A friend of mine is a real estate agent and her office is having a baby shower for a coworker. Well, she told the lady who was ordering the cake That I do cakes and had me email a couple of pics to her of a cake I had done recently.

Well, the lady called me just a little while ago. She wanted a half sheet cake. I make my cakes from scratch, and I use the half crisco/half butter Icing, and I told her it would be 30.00. She says"Walmart only Charges 22.00. " I say" Walmart's cakes are frozen, mine are fresh, and everthing is made from scratch."Well she says she'll call me back.

I am so mad!! I dont care how much walmart charges, they take their cakes out of the freezer, plop some of that nasty lard icing and stick a few picks in it. Probably takes 30 minutes tops! I usually have a minimum of 2 hours in my cakes, and it's usually more than that.

This is the second time this has happened to me, in the past few weeks. Do you guys think Im charging too much? Im not going to just hand them a cake for praxctically nothing!! Im almost ready to give up. I just dont know what to do. I KNOW my cakes are superior to any cake that comes from a grocery store bakery. But it seems to me that people would rather have a cheap price over superior quality. I dont know. Sorry this post is so long, but I know you guys would understand. Thanks for listening to my whining.

Tell her to go to Walmart!!! For every customer you have that is more interested in prcie than quality....You will have twice as many that WILL pay you for your talent and great cakes!! Don't get discouraged...these people are idiots.

Stand your ground! We cant compare ourselves to walmart. We are better than walmart! Anyone that says I can get it cheaper elsewhere is someone that just wants a cake no matter what it tastes like. I once lost a job to a international bakery because of their name..... HA HA HA it was an edible image cake and the bakery never took the backing off the image and the customer tried to eat it. They should have purchased it from me I know how to use edible images. So say your price with pride and don't back down!

lol , it's not lard...but close to it..it's high ratio shortening.

Veggie shortening that has been whipped??

Stick to your guns!!!!
I bake all my cakes from scratch and i don't care if i don't get enough cake orders before they're "expensive"
There are some people out there that will pay for good quality cakes
I am telling you i haven't had a cake order in a while but it doens't bother me
The ones that i do make is made with the best quality ingredients i can find
I mean seriously how could someone eat a piece a cake that taste like
.......cardboard ....plastic...and cheap shortening...compare that to your cake

Good luck

AShiana

I know exactly how you feel.. I've even had one customer ask me how much WalMart charged for that size cake... my response was, ma'am, I have no idea, but if you want cakes that have NO personality and NO taste, buy one from WalMart.. if you was a quality cake that tastes as good as it looks, buy one from me ... appartently, all she wanted was cheap and didn't care because she didn't order her cake from me .. so even though it's a disappointment, don't be discouraged.. some people just do not care if they get poor tasting cakes that have no design to them... hang in there!! You're next customer may be the one that tells everyone about how great your cakes taste and look and doesn't care about the cost

Thanks y'all. I knew you would make me feel better . I swear, I was in tears. I called my mom (she's my best friend) and cried my eyes out to her. But you know what, I hope the lady does call back....so I can tell her NO!! Then she can call Walmart, they'll help her out.

No way....if she is going to balk at your prices, then let her go to Walmart and get the walmart cake. You can't waste your time on that. If she doesn't understand that you are not a deep discount department store, then you never had a customer in her in the first place.

One more thing: I wouldn't tell her no if she calls back. Do the cake and let her experience why your cake was 8.00 more than the Walmart one and then she'll be a believer and realize it was worth it.

Yea, your right ellepal. Even though I would love to say no.... I will say yes. Even though I doubt very seriously that she will call back. Im over it now, but I was pretty upset. Oh well...her loss.

like i've said before, people who are looking for a cheap cake don't care. So, let them go to Walmart, that's OK. You don't have to defend yourself, just tell her that your cakes are made custom for each person....if that is not what they are looking for and they want generic so be it. It seems to me that a lot of people figure it is the cheapest way to go (with a home baker) they are not conniseurs of desserts. They eat cake seldom and just don't care that much.

That woman just gets what she pays for! I never buy anything from Walmart if I can help it, be it groceries, clothes or whatever. Its all cheap crap, from a slave wage company. I will always go somewhere else where I know what I'm getting is quality materials or goods. And if one has to pay a little more, its worth it, because I know what I'm getting is better. Hopefully that woman will learn what she is getting when she bits into a stale tasteless cake covered in gross tasting lard.

PSS....by the way, I looked at your photos. If this lady thinks she can get a cake as beautiful and tasty as yours at Walmart, she's got to be delusional. Walmart is all about super production; you are all about art. I saw your baby shower cake, and thought...wow, what a quality sheet cake. So perfect!!

Don't worry; there was another teacher at school who ordered a cake from a different bakery.
She started raving about how wonderful this sheetcake was and how it was decorated with halloween decorations, etc. Let's not forget that my feelings were a little hurt that she did not order it from me, and then she goes and rubs it in my face. She brought the leftovers to the teacher's lounge for lunch. When I saw it, I almost laughed. The decorations were sloppy (my pet peeve) and it was frosted in bettercream, the non-dairy frosting you can buy at Gordon food service that has no taste. People were eating it, but it was still in the lounge the next day. It just wasnt' so good. I find it hard to believe that people actually enjoy eating artificial ingredients, but they do. I will use a cake mix with butter, whole millk and mexican vanilla; it gives the cake such flavor. I could never put toxic bettercream on a cake or use all high ratio shortening for frosting. It's just not good. Ok, there was my rant!!

We , as specialty bakers have to remember a couple of things. There are people on a TIGHT budget who are just shopping around and TRULY dont know whether or not we are going to be cheaper and they figure what the heck I'll check. It's no crime to shop around. Second thing ...there are also just TIGHTWADS....people who don't give a crap about quality or originality or anything except getting something to fill a need and still keep as many dollars in their pocket as possible. Now, not to be mean to any of them...but neither is really going to be a group of people that we need to be working for anyway.... unless you are just doing it for fun or from the goodness of your heart.! So we are doing ourselves and them a favor by telling them right upfront! Some people are going to drive a GEO and some are going to drive an Escalade...we sell Escalades! Some buy clothes and purses at the thrift store ..some want Gucci and Prada! We are prada! Enough metaphors ...not trying to be a snob but for all of us and maybe even a little more so for those of us trying to make a living at this...anyone should be able to understand the difference in a grocery store cake and one of us ( COLETTES IN TRAINING- HEHE) cakes!

At any rate I have rambled on long enough, I guess thats why I try to cater to the wedding cake / Anniversary....crowd. They have usually been reading up a bit and sort of know what to expect. And some of them come back for high end Birthday cakes...or tell their friends about my cakes and they ( when they really want something nice they cant get at the MART) come to me too. Hope I didnt bore anyone! Bottom line ...don't sell yourself short and get everyone thinking of you as the " CHEAP" one! If you do...( and I know this from experience) it is hard to ever start getting what you are worth.

no one can compete with Walmart - so neither should we. we are a different market.
I agree with KayDay - Walmart is everyday. If you want something special - something luxury - come to us.

You don't go into a BMW dealership complaining that GEO is offering the sadan at a more reasonable price!

(KayDay - loved your analogy! Hopped on the band-wagon)

I think you should be charging at least 50.00 dollars for your 1/2 sheet cake. I do and like everyone else says I rather bake one a month than bake 2 to add up to $50 like Walmart. Our cakes are of much better quality and time consuming and everything else. Don't undercharge and believe in your talent. Good things come to great people.

Tilisha

I do not feel that your price of 30.00 is too expensive. I charge 35.00 for my 1/2 sheet cake and sometimes feel that I should charge more! Don't get down...we all run across people like this.
traci

Hey bakerchick...cheer up. The person who nickel and dimes for $8.00 wouldn't have appreciated your art anyway. ~smile~

I can't believe she didn't order yet for only $8 more!!

I agree with KayDay, some people are on a tight budget. I don't know about TN real estate, but the houses aren't moving very fast down here in GA with the economy and people losing jobs.
Maybe she's trying to save money on the cake so she can buy the baby a gift. Don't get so upset. She's not the only cake-eater in TN. Maybe she doesn't even like cake but is doing it out of obligation. (I've heard there are people like that ) Take a deep breath. Don't take it personal, you do great work, that's what counts.

Kos

I worked in a Walmart bakery 1 year ago and the half sheet cake is$24.99 plus tax buy the time she pays tax it will be close to $30 so she thinks she is getting a deal but in reality she is paying more for cake that is very rushed put together and generic meaning there is no thought or creativity put into them. I also charge $30 for an half sheet I researched around local bakeries Not grocery stores and matched my price with theirs that way I am not overcharging the way you feel your cake is worth and the reality in what you charge or to differant things IMO of course I would like to charge alot more but I think that is unreasonable our cakes our like gold to all of us you never feel like you charge enough because you know the thought time and effort put behind them. Just make sure you research your local bakeries to come up with your prices keep in mind we all live in different states and cost of living is not the same some may charge more some less that depends on your area. therefore we all have different opinions in what we charge.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is cake. It's not heart medicine. People don't NEED cake. They WANT cake. And if they want good cake, they come to us. If all they're interested in is something that fills a plate, without personality or flavor, they go to large grocery store chains.

Don't take it personally. For every rude, thoughtless person out there, there's another that appreciates effort and quality. Meanwhile, we're allowed to think horrible thoughts about the cheapskates and point them on their merry way to (insert chain store name here)

By all means PerrySt...lol..welcome on board analogy was the word I was looking for! lol One little snippet I did forget , is that I think we all LOVE our craft so much that we love doing it and feel very personal about every cake and design that we do...therefore leading to us feeling very hurt if we dont get a certain cake job...heck, we feel almost robbed...lol.we have envisioned it and feel personally slighted . We are all most likely people pleasers who enjoy making folks smile and we feel cheated or like they have rejected US ...not just our cakes...ok...psych 101 is oveer for today..lol.

Ahhh! let them eat crappy big box store cake and hope they gag on it as they pat the wallets! Some people just don't know what good cake looks like or tastes like. If they are used to crap cake then that is what they think cake should be (crap cake). The enlighten ones are those who have had the unique opportunity to enjoy real cake perfection and are therefor willing to pay for the priviledge to enjoy it again. All the rest are just cheap low life swine! We rise above the frosting (and then eat it!)!

I feel your pain...been through the same thing.

Stick to your prices because eventually the word will spread about your cakes and you will be getting the orders.

I charge $45.00 for my 1/2 sheet cakes and the ones who really want the good tasting decorated cakes do not complain.

Cheer up and stick to your guns.

Half sheet for $30?? To me a half sheet is a 18x12. I do my 13x9's for $25-$30, so I definetly don't think you are over charging, if anything you are undercharging yourself.

If they don't order from you, don't sweat it. It's their loss and let them eat froozen cake! They are the ones that will have to explain to your friend that they went for a cheaper cake, rather than a good cake from you, after her recomendation. How much can you really respect someone if you can't pay an extra $8 for a cake?

You can make her a small cake on the side, from you just for her. You could always deliever it on the day of the party.

NO WAY!!! tell her to go to walmart and she can be responsible when there are full plates of uneaten cake. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!
Michelle

Just wanted to update, guys. My friend called back and they decided they want the cake now. I also just want to say I appreciate all the encourgement I got on here today. It's nice to know Im not alone in this. Thanks guys!

bakerchick I'm glad for you that she called back. I know how you are feeling, I had the same thing happen last week over some cookies.

My suggestion was going to be that maybe you should be charging a little more for that size. I charge $25.00 for a 9x13 and that if she called back to say that she wanted the cake you could say "Oh great, but I must let you know that I gave you the price for the 9 x 13!!! That really would have shook her up! But... glad you got it worked out!

Charlotte

okay, you JUST HAVE TO wait for the next reason to bring a cake to work...volunteer it even....then all the teachers in the teachers lounge will taste the quality and will not want to accept a cheapo cake again!!!! plus when they start raving on and on about your cake....well, i'd like to be a fly on the wall when she hears all the raves, and realizes that for a mere few dallars more, she served crap. haha
jmo
i would make a no reason cake soon, just for the satisfaction of hearing all the raves!
melody