Bringing Samples To A Wedding Expo..yay Or Nay?
Business By OHaresTstyTrts Updated 10 Jan 2018 , 5:23am by me_me1
I am prepping for a large wedding expo. Normally I bring samples. My state says I have to package each one individually, due to the cottage food law. I usually use a mini cupcake box. This expo is large. I was planning on bringing 900 samples. I decided to try to save money ~$500 and use a cellophane bag with the mini cupcake insert instead of the boxes I usually use. Well they suck and are a pain in the ass to put together and to put a cupcake in.
Is it imperative that I have samples for this bridal expo?
People usually love them. But I don't know if it's worth how much time and potential failure there is with these bags.
I have passed out samples in the past at cake shows. I baked sheet cakes, white and chocolate, iced and decorated with a rosebud. Then I cut into a 2" square and put into a small white box and added bakery's label with name and phone number. Sheet cakes are the easiest way to go when doing a large amount of samples. That way they can take them home to try instead of being jostled around .
I have done a wedding expo as well, and I did thinner sheet cakes than normal, iced them very lightly no boarder nothing fancy, then cut in small pieces. Then I put them in small cups that you put dressing in at a salad bar, the ones with lids.
I think that a wedding expo samples are important because everyone wants a sample. If you don't have them people will ask for them.
I agree, people love a sample. Perhaps you could bake a few less than your intended 900 and only give samples out to potential clients who seem really serious about booking in a cake decorator? Although I know that's a lot easier said than done!
I tend to make between 300 - 500 mini cupcakes (depends how big the expo is) in two different flavours and have little white cake slice boxes made up with one of each flavour in them and my little company sticker on the top of the box.
I always, always get a ton of comments about how pretty the sample boxes are and, once they open the box, how cute the two little cupcakes look sitting in there.
For me, I find mini cupcakes way less time consuming than baking sheet cakes and frosting them and then cutting them up and then trying to get the slices cleanly into a little box. Might just be me though! :)
Once I run out of samples though, I've run out! I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though - just makes it look like (a) your samples are so good they ran out quick and (b) that people visiting expos need to be nice and early to get all the good samples/deals! :)
PS - I would ditch the bags. Sounds like you're already finding them a pain in the tooshy and just imagine how much more painful it's going to seem after a few hundred of those suckers. Can you rope in any family members/friends to help with popping cuppies in boxes?
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