Last week I put an ad on craigslist asking for use of a licensed kitchen one night a week in return for baked goods for the owner to sell in his/her restaurant. I made it clear that I could not pay rent and was just starting my cake decorating business. I was pretty sure I wouldn't get any replies, but it can't hurt to ask, right?

Well a few hours later I got an email from a man who gave me his phone number and said he "may be able" to help me. It turns out he owns a cafe/bakery that is near here, only open for breakfast and lunch. I met with him this morning - I showed up with a portfolio of my cakes and a gift baggie of sample goodies.

OMG!! OMG!! He loved my food. Wants to be my "mentor". Wants me to put up a dummy cake and a giant "storyboard" of my cakes...he wants to market my cakes and sell them for a "small" percentage of my take. He says he can set higher prices from his restaurant than I can on my own. They sell small whole cakes and pies, but do not do wedding cakes, and they have people asking all the time if they do wedding cakes.

I met his wife, and he wants me to come back Wednesday morning and meet his daughter, who I guess is kind of "gung ho" about cakes. He told me to start thinking seriously about how busy I want to be, because I am going to be busy.

OMG! My head is spinning and I am freaking out. I am a stay-home mom with a 2 1/2 year old toddler and I am very busy with him. I do cakes out of LOVE and for a little extra money, but ... I don't know how busy I want to be!? OMG! (sorry, I keep saying that).

I just don't know what to think...maybe this is all part of the divine plan? I was just trying to get "legal" so I could advertise my cakes. OMG! HELP!!

OMG!! I would be spinning too! What an opportunity! Your cakes are gorgeous, but dont get into more than you can handle.... Let him know up front what you think you can do comfortably and then you can always add things on.. ease into it. YAY!!!!

COOLNESS!

I say, pray about it, and go for it! Maybe it's an outlet for you, more than what you think or thought it could be.

So I say, CONGRATULATIONS!, in advance. Have fun and I hope that all works out.

That is fantastic! I agree with aliciaL, start out slowly with what you feel comfortable with and go from there.
I have thought about contacting a church or restaurant somewhere close by to be legal, but I don't want to be that busy yet! I think my husband's family and our friends might be enough for me for now. It's so hard to fit in with a full-time job, or being a full-time mom!
Good luck! I'm sure things will go well!

oh, i also meant to say i looked at your cakes and they are fabulous! you are very talented! and the caption for the ducky cake had me cracking up, you are hysterical!

Hooray for you! Only you know best what you can handle. Just take time to think it out and ask close family and friends how they feel and if they would be willing to help out with your little one if you get terribly busy. Just remember to cover all the bases before making any decisions. Congrats!

First off, your cakes are AMAZING.

Congratulations!!!!

Just take your time and think it through. Let them know what pace you are willing to work at. You can always add more when you are ready.

If he pushes you for more output, remind him that the cakes are very exclusive if not everyone can get one. Therefore, he can charge more (and that should make everyone happy.)

Yes, you will get busy....it's a decision you have to make. You don't want to take on more than you can chew. But, deep down I have a feeling you want to be busy. You were looking for a way to advertise, so that tells me you want to continue. Take him up on it! Become very organized and you'll be fine.

Listen, he will have to have an appointment book exclusively for you. Tell him you can make 2 or 3 cakes each week (or whatever number you decide). He'll fill the appointmnet book and then he'll tell people "sorry, my cake artist is booked". That will bring in the orders. It will give an urgent feeling to the people and make them feel as if they need to book waaayyyyy in advance! Trust me. Don't worry...be happy!!!!!

Wow!! That sounds like a terrific opportunity! I would set my limits and then work out at deal with him. This way, you can be as busy as you'd like or as slow as you'd like. You can still have some time for your family if you want to. I was offered a job last week that I turned down, because basically i wouldn't have a life any longer, and we're trying for our first baby.

I think adven68 has a great idea. Give him a number and that is it. Your cakes are soooo beautiful, you will have not problem being booked!!! LOL Yes, pray about it too. Maybe you can tell him you will try it for a while, say a month or two and if it is not working for you, you will have to stop. Good Luck and Congrats!!!

Just wondering where you are - I saw a similar ad here in my area. It would be funny if it was yours.

Congratulations either way!

Ali

Congratulations! What a wonderful opportunity to showcase your work, be legal, and still choose how busy you want to be. Give them a number and keep it there. This is a terrific outlet for you-grab ahold! Remember, YOU are the boss of the cakes if they are not able to do them.

I just called my husband to tell him ... kind of expecting him to be negative about it and say it was too much work...and instead, he was really excited! Wow...ok that may make the decision easier...

You all are so fabulous. What great advice...I LOVE the idea of restricting my number of cakes per week. I wonder how that would work, though, because I also have people calling me directly...I already had a word-of-mouth business. Maybe he could just refer all cake inquiries to me directly? That way I could actually speak with the customer and make sure I understand exactly the kind of cake they want.

PLEASE keep up the great advice and opinions. I will definitely be giving an update after the Wednesday meeting!

Alimonkey...yes, I am in the Austin area. That is so funny!

That's great! Definitely give it a try and do tell him the number of cakes you are comfortable in doing each week. You can always add on. Good luck!

Congratulations to you! How exciting! And your cakes are soooooo beautiful!
Maybe there's another CC in your area who could kind-of partner with you; you can each do x amount of cakes per week. Or, maybe you can hire an assistant and reimburse the owner for the wages so that you don't have to hassle with all that payroll stuff.
Also, I think some states allow the decorations to be made at home, the ones that are food safe but not really intended for consumption, such as gum paste, etc. If so, you can do that at home while your little one sleeps.
Paying the owner a percentage is a good deal! Don't undersell yourself, and emphasis your quality and non-assembly line type of cakes. Make it "exclusive."
Definitely limit the number you do each week! Keep us posted on your progress!!!

Kelley,

I was just check your website. You've made some lovely creations. But, I noticed that you have an Elmo cake on your site. Just to be safe and not risk being fined, I think it might be best if you remove that cake since it's a licensed character. There are many posts that discuss licensed characters and one topic being that no one should advertise any licensed character.

Kelley,

Here is one link that discusses licensed characters. If you do a search in the forums, I'm sure you will find more. Hope this helps.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5760&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=licensed&&start=0

I would of never thought to do that.(Church or
craigslist)
With all the rules and regs here in ny, nassau
county long island, I could do this legal.
Thanks for this post, you just gave me a good idea.
Good luck with it. And there's always daycare
for your baby.(Just an option)

I think this sounds like a wonderful opportunity. Just remember to be your own boss, don't let the kitchen owner dictate how much work you do. Make your decisions and stick to them. He will surely be happier with every cake being perfect, than you rushing to fit more in than you can around your homelife and them not being up to your standards.
It is always a little scary when it finally happens and you think " omg, what am I going to do now" but just take one week at a time and set your limits so that you are comfortable.
I have 3 cakes this week around my 4 and 2 year old children (my home kitchen is licensed) and I had a nightmare last night that i had accepted 3 cakes to do by the end of today. Thank god I woke up and realised that I still only had 3 this whole week instead! It just reinforced to me that I really want to keep my numbers in check while my kids are little. When they are fulltime at school, I can really work then!!
Good luck!

CONGRATULATIONS! Listen, do whatever you heart desires but lets just say its OBVIOUS YOU HAVE TALENT, and when you have talent , you should go for it. I am a business owner myself and I never wanted to be it just happened and on accident. SO REACH for the stars, you know your own limits and GO FOR IT, you wont regret it. I NEVER HAVE!

GOOD LUCK and AGAIN your cakes are FABULOUS!

Update -- I met with the daughter today, who is around my age. The owner and his wife weren't there. The daughter said my work was beautiful and the samples I brought were all delicious (they were!). The owner had asked me to bring a "storyboard", which I worked all night Monday on. And the daughter didn't like it. She though it was "too much". At the last minute I had also decided to bring along the album full of cake pictures (not mine, but cakes I think I can do) that I use for bridal consultations. She LOVED that book and said if we ended up in a partnership she would love one for the store so people could sit down over a cup of coffee and look through it.

She told me all the details of any partnership would be handled by her dad...so I'm honestly not really sure what the purpose of this meeting was except to get to meet her. My feeling is that this is a very much a family business.

At the end I told her to tell her dad to call me, or if I didn't hear from him I would call next week. She said he would be calling long before that because he likes to get things done.

So basically...no new information on the partnership... now I am just waiting for a call!

This sounds like the chance of a lifetime for a baker just getting started.

I am going to offer a caution or two:
Be sure and get everything in writing. Think about what your time is worth, and make sure the owner does not take a larger percentage than he deserves. It IS his place, but it is your work. Also, I strongly suggest that you consult an attorney regarding this arrangement and make sure you are protected, in case the owner books you for more cakes than you can do, or some other situation beyond your control. You will be paying your "rent" by working for this man and his family in their kitchen. Make sure you are comfortable with them.

I envy you this great opportunity!

Best of luck!

Check into getting your license and be sure that the store kitchen is OK for what you want to produce.

Another update -- the owner called me today and asked me to come in tomorrow morning and cook -- any cakes that I needed to make, and also cook for him the raspberry cream cheese streusel bars (that I took to him as a sample -- he SERIOUSLY liked those). I asked if he wants to sit down and work out some details and he said let's just get started. So...I guess I'll go in and cook in the morning! Nothing's written in stone yet, but it looks positive.

I called the county health dept to find out what all I need as far as license, permit, etc, and the only person who can answer my questions is gone until Wednesday!

I do cakes for a local hotel. What happens is that the hotel give my number to the bride. She contacts me direct. I make an arragement to meet her in the hotel and discuss her cake. When I work the price out I tell the hotel how much I will charge. They then decide how much they want to add on and give a price to the bride.
I don't charge any less than I would working at home so I'm happy with the price I get and the hotel can add however much they like onto the price. 99% of the time it's taken because the brides tend to like one place organising everything

That's great Kelley. Keep us posted on how your day goes.

MissBaritone,

Who pays you? The bride or the hotel? I guess I just didn't understand why the hotel adds on the cost if you deal directly with the bride.

The hotel pays me. I deal with the bride direct in the hotel so I can design and make the cake exactly as she wants it. I give my price to the hotel, they in turn add whatever they want onto the price (I suppose it's their 'commission' for getting me the job). They charge the bride then pay me whatever I have asked. I do advertise in local directories so if a bride had come to me direct she could have had the cake for the same price I charged the hotel but if she approaches me through the hotel she pays whatever the hotel want to charge her.

Your cakes are wonderful. Looks like your and old pro. Good luck on your venture.