I'm ready to get one of those old fashion woodstoves the old timers cooked on...LOL.. Then I'll have to learn how to bake all over again..
It's awful how expensive things are getting to be.
I'm just baking for my family now.. people don't want to pay the price and I don't want to bake and decorate for nothing either...sooo that's that!
Hi indydebi and all,
I'm not in the position to charge for what I do yet - most of what I accomplish is for the enjoyment of friends and family, but some day....
Anyway, I was recently surfing the internet while on vacation and came across a thread - I want to say it was on the ICES site, or some link from it - regarding pricing, as the products we use are going up daily - not taking into account what you and your experience are worth on a yearly basis. Knowledge and experience do not depreciate - thank goodness!!
Out of that thread were a few suggestions:
Raise your flat prices by 3% to account for the price of goods, your experience, etc.
OR
Raise your base price of each cake by $5 and a percentage for the extras as you see fit in order to justify the cost of what you produce.
I don't know what that translates into with the math, but everyone is raising their prices - it's the cost of doing business. My FIL has run a family business for over 50 years, which my DH will inherit - loyal customers always stay because they understand, but most importantly they want your product and don't mind paying a little more to get it. The price of your good business reputation alone is priceless!!
I know that here in Ohio, they are reporting a 40% loss in crops this year. Especially corn. Which is used to feed cows. Which leads to the rest of the issues. We had a horrible summer with no rain. So we lost a lot of crops. I am sure somewhere, that will effect things.
This was just the nudge I needed to sit down with my receipts and go through my matrix and update everything, and sure enough, I saw price increases that warranted my raising prices $0.50/serving across the board, so I updated my website and specialty cake price list! Glad I caught it now, before I book too many for next season yet. 
Thanks Deb for bringing it up.
p.s.--on a "honey bee" note--we have an orchard of 10 fruit trees and saw no, repeat NO fruit this year. No, wait, I think I had like 5 pears... Same with my neighbor. I have lots of flowers in the garden, though--just no fruit. Could've been a late frost or...?
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