Do You Have Specified Pick Up/delivery Times For Your Special Order Cakes?

Business By bittersweety Updated 24 Apr 2013 , 5:05pm by HannahsMomi

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bittersweety Posted 23 Apr 2013 , 1:05pm
post #1 of 7

hey all,

SO I am considering closing my full service bakery in order to reduce stress and spend more time with my baby girls (3 and 1). I do however still want to do cake/cupcake orders to give my family a little extra spending cash here and there, however, if i'm home with my kids, I can't be packing them up at all hours of the day while hubs is at work so that I can go deliver an order, so, for those of you that work from home, or have a special order only bakery, do you have specified times of the day that people can pick up or deliver? for example, i'm thinking of only allowing pick ups or deliveries between 7:30 am -8:30am (for those taking them to work) or later in the day from from 4:00- 6:00 (for those taking to an eveing party)... what do you think? are customers usually pretty understanding about the time frames?

6 replies
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HannahsMomi Posted 23 Apr 2013 , 1:14pm
post #2 of 7

I would love to hear what others do in this situation as well!  I'm starting my legal at home cake business in August and I will only be doing deliveries.  I was thinking on only offering deliveries from 10-12 each day...but then I was thinking maybe I need to have evening hours???  Not sure...

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elliespartycake Posted 23 Apr 2013 , 1:47pm
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I have a home based cake business. I deliver wedding cakes (tiered cakes) only. All other orders are pick up only. I usually give a specific 1 hour time window to each client when they place the order. For instance, this Saturday's shower cake as well as the cookie order will be picking up between 10 and 11am on Saturday. That way I'm not tied down for long periods of time and waiting on customers. I schedule the pick up times to fit MY schedule as well as trying to accommodate my customers needs. Works well.
 

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jason_kraft Posted 23 Apr 2013 , 2:21pm
post #4 of 7

AWe also let customers choose a one hour pickup window, based on our availability. I would not recommend permanently blocking off every day except for an hour or two since that can be very limiting for customers.

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goodvibrations Posted 24 Apr 2013 , 5:31am
post #5 of 7

Q. When can I pick up my cake?
A. Pick up times * Tues.-Fri., 4:00-8:00
                              Sat., Noon-4:00

 

 

I do 8-12 cakes per week and very rarely have anyone ask to pick up their cake outside of my hours.

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kvand Posted 24 Apr 2013 , 5:38am
post #6 of 7

I rent commercial kitchen space but do not have access for pick ups during the day so I will deliver some cakes but usually in the evenings.  The rest of the cakes are pick up by appointment only.  I suggest people make their Saturday pick ups in the morning before 11 and during the week I am usually home any way so I will allow them to pick an appointment.  If I have something going on I just say I am not available between _ and _ time.  I have not had any trouble with it at all.  My clients are given a half hour window for pick up.  since I take deposits on all cakes people are usually right no time or very good about letting me know if they are running behind.  I definitely have their pickups work around my schedule within reason. I don't set a time that I am only available between 10 and 11 on Saturdays or something like that since if I am around anyway I don't mind working around their schedule a bit too. HTH!

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HannahsMomi Posted 24 Apr 2013 , 5:05pm
post #7 of 7

So, those of you who are home based bakers....do you have customers come to your home for pick ups or do you deliver?  I'm trying to determine which would be best for me.  I don't know how I feel about customers coming to my home...

I will insist on delivering tiered cakes myself though.

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