Inconsistencies In Pricing?

Business By keyshia Updated 29 Aug 2008 , 10:45pm by FromScratch

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keyshia Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 4:08pm
post #1 of 11

Okay...so I'm about to become licensed (did I spell that right? Coffee hasn't kicked in yet!) to bake from home. I've been checking the pricing of others around me. There are only a couple places close to me that do cakes (besides walmart and target etc). Anyway, I looked at a couple places in Salt Lake and noticed that they weren't consistent on their pricing. Rather than having a per slice price, they gave pricing for certain sizes (an ex would be a 7 in round and 10 in round that they listed at 45 servings for $165). This site went consistently down as low as like 2.20 per serving. The other site seemed all over the place. One size (the smallest) was like $5.66 prt slice and the next level was like $3.66...but it didn't consistently go down as some prices were more than others.

I don't think I really have a question, I just thought this was strange. I can understand not pricing "per slice" when giving a whole price to the customer, but why the inconsistency...and do brides notice this?

10 replies
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Solecito Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 4:36pm
post #2 of 11

May be it has to do with fixed expenses, for example: I use the same amount of gas if I'm baking a 9x13" than if I'm baking 2 or 3; I use the same plastic showcase for a 9x13 layer as for a double layer. I buy my eggs in 18 piece cartons, if I have to make 1 or 2 cakes I still have to spend for the whole carton. Do I make any sense? Some smaller cakes would be more expensive to make than bigger ones if you price by slice.

Those are just my examples, but I'm guessing it's something similar.

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keyshia Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 5:13pm
post #3 of 11

It does make sense...it just seemed odd because the smaller cake (on the site where it was $5.66 per serving) it was a 9in and a 6 in...so not really odd shapes? I guess to each his own huh? icon_smile.gif I'll just have to price accordingly...but I'd prefer to keep it a round number...maybe that's the OCD in me. icon_biggrin.gif

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littlecake Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 5:29pm
post #4 of 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solecito

May be it has to do with fixed expenses, for example: I use the same amount of gas if I'm baking a 9x13" than if I'm baking 2 or 3; I use the same plastic showcase for a 9x13 layer as for a double layer. I buy my eggs in 18 piece cartons, if I have to make 1 or 2 cakes I still have to spend for the whole carton. Do I make any sense? Some smaller cakes would be more expensive to make than bigger ones if you price by slice.

Those are just my examples, but I'm guessing it's something similar.




i don't price by the slice for this very reason....well put!

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CakeDiva73 Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 5:43pm
post #5 of 11

I was totally stumped by this at first too.... I eventually came up with a pricing structure and used pi to determine overall size and uniformity of pieces and then tested it to be sure I was in line all across the boards. I am more expensive on the smaller sizes since I am not turning on the oven for $15 or anything, lol.

I also list cakes by size for a set price for each size. Stacked/tiered cakes are priced by the slice, regardless of the occasion. I was having trouble finding a price that would get me enough for larger cakes but not charging a fortune for smaller ones. Alot of people price by the slice and call it a day and if that works for them, wonderful. For me, my smaller cakes ( i.e. 8 inch, 10, inch, etc.) were so high no one would ever order them so I had to figure something out and I didn't want to charge more for wedding so that's what I decided on.

It has worked for me so far. And if they want a premium flavor, etc I add another .25 per serving.

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FromScratch Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 5:57pm
post #6 of 11

I am a price per slice person.. I charge enough to cover it all for smaller cakes (though I don't really make many small cakes).

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MargaretG Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 6:06pm
post #7 of 11

I also do exactly as CakeDiva73 does. In my area I can't get away with serving individual cakes by serving sizes. I have a party cake pricing list for that. Stacked/tiered cakes are priced by slice. I also won't do a stacked/tier cake for under 50 people.
Margaret

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indydebi Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 9:29pm
post #8 of 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by jkalman

I am a price per slice person.. I charge enough to cover it all for smaller cakes (though I don't really make many small cakes).




Ditto.

Sometimes it's just a matter of semantics.

I can tell someone "A 10" round cake serves 35 people, at my price of $3/serving equates to $105."

Or......

I can tell someone "A 10" round serves 25-35, depending on how you cut it, and the price is $105."

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MargaretG Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 9:49pm
post #9 of 11

Oh my, I could never get $105 dollars for a 10" cake! My 10" Party cake is $38.00. But I add extras for every little thing, which they agree to. Go figure. I live in a retirement County, cheap, cheap, cheap.

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indydebi Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 10:10pm
post #10 of 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by MargaretG

Oh my, I could never get $105 dollars for a 10" cake! My 10" Party cake is $38.00. But I add extras for every little thing, which they agree to. Go figure. I live in a retirement County, cheap, cheap, cheap.




That's what it costs when it's the middle tier of a wedding cake ... that's what it costs when it's not. It's the same work, so it's the same price.

I do have a "dessert cakes" price list. Pretty plain cakes that I can whip out fast. But even those are $80 for a 10" ... $95 if you get choc-covered strawberries on them: http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page7.html

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FromScratch Posted 29 Aug 2008 , 10:45pm
post #11 of 11

Goodness.. it would cost me almost $38 just to make a 10" cake.. I bake from scratch and use high end ingredients.. it's part of my marketing strategy.. I make it known well ahead of time that you are getting something special and you should expect to pay for it. I charge $157.50 for a 10" cake. That's dessert for 35 people.. at $4.50/serving.. I don't care what the occasion is.

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