Odd Request - Looking For Someone With A Cottage Food Business To Befriend
Business By theangrycupcake Updated 14 Dec 2017 , 10:59pm by kakeladi
I am always worrying and stressing about cake orders for no reason at all. I always worry I charge too much (although I charge the least in my area and my prices are very low compared to things I've seen on this forum) because I grew up with a stingy mother who would not buy brand name foods because it was more expensive.
I often ask questions about pricing, decorating, etc, to my fiance and he never has any answers because he is a mechanic and not a baker. What he knows about baking comes from my knowledge and so I cannot ask him for information that I do not know myself.
I am looking for someone with baking experience, I have had my own cottage food business for about two years, to ask (often silly) questions to, and to discuss experiences and errors and what not with. I am basically asking for a friend that also bakes.
If anyone is interested I'd love to exchange numbers! :) Thanks in advance.
Your fiance may be able to help more than you think ;) Business is business, regardless of the end product. Do you charge too much? For a mechanic, he takes the cost of the parts, any overhead and the cost of the labor to get their price - same as you would with cake - ingredients, overhead and labor. For a mechanic, he charges X amount per hour. For you, you should have a set price for your labor - what is your time worth? When we finagle cake prices, we mess with our hourly wage. I stopped thinking I was charging too much when I realized the time away from family is priceless, so if you want me to divert time away from my family, you will pay me what I am worth. I don't take my car to a mechanic and tell them their price is too high and ask for a discount. I either shop around for a lower priced mechanic or I pay their price. I do believe you get what you pay for, so the cheapest option is not always the best option.
Anyway, just wanted to point that out. I am a hobby baker, working under cottage food laws, but I don't think of myself as experienced. Several years and wedding cakes later, but I am still a part timer and have so much to learn - mostly on the business end :)
Really you can just come on here and many of us 'old timers' would be willinjg/glad to answer your ?s. Maybe 1 or 2 would do it by e-mail. I'd be glad to help but having been retired some 8-10 yrs not I'm not up much on pricing or newer techniques.
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