How Far In Advance Should You Be Notified Of An Order?????
Decorating By olana11 Updated 10 Oct 2006 , 12:20pm by olana11
I had a person from my daughter's school ask for a cake for a tailgate party-problem being she gave me 2 days notice....I was buried in various other projects so I was unable to do it anyway but I was wondering if I'm just totally amateur and need to get with it 
or was that short notice???
I've been wondering the same thing. A few weeks ago, I had someone ask me to make a cake for a surprise wedding shower they're giving a coworker "sometime in October". Well, October is almost half over and they still haven't committed to a date! I'm booking up quickly, but don't want to pass the shower cake up because it will get great exposure and potentially lead to more orders.
Since I work full-time and have family responsibilities as well, I am going to put the word out in the future that I politely request at least 3 days notice.
..my thought was about a weeks notice would be sufficient as well.
I usually bring in cakes/cupcakes for special occassions in school and they are always very detailed... sculpted with handmade decorations. Although she wasn't specific on what she wanted I know that's what she was looking for.... so I feel a little better that i wasn't being completely unreasonable 
I usually require a weeks notice but thats because where i live is 45 miles from anywhere i can purchase supplies and i only go into town once a week if i can help it but if its a simple cake and i already have the supplies i will do it the same day but strongly advise giving more notice the next time.
I had a woman call me last week one night at 1 am in the morning (explanation: I live in Saudi Arabia and many women tend to stay up very late at night and sleep very late in the morning) that wanted a cake to serve 40 for the next evening (8 pm). Fool that I am, I took the order, since I am just starting out! But it paid off, because she called me 5 days later and ordered another cake. She gave me a little more notice-called at 9 pm for the next evening, LOL. I'll be informing her next time that I need more notice, at least 48 hours, and more like 4-5 days for big cakes. She got lucky and got me on two days that I had nothing going on, but that's not always the case.
Julie
I work around having my two toddlers fulltime with me, so I have knocked back a couple of orders that only gave me 3 days notice as I request at least a week. Most customers are great, I have bookings already until December..I love the ones that give like 2 months notice, cos I can really plan my time around their cakes!
That is short notice. I think people assume it's okay since it's all you need at a grocery store. Just explain that you work differently. You do custom work - and like any place that does custom work, you need more notice. Not only does this make you look more professional, it makes you seem in demand as well when you are "already booked" which is another way of saying, two days notice is not enough because I'm too busy . Every once in a while a simple cake comes along that you CAN do in two days, but this seems like the exception.
Depends on the type of cake if its a fruit cake you need at least 6 weeks notice as the cake needs time to mature. Any other cakes I usually try to make one day and decorate and deliver the next. If you are doing cakes all the time you usually have some sort of decorations around that you can use but if you need to make decorations for your cakes then you need a bit more time and depending on what type of decoration would depend on how long you need.
Having said that my sister came home one night with a cake order for the next day is was a dolly varden cake. No cake mix but it was easy and the girl got her cake the next day. So if push comes to shove I will do it as I don't do a lot of cakes.
I agree with dydemus. I am not a bakery, but a custom cake studio. Everything is done by hand and fresh to order. How much notice I need depends on how busy I am to begin with, and how detailed a cake the customer is looking for. I have no problem telling people that I am booked, which I usually am at least 1 month ahead, if not more. A few people have gotten a little "testy" with me when I turned them down, but that just makes me glad I turned them down to begin with! 
I would think a weeks notice would be the minimum. Things do happen on the spur of the moment but there's usually more planning involved than that. I don't understand why the cake order is put off until the last moment. A birthday, happens every year, doesn't it? A wedding, usually planned for months. I don't know, just doesn't seem fair to the baker that you're expected to drop everything because they didn't plan well. (And yes, I've made cakes for the next day. Can't say I liked it, but I did it.)
I agree with the others. It just depends on my schedule and the type of cake.
Normally August and May are bad months for me, (school starts and then the kids have end of the year stuff) I normally like at least a week. That way I can make sure I get all the stuff I need to make the cake. But I have done cakes with 2 days notice but I don't like doing that.
I had told the woman I was "booked up".
All the points brought up here were exactly what I was up against. I need at least a day to brainstorm-then go get the supplies......
three kids(4 if u include the hubbie),etc....
Maybe I was just cranky from school starting but it kind of irked me that she thought I could just pull it out of my bottom 
I think even Walmart requires more notice than that.
I was wondering the polite way to explain to the next person regarding notice.....
Thanks to everyone who posted- I know you all are definately more advanced than I am and if you require more notice that makes me feel better! 
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