Have you ever considered partnering with another home baker? Is it a good idea? Could it work?

Did you list pros, and cons of doing it? Are you buying a place, or using one of yours kitchens? There would have to be a distinct advantage for me to do it.

Mike

Personally, I would never be able to do it.
Especially if there were two different cake styles.
I think there would be too much head-butting and toes being stepped on attitude.
But if you can, Great!!
just not for me.
Jodi

really depends on how well you get along, its such a personal thing that i don't know if i could do it or not. I do know that there is only one person that i know that i would even consider doing something like this with.

I used to have a partner and it worked for us. We complemented each other. She loved doing what I hated and vice versa. We would also work as a team on big projects like complex carved cakes or tiered fondant cakes. Creative differences of course would sometimes arise but everything was resolved with honest, respectful communication. Partnership broke up when I moved to another country.

Our biggest blunder working as a team was all my fault. We had a booth at a fair which was normally a big money maker for us. Organizer told us they expected 1000 people. I calculated that if just had a 5% market share we'd be fine. Somehow I came up with the number 500 instead of 50 so we prepared for a crowd of 500. After the fair, with a ton of food left over, it suddenly dawned on her how stupid my calculation was. The irony is she was a certified accountant so she should have been good with numbers and she should've picked up on the mistake. Good thing we had enough sense of humor to laugh about it. It still fuels our many giggle fests when we get together.

Sigh... I miss my partner.

To me that would be difficult. I get extremely picky with everything and I cannot work with someone who doesn't have OCD.

I thought about partnering with someone else but she was a little to bossy and wanted me to do things her way. I have to do things that works for me, so we just felt no this will not work we had two different decorating styles. Other than that we are great friends.

I wouldn't do it.

I don't think it would work....having two home bakers with equal talent...each would want to do things his/her own way. And who would have the last say? It would be hard.

The closest I get to it is having a few people I can call on in case of emergency, to fill a cake order for me or to refer others to if I'm booked up. But that's not really partnership...more of a "backup".

I couldn't do it! Too Stressful just thinking about. I've had some helpers here and there and I just couldn't focus. Or maybe I couldn't focus because I couldn't let go enough to allow someone else to do it their way. I like...NEED things to be cleaned along the way. Others...want to wait till it's all finished. Some lay tools everywhere, I need them visually organized at all times. I just couldn't do it. I have been told I have OCD tendancies when it comes to baking and creating. I love what I do, can't help it.

BUT....it might work for you. Listen to your gut and be realistic.

Haha, I'm one of those who trashes the kitchen while I work and then I have to fix the destruction when I'm done. I get so focused on getting my project done that I can't stand to stop and clean up. So I end up spreading myself out over my entire kitchen by the time a cake is finished.

Yes it would probably bug most of you haha. But hey I get my cakes done...and I get my kitchen clean...and my neat freak hubby has learned to cope with me! LOL.

Kitagirl--that's exactly how I bake/decorate too.....works for me, but I kind of run out of space occasionally (clean space that is!).

And, I might add, I spent over 30 years working in large corporate environments with a LOT of interaction with many, many people every day of my work life.

Cake decorating is solitary work, a solo gig, and I like it that way. I've earned the right to work blissfully alone to create something beautiful that is all my own. I'm very selfish of that.