What Do You Think Of This Price?
Decorating By giggysmack Updated 11 Mar 2010 , 1:49pm by Bread_n_Buttercream
I was sent this photo by a customer. She wanted it to feed about 50. I quoted her a price of $272 as is for a cake to feed about 60 (to go a size down would put her below her seving amount)
the message I got back was
Thanks but I got another company to make it...for only $80
Wow! I'm pretty sure it would cost me about $80 in material alone! The only way I could see making a cake for this price would be that I desprately wanted it for my gallery of photos. I wish the customer all the best and I'd love to see how it turns out. Hopefully if the decorater is new she/he will gain some good experience from it.
It can be frustrating when someone offers to make it for this price but there is no way I could.
Wow! You're right...I think that would barely cover the cost of materials! $80 is a crazy price!!!
Wow! Sounds like the other baker is paying the customer for the privilege of making the cake. Unbelievable!
My prices are considered low compared to many on CC, but even I laugh at $80. More power to her.
Just keep your eye on www.cakewrecks.com because that's where an $80 version is likely to end up.
Maybe they decided against it when they found out the price and didn't want to tell you! Who could make that for $80? That's crazy!
Maybe they will strip a Wallmart sheet, cut it, cover it and stack it, forget the topsy-curvy ... Forget it, if the price fits them ... They will serve it and eat it, not you ....
Dear $80 baker,
There's a lesson here for all you folks who think that selling a cake for cost/cheap/newbie learning price (whatever you call your underpricing) will give you experience/portfolio pics/a future loyal customer base:
The only results of this situation are:
1. one baker lost money and time making a $500 (+ or -) cake for $80.
2. every other real baker lost the opportunity for a real job.
3. one more client (and everyone she tells) is now under the unalterable assumption that she can get a cake like that for $80 if she just looks around long enough to find an insecure newbie baker.
There are clients out there who will pay what your cake is worth. If someone can't or won't pay what your cake is worth, don't lower your price and give your cakes away, send them to Walmart. They're not your customers. And you'll only be training them to think they are. And that hurts all of us.
I wonder if they threw out the $80 quote hoping you would match what they wanted to pay. You know, i can get it for this (even if they cant) can you match it.
Interesting peg818
She never mentioned but I'd buy it from you if..... but if she does I will have to say no
Thank you for your thoughts artscallion those are mine exactly!!
Yes some bakers would scold me for charging $272
In my area there is very little opportunity to get paid properly for a cake of this quality. So I don't often make them.
Unfortunately I may loose this client now as I have made several cakes for her in the past.
I wouldn't worry about losing it. A cake like that is far too much stress over $80.00. I just had a customer inquire about a "small" three tier fondant covered cake for her daughter's first bday for about 25 guests. The design was the damask pattern (like the Martha Stewart cake), with a fondant ribbon around the bottom. Her husband got excited when I told him that I could do it. When I told her that the smallest I could go for three tier was a 6,8,10, and that it would be around $300.00. She then comes back to me and says she found another baker to do it. This cake was a wedding cake, not a baby cake. Therefore, I will charge a wedding cake price. I just don't think that people understand sometimes! Don't worry about losing her. There will be more customers that will pay for good work.
I wouldn't worry about losing the client. If she does buy this $80 cake, she will soon realize why she paid only $80! Since she has purchased from you in the past, she knows your quality of work, and if the price reflects the quality in the other cake, she will come back to you in the future. And as the others have mentioned, other people will pay for your good work!
Just keep your eye on www.cakewrecks.com because that's where an $80 version is likely to end up.
Unfortunately I may loose this client now as I have made several cakes for her in the past.
Hopefully, if all is right with the Cake Gods, she'll get a mess of a wreck and come back to you....and stay!
Lol! I definately don't wish her any ill will. But she has been a good customer. Very nice and polite. I would not want to loose her. I truly wish her all the best
But I definately want to see how the cake turns out!
Probably someone that has never made one of these cakes before. My first ever topsy turvy was a 2 tiered 8,7,6 on top and 11,10,9 on bottom (that's like 50 serv. of cake at least) with fondant accents, gumpaste plaques, silver dragees, gems on wires, gumpaste roses......I timed myself while making ever aspect of the cake and I spent over 36 hrs. JUST in decorating and making the flowers, etc. Not baking or cleaning up after the tornado I created.
This is the cake below (2nd one) The 1st one is the photo the customer gave me from Freed's Bakery in Las Vegas....This cake from them was $800 at the time I believe, the customer wanted it similar with a few color changes and such. I quoted the girl $50.00 for this cake AND 4 dozen cake truffles!!!
This cake today is now close to $200 same size, same everything. I had NO CLUE what was going to go into making this cake. In the end I figured all my reciepts up and I had spent $48.00 making the cake and truffles and this didn't include piping bags, colors, gas, water, electric, travel expense to buy the items. This was just the bare necessities to make the cake!!!
Live and learn, I did.....and I'm sure this baker will too!!!
The only results of this situation are:
1. one baker lost money and time making a $500 (+ or -) cake for $80.
2. every other real baker lost the opportunity for a real job.
3. one more client (and everyone she tells) is now under the unalterable assumption that she can get a cake like that for $80 if she just looks around long enough to find an insecure newbie baker.
.
You need to add that they're going to have an unhappy customer who complains to all her friends about how the baker didn't copy the cake the right way, and who spreads the wrong kind of word-of-mouth. There's no way that someone who's charging $80 for that cake knows what they're doing, and they won't be able to copy the design well enough to make the customer happy.
The only results of this situation are:
1. one baker lost money and time making a $500 (+ or -) cake for $80.
2. every other real baker lost the opportunity for a real job.
3. one more client (and everyone she tells) is now under the unalterable assumption that she can get a cake like that for $80 if she just looks around long enough to find an insecure newbie baker.
.
You need to add that they're going to have an unhappy customer who complains to all her friends about how the baker didn't copy the cake the right way, and who spreads the wrong kind of word-of-mouth. There's no way that someone who's charging $80 for that cake knows what they're doing, and they won't be able to copy the design well enough to make the customer happy.
Oh, excellent! Yeah---all of this. Sad sad sad.
A friend of mine wanted a cake for her daughter's bday. Another baker was offering to make a three teir cake to feed about sixty for-----$40. Yes that wasn't a typo---$40. Well I told her that I couldn't possibly do such an elaborate cake for that price. Even with a friend discount I could not possibly compete with that price. She then went on to say how she had seen this bakers work and it was pretty good. Part of me was glad she was going with someone else and another part of me was kind of hurt that all she cared about was cheap. Well party day cake and went (I didn't get to go) and I asked her how her cake was. She said it wasn't too great. She explained that the cake showed through the frosting in some areas and it looked sloppy. She admitted mine were way better. Just goes to show that you pay for what you get. I am by far not as good as many of you but I try my best not to dissappoint anyone. If I don't absolutely love it then how can I expect others to. I really don't think you'll loose this customer. She'll be back once she realized the difference in quality.
I agree with a lot of what's been mentioned in the previous posts, you definitely get what you pay for in the cake business. It's very difficult finding that magic number that assures value to both the shop and the customer and we've found that there's very little loyalty when dealing with a client who's only concern is price. As soon as they find something cheaper, they're gone. One should never be afraid to charge a fair price for their hard work.
I also wanted to make a quick correction to the pricing of our "Leslie's Birthday Wishes" as shown above... Generally a 4x8 in that particular design will run right around $235 (For 15 Guests) instead of the $800 as mentioned. The original customer might have been looking at a larger size or it might have been the result of a simple game of telephone... Thanks!
I was asked to do a Topsy Turvy for a friend of a friend. I told her the "friend price" of $200 or around there. She thanked me and said it was out of her budget of $80 (I said we could do something simpler, but she wanted topsy turvy) and she had someone in the city who would do it for her. Ok, no biggie.
A few weeks later I see her and asked how the cake went. I inquired about the topsy turvy part, and she said it was ok. "It was more like a sheet cake with topsy turvy COLORS."
3. one more client (and everyone she tells) is now under the unalterable assumption that she can get a cake like that for $80 if she just looks around long enough to find an insecure newbie baker.
And if folks would price cakes for their true value, a shopping client would end up realizing, "Gosh! EVERYONE told me they wouldn't touch this cake for under $300! I had no idea it would cost this much!" She just became educated on the true value. That's just what it costs.
I just started back to school this week. When I FIRST took college classes way way back when (in a galaxy far far away), tuition was $60/hour. It's now over $200/hour. Gosh, it's more than I expected, but I had to come up with the money to get the education I want. I became educated on the true value. That's just what it costs.
I was asked to do a Topsy Turvy for a friend of a friend. I told her the "friend price" of $200 or around there. She thanked me and said it was out of her budget of $80 (I said we could do something simpler, but she wanted topsy turvy) and she had someone in the city who would do it for her. Ok, no biggie.
A few weeks later I see her and asked how the cake went. I inquired about the topsy turvy part, and she said it was ok. "It was more like a sheet cake with topsy turvy COLORS."
LOL! Exactly what are "topsy turvy colors"???
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