I have a friend who is getting married in May of this year. this would be my first public showcase of a cake and when she asked me price I said 200 for a 3 tier cake with fondant and scroll work. Prices for this area are 350-400... do you think i'm shooting myself in the foot for this price? She is a really good family friend and I know she is on a tight budget...I just want to know next time if i should charge full price or what? how do I go about this since I only make a cake for family most times and for fun
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Original message sent by SingleMomma419
do you think i'm shooting myself in the foot for this price?
Yes.
If you want to do this as a favor or a gift, I'd say ask her to pay you for the ingredients and supplies and donate your time as a gift. Otherwise you're going to be paying yourself like 15 cents an hour and going to be stressed and annoyed and not compensated for your time.
That's basically what I was asking her for was money for the ingredients and some of the supplies(since I bought a starter kit of my own lol) . I like making cakes, but I can make her cake with less than 200 because I do semi homemade cakes and I coupon plus i changed what I'm covering her cake with from fondant to butter cream [less than 10 minutes ago when I talked to her] which I enjoy making in surplus ;) so that saved me 30 bucks right there. But if I were to do this for someone NOT a friend, would asking 350 be too much?
AHow much will you spend on ingredients for this cake (assuming no coupons)? How many hours do you foresee spending on it, including prep, baking, decorating, and cleanup?
100 on ingredients, about 9 hrs plus for labor
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Original message sent by SingleMomma419
100 on ingredients, about 9 hrs plus for labor
I bake from scratch, and my food costs are about 15% of the total cost of the cake even with the recent increases in food costs. If your ingredients cost that much then you're shopping in the wrong place!
What sizes are these cakes for $100 worth of ingredients? A 16, 14, and 12? I think a 6, 9, 12 would cost about $50, at worst. (My computer with my Cake Boss software has crashed, so I don't have my numbers in front of me.)
I bake from scratch, and my food costs are about 15% of the total cost of the cake even with the recent increases in food costs. If your ingredients cost that much then you're shopping in the wrong place!
I can't get close to that!
I buy wholesale and sell wholesale. There's only a couple things I make where my food cost is that low, like lemon bars and un-frosted vanilla cake. The only way I can figure out how you do 15% is to sell your cakes for ALOT of money...........
I have a friend who is getting married in May of this year. this would be my first public showcase of a cake and when she asked me price I said 200 for a 3 tier cake with fondant and scroll work. Prices for this area are 350-400... do you think i'm shooting myself in the foot for this price? She is a really good family friend and I know she is on a tight budget...I just want to know next time if i should charge full price or what? how do I go about this since I only make a cake for family most times and for fun
i just did the coloration -- op, you got it right -- you already knew
and one other thing--when someone occasionally does cakes
sure they only use part of the bag of sugar, part of the baking powder, part of the butter, some of the eggs, milk etc.
but they have to outlay the full amount for each ordinary quantity they purchase
and so they don't get the advantage of wholesale nor the advantage of being stocked up
and a few months later they have the same outlay for the next project
it's much pricier this way
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Original message sent by Stitches
I can't get close to that!
I buy wholesale and sell wholesale. There's only a couple things I make where my food cost is that low, like lemon bars and un-frosted vanilla cake. The only way I can figure out how you do 15% is to sell your cakes for ALOT of money...........
I'm not the cheapest in my market, but I'm not the most expensive either. I know that when I go shopping for ingredients I can usually tell how much the amount I'll be taking in that week is by figuring that what I'm spending on ingredients for that week is about 15% of the price of the cakes. Until last year it was 10%, so if I was spending $150 on ingredients I was going to be grossing $1500. I actually checked out a wholesale account for ingredients at one point, and it would have been more expensive for an account my size than it would be to go to Walmart. Plus, the cashiers at Walmart tell me about how my competitors come in in the middle of the night to buy pallets of cake mix so that nobody sees them, since they tell people they bake from scratch ;)
I have a friend who is getting married in May of this year. this would be my first public showcase of a cake and when she asked me price I said 200 for a 3 tier cake with fondant and scroll work. Prices for this area are 350-400... do you think i'm shooting myself in the foot for this price? She is a really good family friend and I know she is on a tight budget...I just want to know next time if i should charge full price or what? how do I go about this since I only make a cake for family most times and for fun
I agree with the poster above that said the $200 should cover your ingredients, supplies, etc. Your time and skill is the wedding gift to the bride and groom. You will end up "gifting" the couple with 9+ hours of your time, but it sounds as though this will be an adventure and a pleasure for both you and the bride.
BTW, whether or not someone is on a tight budget shouldn't have a lot (or anything), to do with prices quoted for a custom cake. Is the photographer/venue/caterer/wedding dress shop/tuxedo rental shop, etc., giving her a $200 discount because she is on a tight budget? I think not. However, if any of those vendors were close family friends, they may offer a $100-$200 discount in lieu of a wedding gift.
My baking habits are similar to yours, hobby/family/fun, but I've done a couple of big projects as a gift or as charity for a needy family. That's part of the joy of this hobby! One project, for a 100th Birthday Party, cost me about $200 out of pocket, and about 70 hours. I wouldn't have missed it for the world, and will always have the wonderful memories of that fabulous day.
If there will be a "next time", set your pricing structure and rulesNOW, NOT LATER! I strongly recommend the CakeBoss software (10% discount for CC members):
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