How Much Should I Charge?

Business By misterc Updated 29 Nov 2006 , 4:22am by misterc

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misterc Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 5:38am
post #1 of 25

I know pricing will vary from state to state but I am new when it comes to wedding cakes. I just did this cake in October and my friends are telling me I need to charge more. It is an 8, 12, and 16 inch cake decorated with BC, fondant, and fresh flowers. If anyone has an opinion on the pricing suggestions would help. Thanks!
LL

24 replies
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hails Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 5:53am
post #2 of 25

I am not sure as I do not make wedding cakes but I just wanted to say that your cake is stunning and absolutly brilliantly done

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TPDC Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 5:55am
post #3 of 25

I would have charged $600 for the cake. $50.00 for the equipment rental. Fresh flowers I do not know, I have them purchase them from the florist and the florists places them. Then I would have charged for delivery also.

I am not sure what anyone else would have charged, but I would be interested in knowing.

What did you charge?

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TPDC Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 5:56am
post #4 of 25

By the way, your cake turned out BEAUTIFUL!

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nglez09 Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 6:03am
post #5 of 25

About $550 for the cake and $30 for the rental. Plus the flowers.

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misterc Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 2:14pm
post #6 of 25

WOW- $600! I only charged $200 including the fresh flowers. How do you come up with the amount? By the way, thank you to all the nice comments!

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veejaytx Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 2:26pm
post #7 of 25

All I can say is that somebody got a beautiful bargain! It is gorgeous!

Only $200 for that cake, even without the flowers, is very low, IMO. Janice

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fmcmulle Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 2:30pm
post #8 of 25

How many people was the cake for? $200 was way to little for that cake. It was beautiful! You should charge a per person amount,an additional charge for the fondant,rental for your stands and if there was filling in the cakes that is an extra charge. Don't sell youself short the cake was fantastic.
Thanks for sharing the picture. Keep up the good work!

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misterc Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 2:37pm
post #9 of 25

She only needed it to serve 100 but she wanted the look so opted for more cake than she needed. What is the average per serving charge for wedding cakes and how much extra do you charge for fondant? I arranged the flowers myself, do you and if so do you charge the actual cost of the flowers or do you charge more for the arranging? It had a raspberry filling and what is a normal rental fee for stands? Sorry to pick your brain! Thank you for the compliment on the cake. To be honest, I LOVE that cake!!!!! It is my pride and joy! LOL

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MsCakeLady Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 2:42pm
post #10 of 25

As well it should be. What a great job.

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Mamas Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 7:23pm
post #11 of 25

I don't remember if you mentioned where you are from but that definately affects pricing. Especially if you are just trying tog et established. In New York you can definatley get top dollar for a cake. $600 is a bargain when wedding cakes can go for upwards of a $1500.

I have decided that I am not going to charge less than $3 a slice. Charging by the slice takes the guess work out. I don't have any equiptment yet so I have no idea what the going rate on rentals is and I would definately charge extra for delivery (5%), set up (5%) and the cost of the fresh flowers.

The first wedding cake my partner and I did was priced too low for the work that was put in. It was a simple cake but it took a lot of work. When all was said and done we spent $400 in ingredients, packaging, and transportation and we charged $500. $600 would have been more comfortable and would have made me feel a lot less like I was working for free. I couldn't even imagine only getting $200 for it. I would have been working at a deficit. Where your ingredients that cheap?

Pricing is tricky business. I still haven't gotten the hang of it. YOu are supposed to be passing on all your cost so that your profit margin is maximized. Things like your time, even if it is minimum wage are supposed to be factored in. The dish detergent you use to was your pans, the sponge, the light you read your recipes by, the gas/electriciy you use to heat your stove and on and on and on. When you think about it a wedding cake should definately cost a couple thousand dollars so whats $600?

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misterc Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 11:09pm
post #12 of 25

I am from Utah so the pricing would be very different from New York. If you arn't counting the stands I spent about $45 on ingredients. The flowers cost me about the same. The venue wasn't far so delivery wasn't bad. I didn't think to factor in all the other things you mentioned(electricity, soap...). I guess I should though. Thanks for your suggestions!

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Derby Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 11:16pm
post #13 of 25

I have trouble pricing cakes, too. I want to charge enough that it's worth my while and people understand that I don't come cheap. But, I also don't want to overcharge.

BEAUTIFUL cake!!!!!!!

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duncansmom Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 11:18pm
post #14 of 25

Maybe you could charge like people that make crafts do. I'm in Canada so I really don't know how it works where you are but when we do tole painting or other crafts we figure out what it costs in supplies and then we triple that amount. Any tole painters out there?

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Dawn35 Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 11:19pm
post #15 of 25

I'm from Illinois and I charge $1.25 per slice for a fairly plain cake with buttercream. Anything such as fondant, filling or detailed work is more. Fresh flowers are left up to the florist.
You made a beautiful cake.

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Janette Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 11:30pm
post #16 of 25

I've been pricing cakes on the inter-net all over the country and I would say you should have got $540 and that is not counting the rental fees or flowers. $3 per person for fondant is reasonable. $2 per person Buttercream is a very fair price.

Your work is excellent you really undercharged!

Accounding to Wilton's chart the 16" serves 100 so that alone should have been $300 (again not counting the fees or flowers). Even if you would have made dummies for the 12" and the 8" you should still charge for the work and material (fondant is not cheap).

I charge $1.50 per person for Buttercream and $2.50 for Fondant, but I am starting out and I'm trying to reel customers in. And I have yet to do a cake that looks as nice as yours.

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misterc Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 11:52pm
post #17 of 25

Thank you for the compliments and for the advice!

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baka_neko Posted 27 Nov 2006 , 6:30am
post #18 of 25

i don't know how the rate is over there, since i'm from a totally different country but i just want to comment that your cake is amazing cake! icon_eek.gif

and yes, even though you've undercharged the cake this time, but you can up the price next time, eh? icon_smile.gif

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fmcmulle Posted 27 Nov 2006 , 12:34pm
post #19 of 25

misterc,
I looked at your other cakes and they are really good. I was having problems with my pricing so I sat down with a friend who is a pastry chef and he helped me on them. So whatever he told me I cut it down because I am not as good as he is, yet! LOL. But I have the passion. I just got an account with a local very nice hotel and the guy in charge told me I was to cheap. Anyhow if you want to pm me I can give you some of my prices and maybe it will help. You will have to consider the area that you live, I live in the Orlando area so I am sure they are different. Let me know if you need my help. Keep decorating!

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Mamas Posted 27 Nov 2006 , 4:00pm
post #20 of 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by misterc

I am from Utah so the pricing would be very different from New York. If you arn't counting the stands I spent about $45 on ingredients. The flowers cost me about the same. The venue wasn't far so delivery wasn't bad. I didn't think to factor in all the other things you mentioned(electricity, soap...). I guess I should though. Thanks for your suggestions!




Many years ago I took a cost accounting course and even though I wasn't thinking about a cake business or any business at the time I was amazed by how detailed a business had to be when determining the price of something. I especially remeber the example of the baker including the cost of electricity per hour. You really don't know how much you have made until you do that sort of thing. If you made $1,000 but spent $900 in ingredients, utilities, packaging, transportation, cleaning supplies, babysitting and time ect then that $1,000 doesn't look like a whole lot of money. Ofcourse I don't do all that. I include packaging, ingredients, and transportation ($5 or tolls whichever is greater) but as I get better and I get more clients I will start to at least pay myself for my time. right now I barely make minimum wage.

With that said how the hell did you make a wedding cake for $45? I know that the cost I quoted was inflated and not what would typically be spent on making a wedding cake but we ran into some problems and all the pans boxes ect. had to be purchased. I doubt the next cake will cost that much but I can't imagine my ingredients as low as $45 for a fondant covered wedding cake. How did you do that? Are ingredients that cheap in Utah? If you got $155 for your troubles that isn't as bad as it originally sounded. I still would have bumped it up to $300 but maybe you don't have to charge as much as $600 to make a decent profit.

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misterc Posted 27 Nov 2006 , 4:13pm
post #21 of 25

I made my own fondant with marshmellow cream so that made it much less expensive than buying it premade. I made that particular cake with store mixes I bought at a caselot sale. Actually, the powdered sugar came from a caselot sale as well. I had all the pans but I did have to purchase the cake boards and stands but I figure I am keeping those so I didn't think I should include any of the cost for those in the price. With all that said, I am really bad at keeping track of expenses. My husband usually does that for me and he is away with the military. I need to get better at keeping track of that stuff myself. Thanks for your comments.

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tyty Posted 27 Nov 2006 , 4:14pm
post #22 of 25

Your cake is beautiful. I'm from Chicago, my cake prices start at $3 per slice for basic cake with BC. Fondant. filling and equipment are extra.

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finnox Posted 28 Nov 2006 , 4:48am
post #23 of 25

I wanted to say your cake is beautifal. Where I live a cake like that would only be around 150 plus 10 for each layer or flowers. Its kind of cheep since most cakes come with the company you use to rent for the reception hall.

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mkolmar Posted 29 Nov 2006 , 4:01am
post #24 of 25

just wanted to say you cake is beautiful!

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misterc Posted 29 Nov 2006 , 4:22am
post #25 of 25

Thank you!

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