Kiddiekakes: Sounds like an interesting business venture. How can I get more information?

Click on my link and on the lefthand side of the tab bar are sub headings..There is a some that say own your own business.For a nominal fee you can have a site up and running with no real big investment..But Like I said..It doesn't garantee you'll make lots of money!

Kiddiekakes,

I've used Google extensively, but it can get complicated and VERY expensive if you don't set your budgets right. It's a great tool if you know how to use it.

thanks kiddiekakes! Sounds interesting.

I agree with what most everyone else has said......implement a minimum order amount and raise those prices! I work from home and I do not want to make small cakes that don't pay well and sometimes take up just as much time to create as a large cake that pays quadruple the amount. I have a strict minimum order of $150 on any cake, any size, any order and for sculpted cakes it's listed right on my website that they start at $200.00 for sculpted cakes. I don't care if anyone thinks I'm uppity either.

You should be running your business, not the business running you. Take charge of what you want to make and how much you want to work! Congrats on a booming business!!! It's exciting isn't it!

I was in the same situation as you - started out with low pricing to get the business and worried abotu charging a little more because I did not want to turn customers off by my pricing. In the past, I would give lots of stuff away free (not cakes per say but added fondant decor, etc) because I didn't want people shocked that I would charge them so much for something. I have recently chaged my ways and began charging a little more (not as much as I would like but I am making progress). I usually offer different options - the least expensive, middle of the line, and then the top of the line. Suprisingly, lots of them choose top of the line and dont' mind paying the price,

I turn away business every weekend.

I do not have a minimum because I feel bad for those customers who just want something simple, go out to dinner with the family - birthday cake with buttercream that tastes good. I sell alot of those and they usually don't take but 20 minutes to decorate - so I don't mind doing them!

Having a minimum does not make you "uppity". It makes you exclusive. It makes you premier. It makes you in demand.

you WANT people to tell their friends, "Oh my gosh, if you want one of their cakes, you better order REALLY EARLY! They book up FAST! I know someone who needed a cake and they were booked solid a month out!"

You WANT that to be the conversation. You WANT to be exclusive and hard to get. It's what gives that extra edge of prestige to your cakes.

indydebi,

You're right. We've already begun to up our quotes to a $4 per serving minimum and turn down customers that order at the last minute. If we don't do this, the stress is going to either kill us, cause a divorce, or make us shut the doors. Obviously, shutting the doors is the only on of those 3 options that is acceptable, but we'd prefer not to do that either. We are at a point where we don't care if we offend anyone... our marriage, family, and sanity are far more important than cakes. We are fast coming to the religion of less work more money! Wish us luck and feel free to offer more tips!

Thanks

So you don't have a order minimum at all?
You'll do a 3-D carved cake for 4 people?
Or a elaborate stacked cake for 11?
Just wondering, I get requests like this all the time and if they want the cake they pay my order minimum.
I just did a cake this weekend, the customers only needed 3 servings (herself, husband and mother) she understood the order minimum and had no problem paying it.
Just imagine only having to make three 100 serving cakes opposed to thirty 10 serving cakes, same amount of money, less work.
Actually you would save money because you would'nt use as much boxes, boards, supports etc. for 3 cakes as you would for 30, more money in your pocket.
I would'nt want a customer to chose me based only on my price, I want them to chose me because product is superior.

I was thinking about you guys the other day... glad to see you are busy, but busy isn't always good. I say definitely implement the minimum order. Mine is $100.00 for regular cakes (20 servings) and $250.00 for carved cakes (which is about $10/serving since they average 25 servings minimum). Much better to only do one $500.00 cake on a weekend than to do five $100.00 cakes.

I started out with this minimum. You may lose a little business, but you will make up for it with your minimums. It doesn't have to reflect negatively on you at all. If someone asks why simply say that you had to increase the minimum order since you have been so busy. Makes you in demand... always a good thing.

I'm thinking of a $50 base charge then the per slice charge on top of that. That'll bring any cake above $100. Once we saturate our weekends with weddings, we should be able to drop moste of the little cake orders and focus on becoming the premier wedding cake bakery in this area without having to constantly worry about paying the overhead.