I've never charged by the serving before. I usually just price my cakes individually. It sounds pretty straight forward, but I just want to make sure I have this right.

How does that work??
How do you come up with a 'per serving' price??

For example, if someone ordered a cake for 200 people, would you just use one of the serving charts to figure out how many servings per cake, then make sure you do enough cake to meet 200 servings, then multiply 200 times the cost per serving??

I've heard figures on this forum of like $1.75 for buttercream and $3-$4 for fondant, but does that apply to the little 1"x2" wedding size servings???


Hope I didn't confuse anyone.


Thanks.

One more question. . .

. . .when you do come up with a 'per serving price', I'm assuming that it applies to all your cakes, sort of like a base price, and then you just add extra depending on the work (i.e. gumpaste flowers, fondant decorations, etc.)????

Like I said, I think I get it, but I just need someone to verify this and correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks.

if your per serving price is $2, then if you make a cake that serves 54, then your price for that cake is $108. if the customer chooses to cut the cake into 30 pieces, the cost is still $108.

I tend to price torted ckes with buttercream filling and icnig at $X/serving (basic cake, simple border, etc). Fondant covering doubles the per serving price. Fruit fillings or ganuche would add between $0.25 and $1.00 more per serving.

other extras like gumpaste flowers I do piecemeal (meaning I don't add a per serving price - I add a cost per flower or per spray of flowers, etc.).

the only thing I add extra for on buttercream decorations are anything time consuming like roses, flower spray, etc. I don't charge for writing, for simle borders, etc, as I figured that into my base price.

I dont' know how you price a cake without a "per serving" guideline. Carpet is sold by the yard, paint is sold by the gallon, and cakes are sold by the servings. When you have a set price per serving, your bride and start to figure ahead of time what her costs are going to be and there is no big surprise or negotiation at the end. Plus I just don't have time to price out everything from scratch. When a bride orders a cake for 100 or for 150, I already know about what size tiers I need to make for that many servings. It then just becomes a matter of what style they want ... pillared or cake-on-cake, fountains and stairs, etc. (I think it also helps that my price includes me staying and cutting/serving the wedding cake, so that helps insure accurate serving size). If you sell a wedding cake for 100 for $175, then your cost per person is $1.75. Use that as a base for your cakes....it's much easier for you and for your bride.

I agree with the above.

Start with a base price. When I say base I mean base. Cake...plain filling...buttercream and minor decorations.

Then add on according to what the Bride wants. Gumpaste,bows,pearls,fondant(ick) , mousse fillings...etc....

I don't charge per flower for gumpaste work. I figure how many flowers and the type, that will be needed and add that to my per serving cost. I sketch a basic design for approval. Sometimes they want to add more bows or pearls. I then add that to the presented per serving cost to get a final figure.

Other gumpaste work is charged by the piece. A cake topper for instance. It depends upon how much work is involved.

If I am not required to stay and cut the cake I give the venue a cutting chart, showing them exactly how the cake should be served. I make sure that the Bride has gotten one as well. That insures that I have provided what was paid for and that if the venue follows the instructions there will be ample servings provided. I also make a note if the top tier is to be saved. (At one venue the kitchen staff helped themselves to some of the top tier thinking it was "extra" cake.)

Hope this helps.