
I know I don't look for the cheapest ingrdients because I KNOW taht better dairy and flours make a difference, but still!!!!
Costco's 11x15 cake with special filling is $20.00 here. It would cost me about $15 on ingredients alone -
Melissa
I have my recipes that I have priced out. So I know how much it takes to make 6 cups of cake and 6 cups of buttercream. I know what the standard size I order fondant in so I can figure out my cost per lb. For all my recipes I figure up the cost of how much 1 tsp of vanilla cost, what 1 egg cost and how much a cup of flour is etc...
I do figure my pricing on if I had to buy the most expensive item or smallest amount just in case I need to. Because one store sells eggs for 11 cents a piece but the other store is 8 cents a piece. I charge the 11 cents incase I can't get the 8 cent eggs, but either way I am covered and if I get the 8 cent eggs then I just made an additional 3 cents =) (hope that wasn't confusing)
So then I look at a pan say I need 6 cups of cake and 4 cups of buttercream. Add my pricing together and I know what my cost is for that size of cake.
Add up the cost and make sure i'm covered.
I can not imagine selling a fondant cake for $20 or $30 unless I wanted to work for $0.50 and hour.
I have my prices and if they want the cake they will pay for it, or I won't do it. I do this on the side but I run it as if it were a full time business or I wouldn't get anywhere with it or I would end up hating it.
I think I covered everything here, if I forgot to touch on something you asked sorry, and ask me again =)
I dont' price everything out first. I'm a number cruncher anyway, so I've even figured it out that my wedding cakes sell for about $30-35 per cake mix that I use. Sheet cakes sell for $22-27 per cake mix used. Just knowing the pan sizes and knowing how many mixes I will use tells me what the approx sell price will be ..... which is backed up by my price per person pricing structure.
Even with my catering, I have a general idea of the costs. Only if it's something I've never made before will I tell a bride that I have to check with my suppliers before I can give them a price.
With a good pricing structure in place, I don't have to price out every order from scratch. Every 3 months or so, I take my spreadsheet of things I buy and go to Sam's, GFS, Walmart and update the pricing. I add a new column every time so I can tell if something has gone up or down. (Just discovered last night that 1 gal of Ranch Dressing at GFS has gone up a full dollar since the last price check!).
The trick is to keep current on what you are spending so you know instantly what you need to spend to make the item.
I knew how much my "other" cake recipe cost, but I was trying something new and didn't do my homework first. However, I cut down the amount of cake I was making (they only need for 50 and I was making for about 85), so now my costs are back to where I thought they might be. It's my OWN fault I didn't make my own fondant first, but now I know... I didn't know it needed to SIT for 24 hours before using it! Oops!
Now... back to my concave-ish cakes... I guess they aren't as bad as I thought - just not as tall as I had hoped, ugh!
Melissa
I made one cake and figured out it cost me $55 to make. It wasn't even that big really.
I do have a big problem with giving a person way to much cake for what they ordered. I just can't stand a dinky looking cake. 
Also, I think the size that is allowed per person is way to small. I know I like cake and 3-4 bites is not enough.
I think you need to tell the people that your cakes are custom one of a kind cakes and they are not mass produced like Costco or Sams or WalMart. So your costs are more.
If someone just wants a Costco type cake then they would go there. If they are going to order from you it's because they want extra good flavor and design and know You get what you pay for.
"I have my prices and if they want the cake they will pay for it, or I won't do it. I do this on the side but I run it as if it were a full time business or I wouldn't get anywhere with it or I would end up hating it."
Yep...me too. Eventually I'd like this side business to be a full-time business. But I also know that I won't be able to make it...and I'll hate it...if I can't make any money. I'd rather have less business but make some $$ on the business that I do have. I use the extra time to keep on practicing...making gumpaste flowers, etc.
Melissa, your ingredients are so expensive! BUT, I know you bake organic and people are used to paying more for that specialty. WOW. I think that's part of the difference.
this time I didn't even buy organic besides the eggs!!! not the flour - it was too expensive, not the butter, add not the sour cream. I came down on my price for this cake because she's a friend and i KNOW she's not an organic person. I still bought good stuff, but I would have spent $10 more if it were organics!!!
Melissa
Wanted to add - this entire area is super expensive which is why my starting price for cakes is $45.
Melissa
Wanted to add - this entire area is super expensive which is why my starting price for cakes is $45.
Melissa
Are you able to purchase from Costco or Sam's? We only have Sam's where I live...and not a very big one at that...but I can get butter at $7.44 for 4 pounds, a HUGE container of sour cream for $3.76 (like 10 cups or so), organic flour is about $.70 per pound, organic eggs are $3.76 for 18. I've noticed that Sam's is carrying more and more organic products. YOu can make organic fondant by using the Toba Garrett recipe and using all organic products. I can get all those ingredients at "Mother Earth".
Oh well may be you can help me, I love to try different filling on my cakes well I have on free cakes (lemond custard, almond custa, strawberries and cream, cookies and cream, chocolate ganache, chocolate buttercream) you name it but no one ever orders those fillings they usually stick to buttercream in the middle, do they not like my filling or what? Anyways sometimes I'm glad they don't cause boy they are expensive to make!!! How do you charge for filling when they are so expensive to make or do you stick to filling you know you can sell at a reasonable price. I have read on many websites $1 for a different filling per layer and I was like "what!!!!!!!!!!!" no way I can make cookies and cream and sell it or $1 a layer. I cannot wait to get my license to start buying things wholesale I think this is why a bakery (not a grocery store) charges almost nothing for sheet cakes!
I like that you can buy the premade fillings (just discovered this even though I'm really new to this whole thing anyway). I made a cake with a strawberry mousse filling- I bought items at wholesale prices but only used a little so I ended up spending more than I needed if I just got the right amount.... so now Cake Castle gets my business when I need a filling!
Can't wait to try this coconut filling I picked up 
))
I quote by the serving and estimate how much work it will be. Every so often I will calculate an approximate cost/profit after I do the cake to make sure I am still making enough.
I recently raised my prices so I'm pretty good for now I think. I just do this on the weekends by word of mouth so as long as I have a decent profit margin I'm not too worried about it.
I have 2 sticky notes inside one of my kitchen cabinets: one for price of one cake and one for price of one batch of icing. At the bottom of one of the sticky notes, I have the price for one cake with icing. These are calculated for a cake that uses 1 box mix. I have a note for myself the minimum price for fondant.
It's a starting point for me when someone asks for a cake. Usually the first question I'll ask is "how many servings were you looking for?" Then I'll go from there....
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