Price ? - Does This Seem Too Expensive?
Business By shalderman Updated 2 Oct 2007 , 2:00pm by shalderman
As with many of you I hate working out this pricing! I would appreciate any advice...
Cake is 1 layer 9x13 (not sure if it will be BC or fondant) with an 8x8 cake (one layer) cut out in the shape of a onesie & covered in fondant. placed on top. Then on the side two small mini half balls like baseballs and words written (see pic below ~ the onesie is offset but that's when I thought it would just be a fondant cutout, not a cake on top).
I have a chart that shows 9x13x2 = 18 servings (I base it off that middle of the road party serving size) and an 8x8x2 = about 10 servings.
So 28 servings....I was thinking $2/serving which = $56?? That just seems SO expensive to me! Am I way off here? What would you charge? My cost on it is only slightly higher to do the whole 9x13 in fondant vs BC so that's not a huge issue.
Thanks!
You're making the mistake a lot of folks make..... "that seems so expensive!" to you. to YOU. Stop assuming that you know what other people are willing to pay.
You may not be willing to pay $150 for dinner for two. My husband and I do that about twice a year. So good thing restaurants know there are people like us out there who ARE willing to pay a good price for a good dinner.
When you factor in your supplies AND YOUR TIME, then you have the actual cost of the cake. IT IS WHAT IT IS. If someone thinks $100 is too much for "just a cake", then you just point out your front window and tell them walmart is that way ... see what they would charge IF they even do a cake like that.
The Cadillac dealership is not going to lower the price of their $50K Escalade to $25K just because someone thinks that is expensive for "just a truck".
Amen Indydebi! I never second guess myself anymore. Stop thinking your prices are too expensive!!! Give your price, customer either wants it or not. Why produce products that are laced with resentment, cause you know once you get into making the cake, Murphy's Law wants to keep you company, etc then you start thinking about the low price you doing it for and it won't be exciting. Then when you give your customer the final product ( they know they ripped you) you don't get excitement from them you get some dumb little complaint, then you want to refund money, etc etc. Just a visicious cycle.
Charge what you charge and let it go. I feel comfortable charging $25 for 8" round buttercream. The last 2 that I did I got $30 for each, customer was happy and said " I can't get this from Kroger."
Anyways I don't think it's too expensive go for it.
I will gladly add another Amen Indydebi! I finally took the time this year to figure out what it cost me to make a cake and figured up what I want to make. I figured what my most expensive cake would be (time/materials) which happens to be a 6" cake (also the smallest I will make) I now know what it cost to make it and what I want to make on the cake so the price is the price. Just last week I had an order for 5 doz 4" football cookies... Order came up to $240... I about choked when I saw that but... It is what it is. Customer didn't complain they were thrilled to be getting such a detailed item for the event.
As for what I would charge....
Serving size of 1 layer cake 2"x2"x2" (I figure my servings for pricing of this size, if they want to cut them bigger, then they buy more cake-but I will NOT give away free cake b/c they want a bigger slice)
9x13 = 24 serv - $2/serv = $48
8x8 = 16 serv - $3.50/serv = $56 (Anytime I take a knife to a cake it is carved, that takes time and makes it a pain in the butt to ice or cover with fondant so minim charge is $3 starting)
Small Mini ball = aprox 2 serv - $3.50 = $7 (Anytime a cake is out of the ordinary of sq, rect, round, petal, heart, hex it is figured as a 3D cake... still take more time than normal expecially when it isn't something I normally make)
Total $111 (no filling, buttercream and fondant covered) this is cake for 42 people so that comes out to about $2.64/serv. That is pretty reasonable.
Thank you all for your advice 
Let me say ~ I do realize that I must price what things are worth. And well most things will be expensive for me cause I know I wouldn't pay what I charge for cake 
I'm too cheap...so glad I can make it myself!
Anyway I just felt like I was overcharging for a 9x13 cake here... but I think I've come up with a good working point here. I don't think I mentioned but this is a friend of mine (I know...that doesn't matter 
) but I've been doing some cakes for a circle of friends of mine to give me more experience and I've been slowly raising my prices (they know they're getting a deal though...I show them the #'s).
Anyway I decided to offer her teh 9x13 with a fondant onesie cutout for $36, but if she wants the onesie cake on top it will be $56 OR she can do an 11x15 with just a fondant onesie cutout for $50.
She mainly wanted the 3D onesie for a little extra cake. I figure it will be easier on all of us if I don't have to do that 3D cake!
But you all have made me feel better with charging this much and I know its not as much as you all charge but I'm getting there and this $2 is better than the $1.50/serv I charged for the 2 tier 70's cake in my photos. 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%