Buying A Cake Is About The Experience, Really!
Lounge By Stitches Updated 22 Jan 2014 , 3:09am by MommyMommy
thank you for further developing my idea--
'focus group' was on the tip of my tongue
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So is looking really high end the smartest strategy for a cake business? Maybe looking expensive might prevent people from entering your shop? Or buying based on your website design.
There is room for all types of businesses. Upscale, middle income, and low cost.
Everyone has special events in their lives, of some kind, that is celebrated with cake.
Sometimes the ultra-rich go to the big box store for a half sheet cake, sometimes the minimum wage worker goes to a caker for a special treat.
Pick your target group, find the bait and tackle that they are hitting on and get after it.
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There is room for all types of businesses. Upscale, middle income, and low cost.
Everyone has special events in their lives, of some kind, that is celebrated with cake.
Sometimes the ultra-rich go to the big box store for a half sheet cake, sometimes the minimum wage worker goes to a caker for a special treat.
Pick your target group, find the bait and tackle that they are hitting on and get after it.
I don't think I believe that exactly. You still have to be in the right location for your product. Businesses are still going under in my area. Mid-sized major chains are still closing in my area, like Applebee's, TFI's, bagel stores, Mimi's Cafe, Williams Sonoma (no not food, but a foodies store), etc...
Strangely we've had a few higher end grocery store open during that same time in my area (Wholefoods and Market Fresh and even a high end privately owned grocery store). There is a really expensive 'Eatly' (like Italy) food store downtown that just opened.
Still a lot of vacant strip malls!!
Maybe people are buying differently since the recession? Someone suggested to me that the middle class who once went to mid priced restaurants with average food no longer go to those places. Instead when they want something good, they are making their own gourmet foods at home.
I definitely buy that way for my food and clothes........I buy high-end for some product and low end for others and don't buy much that's in a mid price range. Maybe it's an age thing and how the median age of your area buys?
There could be two paths here: a retail storefront for custom cakes (celebration/wedding) or a retail storefront for individual pastries and treats. The latter would be all about location, because most of those items are impulse buys. The former would probably be mostly by appointment, so location wouldn't be as important.
If your city is anything like any major city in the Midwest, you are experiencing the effects of urban sprawl. New malls and development keep going out further and further from the city center, and as that happens, stores and restaurants close, move out to the "hip" new area, and it just keeps going. It stops when there is no where else to sprawl to, and then downtown/city centers get revitalized, and it starts all over again.
It is no wonder that "average" restaurants are closing: Darden restaurants sales were down like 18% last quarter - that is a pretty significant drop. Some markets are simply oversaturated with restaurants.
There is a pretty strong hipster trend toward homesteading (making/doing for yourself) so I'm not surprised that people are rediscovering cooking/canning/pickling/baking/crocheting/sewing. It all goes in cycles.
With baked goods, sometimes people don't want a whole pan of something sitting around, so they are more likely to buy a single serving treat instead of making a whole batch that will tempt them. :) I'm hoping to capitalize on that trend. (And serve people who want a fresh, warm cookie everyday at 10:00 a.m. Yes, come on over, I can help you with your sugar fix.)
Liz
This is such a great thread. I have yet to open my business, so reading info like this is very helpful. I often think about what sort of business I'd like to run. It's definitely at the luxury end of the scale (hence not being open for business for the sake of it - when I open I'm going to be OUTSTANDING). I know for myself, that if I was going to spend money on a cake for a special occasion, I want it to taste amazing and I want it to look flawless. I want to be able to reassure my customers this is what they're getting when they look at my website or speak to me on the phone.
I think regardless of whether you have a shop front or are a home bakery, it's the little professional touches that always suck me in (as a consumer). These are the things I love when I buy a luxury product:
- a professional sounding business name, I'm more likely to gravitate towards a business that has a name like Couture Cakes than one named Priscilla Makes Cakes (both off the top of my head, no idea if they're actual names).
- Professional letterheads on all written correspondence and a dedicated business email address.
- One on one time to discuss my needs, wants and desires and how that person can make it work for me.
- The opportunity to taste
- A good range of flavours to choose from
- Professional looking photos of cake examples so I can see their prior work
- An order form/contract so I know we're on the same page
- Professional looking receipts for any money exchanged
- And above all, I want to know they will go the extra mile for me and make my experience unique. This may be something as simple as supplying a beautifully packaged tasting selection for my partner/mother/best friend who may not have been able to make it to the tasting.
Just some thoughts. I still think like a consumer, because I don't have a business yet :)
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I know for myself, that if I was going to spend money on a cake for a special occasion, I want it to taste amazing and I want it to look flawless. I want to be able to reassure my customers this is what they're getting when they look at my website or speak to me on the phone.
I think regardless of whether you have a shop front or are a home bakery, it's the little professional touches that always suck me in (as a consumer). These are the things I love when I buy a luxury product:
Agreed! :) And all the points you made below. Especially one on one discussion, making it personal for the client. I'm not rich, not poor. But I have to say especially in this digital age - it means so much to have that good personal phone call and/or meeting!
One cake I ordered and was disappointed in (although I never said anything after the fact- I figured it was my fault) was the coloring. We discussed colors, but I was thinking lighter almost pastel, and she used vibrant shades of fondant for the colors. It was fine, but more on the garish side than what I had in mind. On my wedding cake, I wanted fresh flowers but NO TULLE...even though the baker did a great job, my florist handled it and she must've forgotten my desire for NO TULLE even though I said it over and over. I was cringing as I walked up to my cake. Thank goodness we cut in and removed it quickly. ;)
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