Charging:the Repairman Vs Cake Artist
Business By diane706 Updated 16 Jul 2009 , 10:31am by cakemaker30
Hey guys. Ummm, I just had a wonderful glass of wine (okay TWO!!) after a long day of caking and had a thought I'd like to share.
I contacted Charm City Cakes a while back about their wonderful show Ace Of Cakes and about the fact that I would LOVE for them to indulge (at least once in a while) their GENERAL costs for the featured cakes on the show so the public gets an idea on how much it costs us cakers to make our edible masterpieces.
For the most part, customers just don't get it... no matter what part of the country they're in. It's understandable, I guess, but when they watch these cake shows they see the hardships and labor that go into each creation.
Why shouldn't we charge as much or more than the espresso machine repair man (or A/C repair man) that just came to my shop to repair my machine and charged $95/hour labor PLUS parts PLUS trip charge.??!!
C'mon!!!! I have at least 3 full days labor into some of my cakes over the espresso man's HOUR and probably WAY more hours of experience in my craft. Yes, it's going to be eaten but the memories last forever! Yikes. Can you tell I'm irritated? My fiance said he would TOTALLY agree with the general public's perspective until he started assisting me and seeing how late I work every night and the $$ that go into supplies, rent etc.
My petition to you guys is to back me in this request to CCC and other cakers on TV to at least give an idea of their costs. I'm not sure how, but we all have to work TOGETHER. We have a real craft to be proud of and CONFIDENTLY charge for!
Thanks for listening and participating. We're a family guys!!! We have to stick together in this if we want to further our viable craft! Nighty Night 
(Mod. edited to add paragraphs to aid in ease of reading.) HTH
I posted on a thread earlier and I was saying the same thing..
People see the cakes on TV and have no idea what they cost, All they see is Wow thats an amazing cake. Then they come to us and say can you make me a cake like the one from this show on Tv..
Sure I can that will be $700. 
They have no clue..
I definitely think they should say how much they charge for those cakes!
Then people might start to realize just because they see these cakes on TV and it looks like they are made in an hour (Because three days work is edited down to an hour show) There is a lot of work and cost involved.
I have book marked their order page on my laptop at my studio. If people say, "man that is a lot for just a cake" I can pull it up and say, I think this is pretty reasonable if you ask me, especially after reading this. 
If you think I am unreasonable, I'm sorry. Have a great day.
Substitute teachers (with MS degrees) around here who TEACH classes all day get about $14/hour. No benefits.
The parking lot attendant at the high school (who mostly sits in his car and checks that all cars entering the lot have parking stickers) gets about $20/hour. No degree. With benefits.
Go figure.
Their eyes have seen the glory but their brains haven't caught up yet.
"Back in the day" .... wedding cakes were ornate creative masterpieces of sugary art and cost a lot of money. Birthday cakes were twenty-dollar sheet cakes.
Today, birthday cakes are ornate creative mastepieces of sugary art and people gasp, "Whadda ya mean it's more than twenty bucks! It's JUST a birthday cake!"
They are willing to pay $100/hour for the A/C guy because my gosh you NEED the A/C fixed, especially on a 90 degree day. But this is "just a cake!" Who NEEDS a cake!? When they order it, then yes, they've decided they NEED it ..... but it's not life or death so it should cost, what ...... twenty bucks?
They can watch all the cake shows in the world and they have no idea what goes into it. Geesh, that's not WORK!! Those people are "just" making a cake! How hard can it be?
Because all they know is "a birthday cake will run you about twenty bucks". So for them to be willing to "go all out" and spend $100 on a cake is really extravagant to them. Too bad they set that budget with a vision of a cake that will cost $719!
Once again, I'll mention Steve Martin's character in "Father of the Bride".
"Three hundred dollars for Cake? It's just flour and eggs!" That's the perception. Time doesn't enter into their thinking.
(He's also the same guy who flipped over the 8 hot dogs/10 buns thing, to which I can totally relate!)
It's just flour and eggs!"
Oh man, this line just ticks me off to all git-out! your house is just wood and nails; your car is just sheet metal and screws; your wedding dress is just fabric and thread; "Gone to the Wind" is just paper and ink.
EVERYTHING is just materials until you add the skill to it. 
It's just flour and eggs!"
Oh man, this line just ticks me off to all git-out! your house is just wood and nails; your car is just sheet metal and screws; your wedding dress is just fabric and thread; "Gone to the Wind" is just paper and ink.
EVERYTHING is just materials until you add the skill to it.
Oh my goodness!! That post actually just gave me goosebumps!! How VERY true and profound Deb! Woo Hoo! YOU GO GIRL! 
It's just flour and eggs!"
Oh man, this line just ticks me off to all git-out! your house is just wood and nails; your car is just sheet metal and screws; your wedding dress is just fabric and thread; "Gone to the Wind" is just paper and ink.
EVERYTHING is just materials until you add the skill to it.
Hear! Hear! Glass raised in salute.
I agree getting the word out about what cakes costs especially on tv shows will help when it comes to pricing.
A friend of mine recently made a cake for her friends birthday, only charged her 35.00 she didn't realize it would take her over 7 hours to complete! Because she was hearing the same thing," what 35.00 for a cake, I can go to xyz and get one for 20.00"
I do notice that on amazing wedding cakes some of the bakeries do mention their prices, especially when dealing with clients who are on a tight budget.
I agree getting the word out about what cakes costs especially on tv shows will help when it comes to pricing.
A friend of mine recently made a cake for her friends birthday, only charged her 35.00 she didn't realize it would take her over 7 hours to complete! Because she was hearing the same thing," what 35.00 for a cake, I can go to xyz and get one for 20.00"
I do notice that on amazing wedding cakes some of the bakeries do mention their prices, especially when dealing with clients who are on a tight budget.
OK rip away LOLOL. Can any of you actually fix an AC unit, or an espresso machine? I hardly think so. I know I can't LOLOL. Everyone knows how to make a cake though. They go to your general supermart pick up a box, toss some eggs into it, burn 1/2 of it, add a can of frosting. POOF you have a cake. Then you have Grandma make a cake from scratch that is drier than Arizona in August, puts the same can of nasty frosting on it. POOF you have cake. The problem is nobody dares to say the cake tastes like crap, they just know someone in the family made it, and why can't you do it CHEAP. If you want cheap, go back to that nasty cake you been eating. LOLOL OK I'm done. 
Mike
That's why we all must pay for talented people to do whatever we cannot do well or at all. I sure don't want to be my do-it-yourself surgeon.
The thing is, that some people might not want the world to know how much they paid for their cake... if I was a client of CCC I know I wouldn't want my cake budget broadcast over the TV. They would have to get written permission to share that info I would think.
I see where you are going with it Mike, but I don't really agree. I could f-up an AC unit just as easily as someone could f-up a cake... doesn't mean I don't understand the value of a skilled professional though.
That's why we all must pay for talented people to do whatever we cannot do well or at all. I sure don't want to be my do-it-yourself surgeon.
Exactly. That's why I always feel a little uneasy about these doctors who advertise on the radio "$800 per eye for laser eye surgery--doesn't matter what your eyesight is like" or "breast augmentation for only $2000." Do you really want Dr. Moneyhungry pointing a laser at your eye? I didn't think so. Simply put, you get what you pay for. Many people on this site have used the same quote: "Good cake isn't cheap and cheap cake isn't good." I like that.
That's why we all must pay for talented people to do whatever we cannot do well or at all. I sure don't want to be my do-it-yourself surgeon.
That was exactly my point. The problem is everyone thinks they can make cake.
Mike
what? My husband makes less than a parking lot attendant?!?!?!? He's a Network Engineer!!!
I am a music teacher, been at it 5 years now and guess what, the parking attendant makes more than me. Oh how our government values it's education!!!!
I feel your pain and dumbfoundedness (is that a word...LOL)
OK rip away LOLOL. Can any of you actually fix an AC unit, or an espresso machine? I hardly think so. I know I can't LOLOL. Everyone knows how to make a cake though. They go to your general supermart pick up a box, toss some eggs into it, burn 1/2 of it, add a can of frosting. POOF you have a cake. Then you have Grandma make a cake from scratch that is drier than Arizona in August, puts the same can of nasty frosting on it. POOF you have cake. The problem is nobody dares to say the cake tastes like crap, they just know someone in the family made it, and why can't you do it CHEAP. If you want cheap, go back to that nasty cake you been eating. LOLOL OK I'm done.
Mike
My bf is a plumber and they charge almost $100/hr in labor and believe me people don't want to pay it and they tell him the same thing that they tell us. Oh well I can unclog my drain for way cheaper than that. I just need to go to the grocery store and get some drano (i.e. box mix and can of frosting in the cake world). The difference between those professions and ours is that when they mess it up they "have" to call him back to fix it. When they mess up their cake everyone still eats it and it's done and over with
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