AAs you may have heard maybe not, but.. Nadia cakes has moved from cali to MN a few months ago, she's been raved about and her product is great (I tryed them fab!) Any ways... If you don't know MN really thinks this is abig deal (witch it is) because she is from cali,on Tlc,cup cake wars and has a fab shop... witch is wonderful for her ! Only problem is I'm 23 and trying to start my business I've got my license insurance ad work from a certified kitchen... well now I have no business at all! Seriously went from 3 cakes a week to maybe 1 a month! I have gotten calls from customers and a lot of the time they will mention how they will go to nadia cakes because she is on t.v. My product is great prices are amazing 2.75 per serving and I'm just clueless on what to do? I tryed to see if she would hire me twice when they where hiring but sense I have no school raining it was a no go, even though she never attended school, that's not a big deal to me I'm past that point.. I just want to know what can I do now?? Also she is building 5 more bakerys I just feel like giving up totally, and I have worked sooo hard and paid lots of money for license and all cake supplys plus renting a kitchen... seriouly I'm depressed this is my passion and now its going down the drain because a "super star" has entered the building... :\\.
When the competition zigs, you have to zag. Look at which market segments are not served by Nadia Cakes, and go after those markets.
I'm sorry this is happening that's a tough one. I agree with Jason. Try hitting a new market. Good luck
Don't get discourage! I went thru the same thing, after renting a kitchen and getting all my permits and insurance and making only few cakes a weekend a new baker moved to my neighborhood with a nice front store and a culinary degree, for a while I thought of giving up but after checking her website from time to time I realize that she was doing lots of wedding, Indians to be specific so I decided to market children's special occasions like 1st b'days, communions, bat-mitzvahs, sweet 16th etc..and now she is no competition to me, I'm overbooked every weekend and now I'm even getting some weddings too! it takes a while ( at least a year) to settle into a business and built a clientele!
Good to know this has happend to someone else, so I know that you understand thanks for sharing your story! 
the only issue is she does evnerything... cupcakes,weddings,childrens, ect.. her prices are around 1,000 for a 3 tier where mine are 300-400 that mite help me in my case but I don't want to be known as the cheap cake lady lol! I would love to charge 600 like I should but simply would get slim to no business also I would love to charge 4.00 a serving again they will just get mad or say they will find another baker.. totally sucks because I put so much work into my cakes as well as everyone here so to charge cheaply hurts my pockets and energy... I just made a full sheet cake to feed 100 guest for 75.00 also just raised my prices to 2.75 and have not got 1 call... I've only made 1 cake that was 100.00 and it was a 2 tier 10" 8" with tons of detail... Any ideas on how not to be the cheap cake lady lol!
What is your current marketing/advertising strategy?
What is your current marketing/advertising strategy?
That's my question too.
Don't get discouraged! Instead of focusing on something you can't control (what she's doing) look at what you can do to remain competitive.
I had a peek at your website. It's very cute, it may be time to update it a little. (I would remove (or have a separate folder for) the "Adult" cake - some people may be turned off by it.)
Do you have a Facebook business page? Mine helped a lot in the beginning. Its easy to update and though it brings in a lot of traffic that isn't local it has helped me get a few local clients which in return to led to more referrals.
Keep at it!
And good for you for getting licensed and insured!
If this Nadia is charging $1000 for a three tier cake, and you can't get more than $400, then guess what? she won't be selling any of those. YOU will, in the long run.
Just because she moved to MN doesn't mean that a horde of millionaires followed her. Just because she is building 5 more bakeries doesn't mean that any of them will make a profit two years from now. If her CA prices aren't going to fly in MN then she is out of luck after her nest egg is gone on those 5 bakeries.
A year from now you will have most of your business back if you can stick it out. You won't be known as the "cheap cake lady"--you will be known as the one who has a brain in her head.
So take the time to pull out your best pictures, sort out your website, make it look as spiffy as you like in YOUR style. See if you can get a part time job doing something else for a while to keep the $$ going.
If anybody asks, say that you sell good MN cake at MN prices. You can use that slogan if you like.
If this Nadia is charging $1000 for a three tier cake, and you can't get more than $400, then guess what? she won't be selling any of those. YOU will, in the long run.
Just because she moved to MN doesn't mean that a horde of millionaires followed her.
Nadia Cakes' previous location, Palmdale CA, has a median household income of $52K. Her new location, Maple Grove MN, has a median HHI of $92K. If anything, she will be much more successful in the affluent suburbs of Minneapolis/St Paul than the relatively middle class suburbs north of Los Angeles.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Palmdale-California.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Maple-Grove-Minnesota.html
Nadia Cakes' previous location, Palmdale CA, has a median household income of $52K. Her new location, Maple Grove MN, has a median HHI of $92K. If anything, she will be much more successful in the affluent suburbs of Minneapolis/St Paul than the relatively middle class suburbs north of Los Angeles.
Well maybe there's the nugget of gold that the original poster needs. MPLS downtown is pretty hardcore inner city, and people might think they get a better deal with what they "saw on tv". But they won't buy from Nadia when they see the prices. And let me tell you that nobody will drive from Fargo to buy a Nadia cake, never mind if she was on TV.
But opening five bakeries takes five big pots of money. If you open one every two years, you can decide to move it if doesn't fly. If you open five all within a year or so, then you have major issues with finding enough well trained staff to run and manage new businesses from scratch--which is as difficult as successful baking from scratch. Nadia will need to spend most of her time supervising the shops, as she will never have enough hands to do them at five locations all by herself. Chances are that something will have to slip in the process.
But opening five bakeries takes five big pots of money. If you open one every two years, you can decide to move it if doesn't fly. If you open five all within a year or so, then you have major issues with finding enough well trained staff to run and manage new businesses from scratch--which is as difficult as successful baking from scratch. Nadia will need to spend most of her time supervising the shops, as she will never have enough hands to do them at five locations all by herself. Chances are that something will have to slip in the process.
I doubt she will be opening 5 new bakeries within a year (locally or not), I did a search and haven't read anything about new locations planned. Given the distance between her original shop and the new one, opening the new MN shop was probably contingent on having a trustworthy local management team already in place. The same contingency would apply for new locations, unless she decides to franchise (in which case I agree that quality will probably suffer).
I do agree that OP has a shot if she targets the middle of the market...people who want something better than a grocery store cake but can't afford Nadia. Suburbs with similar economic demographics to Palmdale would be a good bet, if you look at the Yelp reviews for her Palmdale location vs. Maple Grove you will notice a lot more complaints about price in the former.
Nadia also doesn't need Fargo to be successful, the 3.6 million people in the Min./SP metro area are more than enough of a market. That's a far cry from LA's ~18 million, but Palmdale is too far from LA to take advantage of much of that population, while Maple Grove is much closer to the action if only because the area is far more compact (you could drive across the entire Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area before you made it halfway from Palmdale to downtown LA). If I had to guess future locations for Nadia Cakes I would look at metro areas of similar size and demographics like Denver, St. Louis, or Portland.
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