I just got a call for a base quote for a gender reveal in December for 130 people.
My COSTS for a 3 tier (14,10,6) and 36 cupcakes would be $135 for this including ingredients, supplies, bags, boxes, dowels, and basically everything else I could think of. For a very basic buttercream only design assuming 2-3 colors and all Vanilla cake and frosting. I usually double my costs to decide my price but I'm still very new so I'd like to run it by someone more experienced. I'm in rural Mississippi, this is for a group of 10-15 hostesses, one of which is my best friend. I let my friend know this would be full retail price and she is completely fine with that, she is very close to me and knows what I charge for my cakes so I don't think she's going to get sticker shock but I'm always nervous pricing.
So, armed with that information, what do you all think of $275 as a base price for the cake and cupcakes and adding on from there for more complicated work and/or specialty flavors?
We don't have an exact design yet, just trying to get a ballpark starting point nailed down and she knows this is a base price and will go up depending on what design is chosen.
My base price on the cake alone would be about $275.00, and then another $125.00 for the cupcakes (rough guess), but price is definitely subjective to where you live and what the market will support. You've got the right idea adding costs to any extras. Do you price your cake per serving so we can get a better understanding of how you price?
Basic b'cream cake should be about $3 or $4 per serving. But you did say you are in rural Mississippi so that might be a bit high. You mention you charge basic pricing for vanilla cake & icing....do you charge more for other flavors? I would not - unless it was a special request for something not really basic - like carrot, rocky road, or banana where you have to add extra ingredients you don't usually have on hand. I mean things like choco, orange, yellow, fr. vanilla, etc etc are 'basic' to me. NOw as far as design there is where you can increase the pricing so of course you will want to lead the customer to something very basic but tasteful .
Just to clarify the couple of questions, I haven't been pricing based per serving but I do look at what my per serving price comes out to once I come to a price based on my cost, if that makes sense. I typically figure my costs, multiply by 2 and round to a nice round number. This cake as an example, my costs in it will be $135 so $135x2=$270 and I rounded to $275. $275\139 (the exact number of servings that would be provided)= $1.98 per serving. I forgot to mention I am a home baker under CF laws in my state, not a store front baker. I would love to charge $3-4 per serving but I just don't think I would sell wouldn't sell a single cake. I'm new and just started doing it as a business in August so I've only had 6 orders so far. People already (mostly husbands lol) balk at my prices but then when they taste it told their wives that it was worth every penny.
Now the flavor/basics question. Since I'm pricing based on my cost that is why I call Vanilla my 'basic' one for pricing. A batch of my vanilla batter costs me $4.20 but Strawberry costs me $5.96, and Chocolate costs me $6.83. I'm not changing out extracts in a base recipe, they are all completely different recipes so have different costs with Vanilla being my cheapest. Now, that said, it's not a monstrous difference when all is said and done and if I were charging by the serving I'm sure I could set it at something that would cover all of my more basic recipes but I haven't done that so far. Should I be doing that instead of by cost?
I hope this all makes sense, thank you so much for the comments so far, I'm always open to suggestions! Y'all just remember I live in the sticks, population about 3,800 and not in the ritzy part of he state ;-)
you're charging $2.12 a serving which is kind of random -- i understand the out in the boonies part -- but my suggestion is go with $2.25 per serving which gets you to $292.50 for this order plus tax and delivery --
now with the strawberry and chocolate prices added in -- your cake costs for all three flavors average $5.67 -- so if i were you i would re-arrange this initial bit of math you are doing for this 130 cake order so that all three flavors cost the same -- then round up to a reasonable per serving price then multiply out for the different servings that will be needed for each order --
nobody starts a business to give their product away -- no matter what you charge some will think it's too high some will think it's too low -- let that all roll off your back -- you're starting a business to make money -- so do what you need to do and don't apologize and don't look back -- because your area is so tight it might sting more when people complain -- but that's part of the price of doing the job -- if you bow to the complainers, burn out is your reward --
hope it's a whopping success -- best to you
Thanks for the input K8!
I think $2.25 is doable for my area and it would simplify my quote process significantly to be able to go by a per serving price. I do have a question about changing to that method though, do you charge for the exact servings provided or for the amount requested since there will be times that you have to provide a few more servings to meet their request because the next smaller size isn't enough? I'm guessing that's where you and I differed on the math since I based on 139 servings to be provided and you 130 that was requested. Also, do you add a surcharge for tiered cakes or would you charge the same price for 100 servings of sheet cake as you would tiered?
I've always looked over a local bakery's pricing (they do custom orders and are pretty good) when I price my cakes just to see how far apart we are and I've always been above their pricing until I just noticed that they are charging anywhere from $1.80 per serving for party cakes and then have a separate 'wedding' pricing section listing buttercream at $3.25 per serving and fondant at $4 per serving. I've not done wedding cakes but didn't plan to charge differently for them, honestly I think some of the party cakes are probably more work :-/
again, thank you all for the input!
Carla83, I live in the sticks in Tennessee, so similar to your location. I charged $300 for this cake, which was chocolate, strawberry and vanilla-almond frosted in buttercream and covered and decorated with homemade marshmallow fondant. The tier sizes were 10", 8" and 6", but they were really tall tiers, bottom and top tiers were six inches, the middle was eight. I made the topper from cardboard, fondant and glitter (non edible)
carla -- i am so proud of you -- your deductions are spot on -- Yes! of course people even in podunk usa pay three to four bucks per serving for tier cakes -- but the best thing you said is that you price Over the local shop huge Bravo to you -- that's the way to go!
tier cakes should def be more --
oh yeah -- no i charge for servings ordered -- and for tier cakes i add about 10% more servings for insurance that i never reveal to the client -- servings get dropped and dowels can destroy a serving or two --
the non-tier cakes that take more time should get a higher price -- time is money -- so i have more to say but i gotta take my dog on a walk -- you should see his face -- i'll chat a bit more in a bit --
you are so on the right track
yeah instead of 'party' cakes and 'wedding' cakes having different pricing -- single cakes and sheet cakes could have a lower price than tier cakes -- the occasion doesn't matter it's the time you spend --
i think that was the last thing i wanted to say --
rock on, ms carla 
Carla83, you can do the same design in buttercream and just use fondant for the accent pieces. Fondant is a copout for me because I can't do beautiful, smooth buttercream.
I always charged for the # of servings the design made. If the order is for 120 but the amount of cake needed to make up that design comes to 125 servings the price is for the higher #. ANd what k8 saide - no 'party vs wedding' costs......if it is a tiered cake it's a bit higher priced than a single cake. I often did two 2" layer cakes side-by-side - sometimes decorated somewhat differently. Some might consider that a 'tiered' cake but it's the same as doing one 8x4 single cake. https://www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/2221228/1322949292jpg
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