I'm thinking of opening up a bakery but I have a few questions about the ordering process. What are some rules during the ordering process that are a must? Do you determine the price of the cake on the spot? What about deposits? If anyone would like to share how they do their ordering process it would be much appreciated. 

There's been tons of discussions that answered your questions. Do a site search for each question you have and you should find more info. then you can read in a day.

meganmarie27,

I would create a pricing worksheet first. Then as you have a consultation, you fill out the pricing sheet, adjusting as neccessary. That way, you have a quote for the customer during the consultation. In order for the date to be held, the customer must pay the deposit, which can be any amount that goes towards the cake price. I do feel that it is necessary to make sure you have full payment before starting the cake. Hope this helps!

A

A lot of this will depend on who your customers are and what type of products you are selling. For example, if you are making a high volume of smaller, relatively simple cakes, routing all your orders through an online order form that has been set up to capture as many details as possible will save you a lot of time, and the pricing can be made available ahead of time on your web site. If your volume is lower but the cakes are more elaborate and customized you may want to have a real-time conversation with each customer. If you need time to calculate the final price there's nothing wrong with telling the customer that and getting back to them later, but you should at least have a ballpark range to ensure it fits with your customer's budget.

Re deposits, for large orders it is common to ask for 50% when the order is placed and the remainder a week or two before the event. For smaller orders some people ask for 100% at the time of the order, others do not require a deposit at all.