Hi Everyone!

I am brand new to the cake decorating business and am hoping to pursue it full time! My mother has been making and selling cakes since I was a baby.. so its my passion and I'm hoping to get some helpful advice!

How do all of you talented bakers get the word out about your business and bring in customers? I work at a great place that does indoor skydiving! It's a ton of fun and has given me a lot of opportunity to branch out. I have been doing a lot of catering for birthday parties and corporate events.. and have been trying to start baking cakes,etc for bday parties. But how do I get MORE business that is outside of the company?! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! THANKS!!!

Do you have a store front or a commercial kitchen, or where do you do your other advertising?

i guess u can advertise in your local papers and hand out business cards with your cake sample BUT only do this if you are legal..i am scared of all the legalities like this that's why i do it only as a hobby..and when i say hobby, i mean hobby ..there were times people asked me to do cakes for them but i always refuse..

You will hear it again and again, but the best advertising is word of mouth. All my customers are referrred by existing customers. Many people will tell you that paying for an ad in the phone book or paper was a waste of their money.

For some reason, the best "events" for referrals (for me) have been baby showers. You just can't beat the publicity of a bunch of ladies gathered to eat your cake!

Website!

I send everyone I meet to look at my website. But I made sure it was decent before I started promoting it as a sneak peak into my shop. It is on all my printed material.

mpc
www.mypastrychef.com

I found an endless source of customers after taking a cake into my grand daughters school for bake sale. I wasn't even looking at cake making for others, now I can't keep up with demand. Kids and their moms are great walking talking ads - hope this is of some use to you, good luck!

hi guys thanks so much for your comments i appreciate it...


I do not have a storefront. I work for a company that does a ton of kids bday parties, and I have been using that as my way to get customers. I cannot afford to pay for a rental space, etc. at the moment. Maybe if all goes well and I can make more of a profit I will do so.

I do not have a business license yet. It is still just a hobby.. but I want to pursue it full time.

I cannot seem to find anywhere that I can use a kitchen in order to get my license, and I obviously cannot afford to start my own. Any suggestions?! I was hoping to get around it by doing a small business license but I'm worried that it will not be legal in regards to the kitchen! I'm kinda at a loss of what to do lol I'm only 20.. so I'm not exactly making the best income.. but I'm extremely passionate about baking, and have a very strong business mind. I'm already catering and doing it very successfully!

It sounds like you're in a great position to get your name out there.

Does your company actually give out your name as a contact for cakes? Or are you just mentioning it to mothers at the parties that you do cakes also? Maybe you could start bringing cakes/cupcakes in for free to your work now and then and make your talent known.

I took cakes to a Mom's club meeting once and left my name and number--got a lot of orders that way. I also took a cake & cards to my hair salon once and they wound up offering to their customers--again, wound up with lots of referrals.

Good luck! Word of mouth is gradual but I agree is the best way!

I make cakes as a hobby but i have a grooming business and i offer 5$ rebate for everyone who brings me a new client. You won't believe how hard people try to find customers for me! I even have a client who made it her "goal" to get a free one..... that's 7 new clients. and they all keep coming back!!

I got customers when I first brought cake to work, and I let DH take cake to work also. My daughter has taken cake to her job. Got lots of business this way, sometimes more than I can handle.

yes my work is a wonderful foot in the door and the owners are wonderful in letting me do my own thing. I take a lot of reservations for groups to come in for birthday parties (I have given myself the position of Event Coordinator, so everyone that has an event goes through me.. wahah). So I always mention that they can order cakes through us. As a matter of fact I brought in cupcakes today for the co workers.. though I found out there is a "youth leadership" group for the city of lone tree (where I live) coming in today.. and am extremely tempted to stash them and give them to the group with a business card instead. Though I feel evil because I told my coworkers they were for them! What do you suggest!!! They are the cupcakes I just added. I would greatly appreciate input on whether they are decent enough to give away yet. I'm still very inexperienced and wouldn't want to look silly. Any criticizm you can give is very much appreciated! THANKS!!!

yeah every opportunity i get I have been bringing treats into work. I brought in valentine's day cookie baskets and left them on the counters for "decoration"... actually it was my evil plot to gain customers haha [/quote]

Those cupcakes are beautiful! Bring your coworkers cupcakes later this week :O)

aww thank you so much.. i'm flattered! only thing is.. they didn't travel as well and i dont want them to look sloppy.

p.s. do you think the owners would be upset with me handing out random cupcake to customers? lol

I have a referral discount program, as well. *Got the idea from indydebi!* If Gina refers Kelly, who places a $50 order, Gina receives a 10% referral discount ($5) to use as she wishes. I get TONS of orders through this alone. Who doesn't get excited about saving a buck? LOL. It has helped like you wouldn't believe.

I'm 22, and I work at an advertising agency doing graphic design. If you can afford it, maybe go to local advertising agencies. They will get you squared away with a professional logo/business card/ads/etc. I would suggest this if targetting new customers, because if you have an impressive ad that showcases some of your work, they are more likely to contact you rather than if you got a generic card offline. I am not saying that the design-your-own business cards online won't work or won't look good. But I do know for a fact that if you have something professional done, it will only help you.

I'm not licensed, since I'm still fairly young, am in college, and don't have the funds to get my own bakery/etc. Right now, I'm just taking orders from friends and family, and they are getting the word around to their friends. Parents from my little brother's school have seen my cookies that I send to their class parties, so I have a lot of them wanting me to do cakes and whatnot for them.
I live in Central California, and there aren't any bakeries that do any kind of specialty cakes in my town, so when people see my stuff which is pretty out-of-the-ordinary for Central California, they freak out. The only bakery in Visalia that does fondant cakes is Albertson's....Other options for cakes are Vons and SaveMart. And one independent bakery downtown that has horribly dry cakes and their decorators are...less-than-mediocre (they misspelled my brother's name (Adam) and didn't offer a discount or anything..ugh).

In short, the best way would be word-of-mouth. Secondly, if you really are that passionate about it, I would get some creative development done through a professional. Maybe go to a local church or hotel, or restaraunt and see if you can use their kitchen 1-2 days a week, so you can be legal about it. Then you can run ads weekly in the paper, look for local publications and run some ads in there, put fliers up, drop business cards off in other businesses, etc.

Most of my business comes from word of mouth or I'll make a cake just because and send it to work by a friend or family member. I started off with just basic cakes, now I'm into decorating them as well as cupcakes

lol i have definitely been finding EVERY AND ANY excuse to bake. not only for the word of mouth.. mostly for the PRACTICE. the stuff I have on my page are literally my first tries at each thing lol so i need the practice!

word of mouth is the best way - may take awhile though - so don't get discouraged!
make sure that business cards are not seen as advertising where you live. give them out to friends/family/etc. first. in general, people you trust to help you out.
good luck in your ventures and keep your enthusiasm up!!!!!

thanks mjs and everyone who has given me some great advice! it is very much appreciated!

the best thing that got my business going is being in the bridal shows!! and advertising in local bridal guides.
my main focus is wedding cakes.
im in my 4th year now and as the other posts have read. its all word of mouth now, but it takes time to build up your clients. advertising deff. helps, even if a local small paper, a small ad will get someone. i always look at it as, if i get even one respoce to the ad, it was worth the money.

I get buisness by displays. I will give a customer a 5% discount if they they let me set my buisness cards out on the counter. Most will go for it. I also will go to buisnesses and leave them a free cake with a stack of my buisness cards there.

A few people at my sister in law's job wanted cookie samples and wanted to know how much they will cost. I told her to tell them I will send free samples and business cards.

TAPE A BUSINESS CARD ON EVERY CAKE BOARD WHEN YOU DONATE A CAKE TO A SCHOOL OR CHURCH. YOU CAN'T BELIEVE HOW WELL THIS WORKS. GOOD LUCK!