Pricing Questions...any Suggestions, Comments?
Decorating By kristiemarie Updated 7 Apr 2011 , 4:09am by scp1127
Ok, so I put together my pricing matrix. I included my raw costs, labor, delivery and set up. I allowed a small markup for profit.
I used my most recent cake to use to see if the matrix was in working order. When i plugged it all in, paying myself $7/hr (less than min wage), I came up with a total of $85 for the St Patty's Day cake in my photos (NOT including delivery).
Does that seem high? I don't want to overcharge and not get a second look but I also don't want to sell myself short.
I do baking for charity and so track my costs so that I can deduct them on my tax return. For a two layer cake, my costs typically run from $60 to $70 - without labor. So I'm thinking that you're costs seem about right. But do you really want to work for $7/hr???? IMHO, any skilled labor is worth a MINIMUM of $10/hr!
Look in my cake gallery at my Dallas Cowboys Cake. It was a grooms cake, 2 teir and I charged $110.00 Personally I think the price you came up with is low, but it can depend on your area, what the average income is etc. I pay myself at least $15.00 an hour! I've seen cake websites like Christopher Garrin charge $75 per hour on top of the price per serving. So I think $7 per hour is very low.
Thanks all!
I guess I am still very unsure of my abilities and whether or not I can actually DO this! Some of you are SO GOOD.
I want to do it though and am going to try...win or lose!
I pay myself no less than $30/hour for my work.
Assuming that St. Pat cake is a 8/10", which serves 24/38=62, I would have charged over $250 for that cake, at my fondant rate.
If its a 6/8, serving 12/24=36, I would have charged over $150.
Sounds like you are undervaluing your time and talent (a frequent error that we all make at some point in this process.) Yeah, they can buy the ingredients, but do they have the talent to turn that pile of "stuff" into that awesome looking cake that they envision? No? Hmmmm .... then it looks like they'll need to pay "expert" rates for the talent to do that, huh? 
Here's my favorite story to illustrate that:
A woman walking along the street and sees Picasso sitting at a cafe. She gets very excited and asks him to draw her something. He scribbles something on a napkin, hands it to her and says, "that will be $5000." She is aghast and says, "But that only took you 5 minutes!" He looks at her and says, "No, madam. It took me a lifetime."
Ok, so I put together my pricing matrix. I included my raw costs, labor, delivery and set up. I allowed a small markup for profit.
I used my most recent cake to use to see if the matrix was in working order. When i plugged it all in, paying myself $7/hr (less than min wage), I came up with a total of $85 for the St Patty's Day cake in my photos (NOT including delivery).
Does that seem high? I don't want to overcharge and not get a second look but I also don't want to sell myself short.
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