Could I Be Charging Too Much?

Business By Caity-M Updated 16 Nov 2017 , 2:07am by Cake-Monster

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Caity-M Posted 12 Nov 2017 , 6:23pm
post #1 of 7

I am pretty new to cake decorating I started a year ago after taking 2 classes.  I really enjoy it  and as a stay at home mom the extra income would be great…so I decided to start selling.  Everyone was wanting to know how much I charge so I called three local bakeries their prices for round cake started at $3.50 a serving.  Since I’m not a brick-and-mortar business I knew I would charge less (my prices for round cake start at $2.50)  I made this price sheet (attached)... I don’t seem to have too much problems selling sheet cakes or cupcakes but I feel like when it comes to round cakes I feel like I’m scaring away more people than I’m getting orders for  with my prices. My family has been telling me they feel like I’m charging too much…  I also have been going to fleamarket‘s selling cake and cupcakes to try to get my business cards out and I can’t  seem to get people to pay what I’m charging for round cake.  Also I’ve been charging the same prices for wedding cake as I do any other cake, should I charge less for cakes that don’t take as much time? …  So my question is could I be charging too much for my cakes? Could I Be Charging Too Much?

6 replies
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kakeladi Posted 13 Nov 2017 , 12:16am
post #2 of 7

Pricing has soooooo much to do with location, Location, LOCATION!  Personally I think your sheet prices are a bit low but I don't know anything about where you live.  When I was in business I based my pricing on how much batter- I'm a box mix baker so how may mixes used for whatever size/shape was how I priced them. 

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ypierce82 Posted 13 Nov 2017 , 1:31am
post #3 of 7

So because you aren't a brick and mortar, you don't feel like you should charge near what they charge? I'm a home Baker and my prices are on par with some brick and mortar bakeries, and well above others, but I don't feel bad about that. Don't listen to your family, honestly, most people don't know a darn thing about pricing cakes other than they wouldn't pay it, and imo, those aren't my customers. I agree with Kakeladi location, location, location. For instance, your 6/8 tiered cake for me would be $144, and I live in the country with the nearest bakery 20 miles away. Don't short yourself! 

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Cake-Monster Posted 14 Nov 2017 , 3:10am
post #4 of 7

What immediately stood out to me, after looking at your pricing sheet, is your listed servings per cake. For example, let's look at the 8" round double layer. Where I am that's the standard round cake size for birthdays and occasions.

By your guide, an 8" round serves 24. That would be correct if they were a caterer cutting wedding sized slices for a wedding and they knew how to cut properly. But party sized slices are bigger than wedding slices, and that means less servings per cake. I cannot imagine getting 24 regular slices out of an 8". Wilton says you can get 20, but even that is really pushing it. I'd say the absolute most would be 16. Even so, most places would tell you 12 servings for that size cake.

You just have to keep in mind how people actually cut their cakes. There was an 8" that I sold a while back, and I saw a picture of how the customer cut it, and they literally got 8 huuuuuuuge slices out of it. I don't know what they were thinking, I guess those girls were just hungry. I'm not saying you should tell people that they'll only get 8 slices out of an 8", but you need to rethink it. That's where the disconnect is.

It's much more realistic to say that people will get 16 slices out of an 8" round, and at $2.50 per slice that would be a price of $40 as a starting point.

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Cake-Monster Posted 14 Nov 2017 , 3:15am
post #5 of 7

I also forgot to say, I think you're spot on with the amount of servings and price for your 6" round.

But how do you figure people would get 6 satisfying slices out of a 4" cake? I missed that one at first and I think is the prime culprit. You probably started with like a Wilton serving guide as a starting point for this and trusted it too much. For a 5" cake for example, I tell people that they can't expect any more than 4 slices out of that. So you definitely need to take a look at how you're coming up with servings.

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kakeladi Posted 15 Nov 2017 , 8:48pm
post #6 of 7

Cake-Monster:  The industry sets the size of a serving!  Deciding you want to offer larger serving only make LESS money for you and hurts other bakers.  Using the Wilton serving size charts is what every decorator should do.  We all would make more $$ for our hard work and the public would get used to the sizes.  If a customer wants to serve larger sizes let them pay for a larger cake!  I remember one customer ordering a 14" round; told them it would serve like 74 and she only needed to serve like 10 or 12 suggestioning a 10" she said that wasn't enough.  Soooooo I got a larger sale and the customer got what she wanted :)  A win-win situation.   Now I realize that things are different in different countries -like fruitcake serving sizes in the UK but in general here in the states we bakers/decorators need to stick together.

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Cake-Monster Posted 16 Nov 2017 , 2:07am
post #7 of 7

The industry does set the serving size, I agree completely with you on that. But just because Wilton says something, it doesn't mean that it's true or actually representative of the industry. Going back to the example of the 8" round, no bakery in the Cleveland area would tell a customer that that size cake serves 24 people. That's nonsensical, and it's just going to piss customers off. And I'm not just talking about home bakers that don't have a clue about pricing, I'm talking about small operations and large private bakeries alike. So if Caity-M wants to charge $60 for an 8" round, that's fine if she thinks it's worth that much, but saying that price comes from the amount of servings is kind of disingenuous.

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