Hi! Just wondering for those in business... do most suppliers offer wholesale prices to you on supplies, food, tools, pans, etc? I just wonder how much it costs to get started if you're paying full price for everything?? If there are wholesalers, does it just require a tax ID number and does anyone have any favorite places they shop wholesale? Sorry if this is a dumb-o question....but I don't have an answer! TIA! Shari 
Here are some things that I am going to need to find out, if anyone can point me in the right direction that would be awesome.
SUGAR, I will need to clearly buy massive quantities of powdered sugar. How do I get that delivered to my place of business? (and other items like sugar)
Cake circles and the like (cake supplies), how do you get wholesale pricing on these (besides the tax id, that is coming soon).
Hobart Mixer and other professional supplies, where do I purchase these from?
THANKS!
I'll try to help...for commercial equipment (mixers, ovens, and the like) check out restuarant supply places look online too like bigtray.com. I found some new stuff on ebay at great prices. For the sugar, flour, etc. if you have a business you can check out sysco (I think they are sysco.com or do a search for rest supply and sysco), bakemark, gordon foodservice etc. Check in your yellow pages too. I found a really nice local company to get my butter from at a much better price, they didn't care if I had a business or worked in my home. Cake supplies..., some of the above places may have a few things, probably a limited selection. Cake boards and boxes, there's papermart.com and do a google for wholesale cake boxes and many options come up like restockit and instawares. HTH! 
That's at least somewhere for me to start! Thanks!!
I found powdered sugar at Sam's. Not that much, but a little cheaper.
I get my cake boxes from Instawares.com
They have free shipping on orders over $175 Boxes in bulk are VERY heavy!!
That was great because I bought every size box they had!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU for the tips!!! I love how helpful everyone is here I currently get my p.sugar from Sams... I'm hoping there is a place to get it a little cheaper... maybe that isn't an item I can save money on. I had thought about Sysco, glad to hear that is a good way to go. My friend owns a mediterranean restaurant and he buys from Sysco. Thank you for the other tips! I will definately check them out and I really appreciate the advice!
I buy most of my non-food supplies from CKproducts. You have to have a tax ID and a verifiable business. Their prices are TERRIFIC! I can get 100 -1/2 sheet boards for less than $20. I buy my ingredients from Sam's and Walmart. Places like Sysco require such a large order that is just isn't feasible for storage reasons at this point. I hope this helps. Check out CKproducts.com, their prices are not posted but you can see what they have to offer...which is everything...even Wilton items at true wholesale! You can also order directly from Wilton once an account is set up!
Yes, I've shopped around and I'm just a small cake business in my home so I don't need bulk so Walmart is the best! I shop Costco but I find Walmart is only a couple cents more and more convinent for me.
Oh and if you make IMB (my choice of frostings), I found a great price on pasterized dry egg whites (I use dry egg whites for food safety reasons) at honeyville.com. It's 19.48 for a can of 309 egg whites.
Jacqui
Thank you again! I really appreciate the information. Helps a lot. I currently have a Costco AND a Sams card (don't ask... it wasn't on purpose) and Sams sells 4 pound bags and Costco sells 50 pound bags. I don't think there is really any price difference. For some bizarre reason I currently get the 50 pound bags from Costco. Probably would be less of a mess to get the 4 pound bags.... Looks like Costco will continue to be my source!
If anyone else has tips on wholesale prices I would appreciate the info!!!
Alice Keeler
I can get 50 lb. bags of powdered sugar at both Sam's and Costco. Their prices are pretty much the same at both places. The 50 lb. bag is definitely a better deal than buying the 2 lb. bags at the store.
Also, I've ordered CK products (from Country Kitchen USA, right?) and didn't have to give them a tax ID #).
I WOULD BE CAREFUL OF INSTAWARE, THEY CHARGED MY CREDIT CARD AND NEVER SENT ME THE ITEMS I ORDERED. I AM STILL TRYING TO GET THE REFUND. GO TO WWW.RIPOFFREPORT.COM AND LOOK UP INSTAWARES. I purchase my boxes and boards from ULine, They are very quick and reliable.
I can get 50 lb. bags of powdered sugar at both Sam's and Costco. Their prices are pretty much the same at both places. The 50 lb. bag is definitely a better deal than buying the 2 lb. bags at the store.
What is the price on that?
Just to let you all know....CK Products and Country Kitchen are not the same company. Country Kitchen manufactors products and CK Products is a distributor of wholesale products. CK Products actually carries Country Kitchen products along with Wilton and many others. It is a great place to buy colors, sugars, boards, boxes, tips, bags, ect. but you must have a verifiable business to order from them (tax ID, business ad, business telephone number, pic of store front ect). You can check them out at www.ckproducts.com.
Most wholesale suppliers require a tax number and minimum orders. Some require a case limit. I usually buy from a Bakery supplier, but I wait until I have a full order. It usually must be $350.00. My other suppliers which have boxes and specialty items has a $175.00 minimum, but you pay extra for the shipping of boxes because they are heavy. For small items I go through CakeCarousel or Sweet Celebrations. I only use Sysco when I have a catering . I have a brother that is in the meat business so I can all that stuff at cost, which is below wholesale. If I happened to run out of sugar and need it before the truck comes I go to Sams. If you have a friend in the restaurant business you might ask them if you can tag an order on to theirs, most of the time they should't mind. Good Luck.
I buy at sam's, walmart, GFS (Gordon food Svc), Sysco and The Flower Factory (loc in Indiana and Ohio,it's an open to the public wholesale store). Lots of times Walmart is cheaper than GFS or Sysco. For example, for my cookie business, I use a lot of the mini M&M's. At Sysco, I had to buy in 25-lb bags, but the price per pound was almost twice that as what I would pay at Walmart and I didn't have to buy 25 lbs at a time! Space is a consideration, espcially refrigeration space, so even tho' I would use 15 or 20 dozen eggs a week, I couldn't buy the 15 dozen box from Sysco or GFS due to storage restrictions. Sysco will also not deliver to a residential address and believe it or not, they don't carry a number of items that I use religiously (there are some things that I am brand-specific on). You sales tax license will open a LOT of doors for you!
For styrofoam / dummy cakes, there is a company called Dallas Foam (http://www.dallas-foam.com). There's a $25 min order but you will be amazed how many dummy cakes you can get for $25 when you're buying wholesale! (10" round that is 4" high is only $1.60). If you don't need a lot or don't have storage space, you might team up with another decorator to split an order.
CK is indeed a good place to get a lot of stuff at wholesale prices. It was my understanding that they are the ones who manufacture and distribute, and that Country Kitchen SA is sister company. Vi is the sister of the owner of CK, and she develops new products and has CK mfg or has them mfg'd for them. At least that's how I understood it when she was explaining about the bead makers when they came out a few years ago.
Other wholesale sources would be:
Linnea's for candy and Wilton supplies
ILA (Int'l Leisure) for candy supplies
CK Products for cake decorating supplies/gumpaste/fondant, pans, etc.
Unger Paper for boxes (don't have to be licensed to order from them, and orders over a certain $$ amt. includes free shipping)
Try looking at www.rbanet.com for additional sources. You can also subscribe to Modern Baking Magazine, Specialty Foods, etc. online. They are also a great source of supplier info.
For Cake Circles, boxes and pie plates, I buy from a local paper supply company. They do not require a minimum order. I call and then I go there and pick my order up. Check your local yellow pages and just call a bunch of people.
For powdered sugar, I go to Sam's. I have used Restaurant Supply places in the past but they really are not much cheaper then using Sam's, etc.
I also order Cake supplies from CK South. You will need to supply your tax id number to get an account. They are soooo fast. Shipping at times can be a little high depending on the weight, but they are great!
I have also ordered from Cake Central before..very fast shipping.
Hope this helps!! Good Luck!
Okay, I'm convinced, I"ll keep buying my p.sugar at Costco or Sams. Thank you everyone for all the websites and wholesalers. I can sleep better now (Seriously!)
Where do you get your fillings from? Do you make your own? I don't think I want to do that, I figure at least at the first I can only do so much. Baking cakes will take plenty of my time. I went to a cake supply store in San Jose (Thank You Barbara, you are super nice and I appreciate all your tips and advice) and she buys her fillings and resells them, I want to do that too.
CK South has everything!!!!! Fillings, etc.
www.cksouth.com
I can get 50 lb. bags of powdered sugar at both Sam's and Costco. Their prices are pretty much the same at both places. The 50 lb. bag is definitely a better deal than buying the 2 lb. bags at the store.
What is the price on that??? Please?
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