I cannot believe this! I am making my parents 50th anniversary cake.
The resort where the party is being held is charging me $2.50 a slice to slice MY cake!! I am not a happy person. I am signing a waiver for the cake but they are still charging me for someone else to slice it! They said even if I had bought a cake with a bakery they would charge the same to slice it. Unbelievable.

It's the age old tactic places use to have you buy a cake from them. One word--LAME!

WHAT!
I would be very upset too.

That is daylight robbery.

i would tell them thank you very much but i will cut the cake myself. bring your own knife and when the time comes you do the honors. i would bring along some really nice plastic cake plates in case they want to charge you for that too. good luck. and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to your parents.

sorry, but I don't understand.....you have to pay in order to slice a cake?? Why?

i would tell them thank you very much but i will cut the cake myself. bring your own knife and when the time comes you do the honors. i would bring along some really nice plastic cake plates in case they want to charge you for that too. good luck. and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to your parents.

Sorry.. but what jackasses!!! I can't stand rip-offs like that!! What was the excuse for this outrageous charge? The extra dishes they'd dirty? If so, offer to bring some disposable!! Geezeeeeeeee!

I agree with babybundt. Tell them you don't need their high dollar cake cutting service that you will take care of it for free.

If they'll allow you to cut the cake, go for it! Most places like this, however, aren't trying to cover the time spent by their staff. A slicing/serving fee is meant to make bringing in a cake cost prohibitive so you'll just order from them instead. Wedding venues that sell wedding cakes often charge this while those that don't will do it for free. It's all very sinister, really .

i lost a wedding cake order for the same reason.....the reception venue was going to charge the couple and extra $2/serving to slice and serve the cake if i made it.....just another way to ensure that the couple bought the cake from them....grrrrr

Tell them you want a special cake - for your family who are all ovo-lacto-vegan or something crazy like that. When they say they can't do it, they shouldn't have a problem with you bringing in your own.

If it were me, I'd bring in the cake and play dumb if they say anything about it. It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission sometimes.

Sorry folks this is standard at high end establishments. At our restaurant we charge $4.00 a person plating charge if you want to bring your own cake, and I would never assume the liability of serving a cake from a home kitchen, only one from a licensed commercial establishment.. You all complain about cheap customers who don't want to pay etc.etc. yet want a custom cake, and you know you can't stay in business unless you make a certain amount of money. I need to sell $2000 a day in product to pay my rent, my staff, and the $250,000 mortgage that I took out to buy a high end restaurant full of equipment. I can't make that if I start letting people bring in their own salads for lunch, and just buy the coffee. If you want to serve your parents a cake you made, just have everyone stop at your house after diner, and you can do your own serving, dishes, and clean up.

ugh cutting charges , I guess I am in the right state because I don't think I have EVER thrown a party anywhere where they charge a cutting charge!

wow. i understand cutting and serving charges, but i think charging that much is crazy. a flat fee of 50 bucks or more depending on the size of function i could see, even 1.50 a slice, but charging more than most people charge to make that slice of cake is a huge rip off. i wouldn't think that most places would have a person on staff to make a substantial or elaborate cake. this must be a very ritzy resort, in which in my hotel experience means people generally don't care that they get charged extra. they want such and such a cake from so and so because its the cake you have to have and the extra 500 bucks is beans to them.

Just a thought......I'd do an elegant cupcake "cake" with the nice stand and they wouldn't have to CUT the cake.

I agree with everyone else. This is wrong. There is no reason to charge that much to slice a cake. I could see maybe $1 per slice to cover the servers time, but $2 or more is ridiculous. I certainly wouldn't use a buisiness that did that. If their cheating you on something that is blatently obvious, what else are they cheating you on. Just my opinion....
I understand them wanting to sell their own cake. But geesh if that is so, they should tell you---NO OUTSIDE CAKES or other food.

question:

are you going to:

bring all your own plates and forks?
are you going to do all the serving of the cake -- taking to each and every person at their table?
are you going to clean up everything involving the cake afterwards (oh, and that means take all those plates and forks you brought home and washing them there.)

or are you going to use the venues?

and if you use the venues?

>are you going to do all the serving of the cake -- taking to each and every person at their table or expect their staff to do that?
>are you going to clean up everything involving the cake afterwards or expect their staff to do that?
>are you going to go into their kitchen and wash everything to proper health dept. standards or expect them to do that?
>are you going to put everything into storage or expect them to do that?

that cake cutting fee is not just for running a knife through a cake --

it's for the serving
the cleaning up
the washing
the storing
and all the personnel (salaries/wages) of the people to do that
and all the utilities (gas, electric, etc) used to do that
and a portion of the overhead (the rent, the INSURANCE!, equipment, etc.)

after all -- if there is NO cake -- well that's a shorter party which means
fewer hours for staff, so less wages paid
no cleanup or washing, so less utilities, etc.

whether you bring the cake or not -- the costs of having servers serve and then clean up
dishwashers wash and put away
rent
utilities
insurance
ARE fixed costs the venue still HAS to cover.

and who are we, many of whom charge by the serving for our wedding cakes (and think just how high that can be) to get our knickers all in knots about them charge a per guest fee to do this (after all -- isn't that how most fancy places do it -- by the plate? - uhhh...YEP!)

and we set our fee to cover our costs and to make a profit

with all the sarcasm he can muster:

HOW DARE THEY -- try to cover costs and make a profit! (and if i had hair to toss I would!)

Doug...funny , funny!

I know I have read that another of our members is a caterer and she charges a cutting fee for cakes she does not make even though she is catering the event. That seems like the same thing to me. No one has seen anything wrong with that so far here, since she is one of "us" trying to get the business.

I agree that it is standard in most restaurants. I always tell my clients to check with the restaurant before they make final plans. Who can blame them for wanting to just buy from the restaurant instead of me...everyone wants to save where they can.

Sometimes things just are what they are...and the restaurant is trying to make money, and we are too....frustrating yes, but understandable I think. It is all about perspective.

Try to talk nicely with the manager and see if you can negotiate a better rate. It is worth a try.

Julia

As much as it seems to suck, it's standard operating procedure at high end establishments. It's hard to look at it from the other side, but the restaurant sees your cake as lost revenue, and it is. If you are bringing your own dessert you will not be ordering from them. And you are asking them to prepare said dessert and serve it to you. When you think about it, they probably charge $8 and up for a plated dessert.. $2.50 a slice isn't a lot when you think that dessert from them would be $8 or more per person. If you aren't used to this practice it can be shocking, and I understand your frustration.. really I do. I made a cake for my DH's grandmother that we brought to a restaurant.. there was a $2.00 per person cutting fee. It's a pain in the hindquarters, but when you look at it through the eyes of the restaurant owner.. it makes a bit more sense. They could be making a lot more from you if you bought their desserts. The whole point of the restaurant is to make the owners money. They make much more from you from the mark up on their own desserts than $2.50 per person.

maybe it DOES seem outrageous to charge that much per plate but, when you look at it like Doug has put you can't really complain. I agree with Julia that maybe you can negotiate them down a little on the $$ per plate.

I learned from this wonderful site to ask the venues about bringing your own cake - before you do anything. I made a free cake for my cousin's baby shower. It was at a restaurant, they charged .50 cents for cutting and serving. (i know this is nothing) I made sure i let the host of the party know before arriving w/my cake and have them be in shock over this. Anyway, they agreed to pay it.
I think there's been a lot of great points here about this fee. It makes more sense now that you sit down and think/read about it.
You can always order their cake, and just have a small one for your parents at home. i'm sure your parents will understand and just as happy.

GL

Just to know, for future reference, if you DID buy the cake from that venue, would they also charge the same fee for cutting? I have never heard of this before, so I want to know in case it ever happens to me...

I have a Wedding Cake to do next month and the bride is being charged an extra 100.00 cake cutting fee. I think alot of places are doing this. Stinks for everyone involved except for those charging the fee.

It is not robbery. It is the income that I lose by you bringing your own cake. My china is $75 a place setting, wholesale. Typical restaurant breakage is 10-15% If you are having 100 guests, those 10-15 plates cost me at least $50. Then I pay a cook $17 an hour to slice your cake. ( That's what my pantry chef makes) So it takes him 35 minutes or so for a wedding sized cake. That's another $10 or so. Then I pay for the water and electricity to wash the plates and forks. My waiters still have to serve the cake, yet are deprived of the tip, which I make up for when someone brings in outside food. That 20% probably costs me $100 is ( My prices are $6.50 a serving, so I am using $600 as the price of the cake)

So, why exactly should I have to lose money to have you come to my restaurant ? Why is that evil ? Why should my servers have to serve and clean up after things they aren't tipped on.

You made my point perfectly. There is a gorgeous tea room at the Ritz Carlton in Las Vegas, but the food is very expensive and marginal at best. I would never dream of going in and asking for a pot of tea, a set of china, a waiter, but bring my own tea cake. It is rude and disrespectful of the professionals who make their living in the service industry. What you want to do amounts to the same thing. If you cant afford to have your parents reception at a nice resort, then you should have made other plans.

So, my question here would be: If you hadn't decided to make the cake for your parents, but also decided not to buy a cake from them...which means there would be no cake at all to cut in the first place....how would she then pay her staff without your $2.50 pp cutting fee? Would her employees not get paid that day because you decided you didn't want a cake at this party? Doesn't make any damn sense to me...

If you didn't bring a cake or order one then you would be out of there sooner and there would be no extra dishes and no one would have to cut anything. It's just business really, and more common than you might think. You bring your own cake, not only are not not buying from the venue, but you are asking them to serve it and cleanup after you. $2.50 per person doesn't seem like much for that.

If you go to Applebee's or something they aren't going to charge you for your cake because you are going to cut it yourself and bring your own plates and they don't care about you cutting it at teh table.. but you want to go somewhere more fancy.. yeah.. they are going to charge you because they aren't going to want the other guests to see you cut your own cake and serve it. It's about image. You pay for that image..