Omg! Whydo People That You Know Expect Tons For Nothing!help
Decorating By sweetneice Updated 21 Jul 2009 , 4:46pm by peacebear07
Ahhhhh- I feel for you too - been there a few times! Just this past weekend I made brownies, awesome freaking brownies with dark chocolate fudge icing........mmmmmmmmmmmm , they are so rich and yummy, everyone asks for the recipe, no one gets the recipe.....won't give out my secrets! So anywho, I was having a party/cookout and packaged up four large brownies per person in pretty printed boxes with see through windows and matching ribbon to seal it up and gave them to my mother and a few other guests to take home, better then me eating them myself! So my mother said, oh, you should sell these along with your cakes, then here is the kicker....she said I would pay $5 for this!!! 
So I told her .....yea, and you're crazy too! She looked at me like I was crazy and wanted to know what was wrong with $5!! HELLO - you can't go to the 7-11 and buy a brownie for $1.25, this was fresh ingredients and not to mention my time!.....This is my mother, the person who hears about my blood, sweat and tears that go into everything I make. Some people just don't get it - including people that you think should! I have come to learn that people just don't understand unless they've seen you make the cake from start to finish, that includes baking and decorating and all the prep and cleanup in between. If they could do that just one time they would realize that your cakes are worth every penny and then some! I just think people are nieve and the cakeshows, as mentioned, don't really show the whole picture. Editing takes hours out of the time it really takes to produce a finished cake!!
I think the suggestions to start out by asking what their ideas are and then ask what their budget is is probably a good way of going about it. That way you both are on the same page and there won't be any sticker shock!!
But I feel for you - I looked at my mother like she had 3 heads and she still didn't get what the big deal was!! LOL I told her for $5 that would get here MAYBE 2 brownies from me!! LOL
Not only is it NOT tacky to ask the budget right up front, but I think it should be a RULE! I phrase it as "What kind of budget number do you want to keep this under?"
To a lot of people, spending $100 on "just a cake" IS a lot of money. Since the TV shows don't give them an idea of what these cakes cost, they really have no point of reference.
In my photo book of "cakes I"ve printed from the internet", I have a few from Toba Garrett's website and I've broken down the cake price to a per-person price. One of her cakes breaks down to $60/serving. (Makes my $3.50/serving look pretty dang cheap, huh! 
)
All of you who have responded and understood my frustration, thanks a million! The suggestions are great and will be taken to heart! I am much better today. I think I just had a moment and really got fed up for a sec. Thanks for helping me through it! Love you guys!
OhMyGanache the mechanic forum!! 
I have a family fullll of mechanics and they soooo gripe but it isn't the cheapo customers so much as the people (usually men) who bring in a car to be checked out and then stand over their shoulder and tell them what is wrong and how to fix it 
My DH and my DDaddy both are like if they know then why did they bring it to me? Though both try to be polite and smile and deal with them nicely. Most of the time the customer really doesn't have a clue because cars now days are more computer and less the autos of old. 
thanks everyone yeah i decided that im just gonna do the cake and not charge her for anything i mean after all shes the only grandma i got left ....but ive decided that depending on the situation will probably charge distance family members 1/2 of what i would charge other family members, i just love making cakes and she's given me my first real chance to prove myself so in a way its worth all the hard work to make her happy...ill let yall know how it turns out and it will probably be my first upload on here...im excited thanks again
My family, especially my mother, are always throwing Walmart in my face. Sams Club too. They go on about how they can get cheaper cakes there. Well, is Walmart or Sams going to match your cake design to a baby shower napkin? It irritates me. I make every family birthday cake for free. It is the gift that I take with me. However, it seems that family and friends always want them free, no matter what they are for. It's a lot of work for nothing in return. I even have some family members that I never hear from unless it's because they need a cake for free. I have stopped doing it. I charge now. I just offer family discounts.
My family, especially my mother, are always throwing Walmart in my face. Sams Club too. They go on about how they can get cheaper cakes there. Well, is Walmart or Sams going to match your cake design to a baby shower napkin? It irritates me. I make every family birthday cake for free. It is the gift that I take with me. However, it seems that family and friends always want them free, no matter what they are for. It's a lot of work for nothing in return. I even have some family members that I never hear from unless it's because they need a cake for free. I have stopped doing it. I charge now. I just offer family discounts.
This has happened to me but it seems to be with family members. I did a favor once and said I would do a cake for what it cost to make it. No labor fees included and I had most of the pans and such at home so it really did not cost me much at all. It ended up being $25 for a three tier cake frosted with white and pink butterbream icing and bc roses. So that is what I charged. I made absolutely no money on it, but I was doing it as a gift....Well now this family member comes back about a year later and wants a cake done, she shows me a pic and I quote her $250. She about lost her mind. "What happened to cost of the product?" So I told her, you have the cost of the products needed to make the cake. Plus my electricity to keep the lights on, the propane to bake this cake, the cost of the icing and the cost of my time. I'm not doing cakes for free anymore. She said to me "What about cutting me a break since I'm family?" I said I am cutting you a break normally I would charge more. I don't understand people. If they want to pay next to nothing for an over the top cake, maybe they should learn how to do it themselves.
yeah my cake is just a sheet cake with 2 little bear cakes on top and some piping im gnna load a pic of it later right now im worried about the transportation but i guess i gotta learn all aspects with my first cake, im proud of it, it turned out decent they didnt give me much to work with so i think i did a good job i just see a few areas to improve in and hopefully with each cake i get better but if they expected me to do a 3 tier or anything bigger than what i did i would have to charge something cause this little cake took me roughly 5 hours so i cant imagine how long it took yall...
Ok, so someone I know called me up on 3way and asked me to do a cake for a surprise party on saturday. I figured no problem, I only have one this weekend anyway, I can do it. They wanted a 3 tier for about 70 people. They wanted presents stacked look. For 70? A 3 tier is going to put you over, so either a 2tier or another style will have to do, or you can do it with the overage, it's really your call. They didnt want that, so I suggested since the present was a really nice hat......that I do an actual fondant hat cake atop a square cake. That way they will have the best of both worlds design & serving size as well. Liked that idea, but when I told them it would be around $210 and that includes delivery they said OMG! Are all your cakes that price? I said no, this is actually cheap because fondant/sculpted cakes start a $5 a slice, and everything I do is made by hand including the frosting, cake, and design. So I replied.......Just be honest and tell me your budget so I know what I can work with. She says 100 dollars, I said Ok, that will get you the hat cake without the square. They agreed and I am TOTALLY disguisted! I've learned now that you can't please everybody and if they want custom cakes at wal-mart prices, then daggone it, go to wal-mart! I'm sick of people acting like I owe them a favor or break all the time. Sorry guys.....I had to vent to someone who understands what we do is hard work and people trying to take advantage or thinking your skills arent worthy of the cost you put on it, is sickening, but...........on to the next client! lol! Thanks for reading!
Ok wait, I'm not understanding--and don't hate me but if I'm getting this straight, you're doing a 70 serving sculpted hat cake for a dollar something a serving and you're pissed at your client?
According to your figures the initial quote should a been $350 yes?
I would be fuming at meself. Hell, I would not do it even if I said it. And y'all whosoever y'all want to can can suck all the air out of the room--Oooowooo She didn't keep her wor-erd ah yep--I ain't gonna screw me that bad. No way no how. Too old too crabby too tired no freaking way.
I mean why keep your word and bleed to death (cut your own throat) in the process? It might make me a non-keeper of my word but I much prefer that to the consequences. I'd rather keep my good name with me. Don't say to uphold truth and justice because this whole thing is a shame. I can't see the nobility through the self destruction.
I'd just call & say, Oh my there's been a terrible mistake. There's seems to be a big screw lodged up my...hahaha I'd be diplomatic but no absolutley not.
Mad at the client? She's a genius.
Follow that chick around and learn from the august one.
Ask me what I really think... 
I apologize if I misunderstood but....
I wonder if it would be tacky to just ask what the customer's budget is before we get carried away with ideas?
It's to bad you weren't able to do the stacked cake.
I really think people dont get how much TIME it takes to make a cake. It doesnt cost me that much to bake a cake, but the time that goes into decorating a cake is what customers are really paying for-in my HO.
I agree with you, the cost of baking a cake and even the cost of BC and fondant is small compared to time spent on the decorating, people just have no idea wha is involved.
I think asking what they budget at the start is the way to go.
When you buy a house, you ask to see what's in your price range. Cars, too.
Why not cake?
I think a lot of people are under the impression that since independents don't have the overhead of owning a bakery that their work should be less expensive.
They really have no idea what it takes to produce a great product. The TV shows make the art seem so easy, but they fail to mention the time it has taken to master techniques!
If it makes any of you feel any better, the same holds true for any artistic venture ... I work in stained glass as well and it's incredible that people will pay $100 for a piece of framed plain glass that has been stamped with a design, yet they flip out when a similar sized stained glass piece is the same price! Never mind it's usually 30+ pieces of glass all custom cut and fitted and lovingly put together ... Grrr !!!
For the Grandma cake, yes do it for free. But if you want to start charging, I think there is nothing wrong with saying that if you had charged, this would have cost $xxx. When people tell me that I should sell cakes, I either go with, "yes, but the first one would cost $50,000" (someone here said that -- the $50,000 being the remodel on my house etc etc) or sometimes "yes, but I would be so expensive, no one could afford me" and I might also make a remark about how it is cheaper to buy a grocery store cake than to pay for my ingredients or I could charge $200 for that cake and I still wouldn't make minimum wage.
yeah with baking and decorating i spent about 6 hours on the cake so my bf so i should charge like 9 or 10 an hour something like that i just dont want to overcharge so i gues i have to find a balance ... i had two people at the baby shower ask me to do cake sin the future i wanted to make sure they knew i wasnt gonna do every cake for free but i didnt want to be rude and say well im gonna charge ya so my question is when do u bring up the issue of price and how do u word it in a way people wont get offended (esp. family members or friends) thanks
i wanted to make sure they knew i wasnt gonna do every cake for free but i didnt want to be rude and say well im gonna charge ya
If you're going to do this as a business, is it not "rude" to expect to be paid for it.
THe money issue is hard for all of us in the beginning, so that makes you normal! 
But clear it up right from the start. Ask them "how much were you wanting to spend for how many guests?" The phrase I tend to use is "What kind of dollar figure do you want to keep this under?" If anyone feigns shock that you're charging them, just tell them if they can tell you where to buy your ingredients for free, then you'll do the cake for free. Until then .......
Is anyone else able to make a 3 tier cake for 70 people?
I can do a 6 (12 servings), 8 (20 servings), 10 (20 servings) square for a total of 62. I go by wilton, so even if you have a few more servings per cake, I'd think you can get 70-75 servings.
Anyway, this is what I have on my website for party cakes and my wedding cake contract: "Note that ingredient cost in nominal in your cake, but time is a major factor. Some cakes can be baked and decorated in one day, while others require weeks of preparation time. The more time involved in your special cake, the more costly it will be."
Is anyone else able to make a 3 tier cake for 70 people?
I can do a 6 (12 servings), 8 (20 servings), 10 (20 servings) square for a total of 62. I go by wilton, so even if you have a few more servings per cake, I'd think you can get 70-75 servings.
I use the wilton wedding chart, so a 6/8/10 serves 12/24/38 = 74 servings (round). 6/8/10 square serves 18/32/50 = 100 servings.
I often use the line "There are so many directions we could go in with your ideas that it would be helpful for me to have an idea of your budget before working up the quote. I can give you a few different design ideas within your budget and then you can choose".
This is a very tactful and professional way to ask the dreaded "what's your budget?" question...
I hope you don't mind if I borrow this one 
once upon a time, my husbands step father told the story, about taking the wrecker out to a stalled motorist, he proceeded to check the car out, and then picked up a large rock and pounded something back in place. Told the owner of the car what it would cost, and the owner said, but you just hit it with a rock, and his stepfather said, but it is knowing where to hit it, that is costing all the money. He paid, of course had he not, his car would have been towed, and then he would have had to pay for that also.
That is a great story!!!
Customer: Can I get you to do me a Dora cake?
Me: Yes, how much do you want to spend?
Customer: Well I can get a slab cake from Woolworths (same as Wal-mart) for $30, so I was thinking $50. (US $40.55 on todays exchange)
Me: (Hesitantly) O.K.
Customer: I want to do a favour for a friend as well and get you to do a Diego cake.
Me: Do you want to pay $50 For BOTH?
Customer: Yes.
Me thinking to myself: Well it would really be me doing the favour.
Me: Well I could but they will BOTH be VERY SMALL.
Customer: OK. Just do mine then.
He He. If she doesn't want to do that big of a favour why should I?
I'm already doing a big enough favour for her.
I swear this is the last favour I'm doing anyone.......except Grandma 
Edited to say customer meaning friend. Friend meaning was.
thanks i think asking upfront is the best way considering the akward moment is over and you can focus on the cake....do any yall ever ask for half of it upfront for a deposit?
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