...so This Bride Comes To Me With Pans....
Decorating By Wendoger Updated 11 Jul 2007 , 4:54am by mekaclayton
You know, I don't give a bride a discount because I already own the pans. I don't charge a bride more if I have to go buy a pan (that I plan on using again ..... if it's a special "I'll only use it for you" type of thing,that's a different story). So the fact that she's buying the pans is not even relevant to your pricing at all.
Bride says:
..."but I bought my own pans!"
Debi says: "Uh-huh. And that affects me how? Because the PAN isn't the big expense in making your cake. That cost amounts to pennies."
They don't take their own skillet into Waffle House, do they?
LOL...
I'm (almost) sure no one takes their skillet to Waffle House...at this point, I don't think I would be too surprised though.
But, really, I don't know how I would respond to this person....give her the name of a wedding cake book...direct her to the public library...
If I wanted/needed the pans, and 35 dollars was the best deal I could get on them(with all the coupons floating about on Wilton products...is 35 the best deal?), I would take 35 off the total price.
Tell her to take the things back and get her money back if I didn't need/want them.
Maybe she thought that she picked out her material for the dressmaker to make her dress that she had to buy the pans for the cakemaker to make her cake.
Either way, it's funny and sad at the same time.
My thought was to tell her you don't use specialty pans...I mean, Duff says it almost every week, "People ask how he gets all these shaped pans"....you carve them out of sheets. (Even if you plan on using a heart pan.)
That way she can watch AOC and see its "true" and you don't have to explain any more about the pans. 
A discount...hahaha...
I love the 5 tier cake story.
My wedding was on the busiest weekend of December, the weekend before Christmas. All of the caterers/djs/locations were doing BIG corporate events -- I was a little fish in the pond, and most places weren't afraid to let us know that.
Unfortunetly, ladies, the "I'm on a budget" trick works , even on one of the busiest days of the year. My caterer made a special menu just for me..enough to feed 100 people for $1000. Yummy food, too. My DJ knocked $400 off the price of his rate.
My location -- I found a cheap one within our means, the local community center.
The CAKE-- made by a good friend who works in her sister's bakery (her sister helped). I was lucky --she wouldn't let me pay.
Unfortunetly, ladies, the "I'm on a budget" trick works , even on one of the busiest days of the year. My caterer made a special menu just for me..enough to feed 100 people for $1000.
As a caterer, let me tell you my caterer's secret: I BUDGET for freebies! I PLAN the cost of what I throw in. Because then when I "throw in" something for free, the bride THINKS I'm being super generous and that she got a great deal and she tells all her friends how great I am.
It's already built into the price, just like my overhead, my advertising and my labor. And it's a very common practice. In my previous sales and marketing jobs, we couldn't come up with a promo (i.e. freebie) until we also had a way to pay for it.
When I meet with someone "on a budget", we turn it into "how much money do you have to spend and let's see what we can create that will fit into that budget." It's never a conversation in which the bride tells me she wants my $15 buffet but she's only has $10 / person to spend and she expects (EXPECTS!) me to lower my price by 50% just because. At that point, it's "Thanks very much for stopping by .... I hope you find someone to do your catering." THAT'S the conversation that pi$$es me off. THAT'S the conversation that Ms. Stephie teaches her brides to have with the vendor. THAT'S when my ability to be helpful walks out the door .... when a bride insults me and my knowledge/skill and tries to tell ME what my prices SHOULD be.
When she pays my bills ... she can tell me how to do it.
Here, here Indydebi!
A fondant cake here goes for $5.00 a serving. And as everyone else has said the cost of the pans are irrelevant...I probably have every pan made.
I give my price and if it seems too much, I ask what they plan for and work from there. My "Lone Star" cake is all fondant and serves 224 (if serving all the cake) and figures at $1120. If in all buttercream, if would be around $550. If using some fondant for accents then the price goes up to about $675.00
And let's not forget the gumpaste hat and boot on top. Another charge for that.
I had made a cake for a close friend at a DEEP discount 8 years ago. Friend told a potential customer what I charged her (8 years ago). Potential customer was shocked that she couldn't get the same per price fee. I looked at her and told her that was 8 years ago and she was a close personal friend of mine. I then called CPF and asked her not to tell anyone what I charged for her cake as she received a very special price (8 YEARS AGO).
Stick to the 3.00 and send her one last email that says "If I do not hear from you by (this date and time) I will be unable to hold this date for you any longer."
If you spend any more time waiting for her to make up her mind, you will lose more than what you would make from her cake because you will be giving up other jobs!
You are worth it!!!!!!!!!!!
No, thats not what I meant. There were no freebies. He didn't give me his lavish, help-served, on real plates meal for less. He had several choices of what he could do, and none of them worked for my budget. He first told me there wasn't anything he could do. He didn't "throw in any freebies" I was paying for it all. But he worked out a meal that he would agree to. It wasn't individual chicken breasts or steak pieces, but a meal better made to portion out, that cut costs a lot. Of course there was no wait staff, and no plates..but I didn't need them. I never asked him to lower his prices for me, and he didn't, but the "on a budget" let him know where I was.
And the DJ still knocked $400 off the price.
Monica, then it sounds like you had the "good" conversation: you told him how much you had to spend and he worked it out for you.
I just get P.O'd at the Stephie's of the world who tell brides "you just go in tell them how much you're going to pay and they have to lower their prices on that item because you're getting ripped off by them to start with."
Sounds likeyou and the caterer made a good win-win team for your event!
I just get P.O'd at the Stephie's of the world who tell brides "you just go in tell them how much you're going to pay and they have to lower their prices on that item because you're getting ripped off by them to start with."
I tried to subscribe to her e-mails but it just ticked me off every time I read one. She is so insulting to the industry professionals. Couldn't deal with it and had to unsubscribe! 
Who is this Stephie person y'all keep mentioning??
Who is this Stephie person y'all keep mentioning??
Read this thread ... you won't believe it!
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-234961-providing.html+plates
O.k. explain the cake in terms they can understand... Ask them to think about what they get paid for 40 hours worth of work, narrow that number of hours work down to 2 1/2 days time. Add into that the sheer cost of ingredients... 4 doz. pasteurized eggs, 5# flour, sugar, 24lbs of powdered sugar, 4# Sour Cream, Flavoring, misc. ingredients, fillings, etc. etc. plus the cost of doing dishes, scrubbing the floor, etc. and she'll find that the $300 for that cake is getting to be pretty darn reasonable.
OTOH, when it comes to the pan issue... When we were booking our wedding cake, the baker tried to say that she didn't even own a 6" pan and couldn't do 6" table cakes for us. Um, yea, WHAT baker doesn't own at least one 6" round pan????? Anyways... "thanks for the offer to use your pans, but I've already got two sets."..
I agree with the PP, 6x6 inch slices, wow, that's my kind of baker! 
OTOH, when it comes to the pan issue... When we were booking our wedding cake, the baker tried to say that she didn't even own a 6" pan and couldn't do 6" table cakes for us. Um, yea, WHAT baker doesn't own at least one 6" ?????
Heck - I have 6!!!!
So....Wendoger - any more on the pan-wielding bride??
Wow this was so rude! Don't you all get so sick of people acting like this constantly! When I ordered my wedding cake (3.95/slice BC) I didn't even second guess it - that's what he charged and if I wanted the cake that's what I had to pay. (Which was actually CHEAP where I got married in Sedona, AZ). Don't these brides know how to make a budget BEFORE they book vendors and get estimates on all their services so they can make arrangements accordingly!!! Maybe THAT is what Stephie should start teaching brides to do instead of getting them to wheel 'n deal with all their vendors! Don't lower your standards, no photog, minister, planner, DJ would do that. You have a set price, that's the price. Period.
The pans are $35 regular price so if she wants a discount because she bought them knock off a whole $35 if you want. If you don't want them don't give her a discount.
For the serving size you're giving her $3 is really reasonable even with her buying the pans, that's a big piece and many places would charge at least that for a slice half that size.
i wouldnt knock any off she probably used a 40 or 50% off coupon to buy those cake pans lol
Hey Wendy! You gotta stick to your guns girl! I charge $3.50 per serving (party serving sizes) for fondant and I charge extra for different cake flavors, and some fillings. Why do people think they can negotiate on cake prices? They don't do that at the market or the department stores...UGH!
Hey I'll see yah on Thursday! Man is it HOT here or what!! I think we may be in the lake tommorrow (99 degrees!!)
Jacqui
I'm dealing with a similiar situation with one of my cousins co-workers. This is the last cake she has ordered from me out of 3 this year. I don't plan on taking any more from her. She has been emailing me pics of different baby shower cakes for 2 days now to see if she can get 1 of them within her price range. This isn't her baby shower, her sister in law....for 60 people and she originally wanted a basketweave design that I did for almost 200 people. The cake was big of course, so of course for 60 people....it won't look like that. Plus I had cake blocks around the cake...cut from a 1/2 pan. She doesn't want to spend more than $100 but the designs she keeps emailing me will cost well over that. PLUS she wants a discount for a cake I did for her and got the flavor wrong. BUT I gave her an additional glass for a martini cake that I do (nothing fantastic)..in which I quoted her one price and she came back and asked me for an extra glass...(okay, the price for the cake would have been higher at this point but I didn't charge her....discount right? the glass is costing me??) So to keep down the ugliness, I said if you felt you weren't compensated "enough", then I will discount this baby shower cake (the cost of the cake with the wrong flavor). To make a long story short 'cause this isn't my post....she's trying to get over on me. And in return, whatever she emails me will be well over $100. Hoping I can shake her LOL LOL
Sorry I hijacked this one but can I please add, that when I got the cake flavor wrong, I offered her a discount or a partial refund and she said it wasn't that serious that her son was just disappointed 'cause the cake wasn't chocolate, they ate the butter cake and loved it...his heart was just hurting. And don't you know, ever price I quote her, she subtracts the cost of her son's cake??? Because she works with my cousin, I'm really trying not to ruin their work relationship.
I'm so sorry Wendoger....I just wanted you to know, I feel ya!
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