I've had 2 orders so far and everyone was very happy with what they ordered, just not crazy when it came time to pay. My first order was for 12 4inch filled cakes (chocolate with strawberry b/c filling and white cake with blackberry b/c) and decorated to look like snowflakes plus 2 dozen cake balls ---the bill was for $58 and they said it was kind of high (it was for my church so cake balls were $8 a dozen and the filled little cakes were $3.50 each, I way underpriced the cakes) My 2nd order was for an oreo cheesecake with dipped oreos on top, a kahlua-choc. mousse in a chocolate crust topped with flakes of white chocolate and 2 dozen cakeballs. The bill came to $80 with tax. (I delivered the cakes to her home at 5 pm on Thanksgiving) Everyone was thrilled at the bridal shower and Thanksgiving gathering that I made desserts for, they just commented that I'm kind of high priced.

Am I doing something wrong here? I take what everything costs me and times by 3 to get their prices. My DH and mom said that I make quality goods so I have to charge properly for them, but now I'm worried these people won't recommend me or are unhappy with what I charged and just not saying anything since I know them. I'm in an area where ingredients can become costly and people are use to paying low prices at krogers, sams and wal-mart. I make almost everything from scratch so I'm scratching my head on if I should change my prices or just stay stead-fast till I find the right paying clientel, since I'm in a melting pot area where there is the filthy rich on one side and the poor to average on the other. I have a hard time charging anyways, so knowing they think I'm high priced is killing me.

I used to be a CPA before changing careers. I would say from my accounting background that you are not overcharging, based on the formula you prodived. (Cost of Ingredients x 3).

If you make High end goods - you should expect a good price for them. I think your friends might be comparing your price to Wal-Mart and Krogers. But Customers are going to compare Taste to those places. I would advise - have faith, and your business will flourish. Your prices set a standard for the taste of your products.

I am in a small town where I ran into the same thing - I went into it with a high price for high end goods, trust me - I am not hurting for business. The customers will come and be thankful that you make Great tasting products.

Sorry to be so long. Happy Baking!!

If they knew the price up front, then what's their beef? If they had a problem with the pricing, that was the time to bring it up, not after all the work was done. It's what my hubby refers to as "......they're just HUNTIN' for something to complain about!"

It does not sound like you are over priced at all! It actually sounds like the first order got a great deal! People will just complain about money. Keep your chin up and price accordingly.
Best Wishes,
Tracy

Are you kidding me??? They actually complained about paying $58 for TWELVE mini cakes plus cake balls?? I would definitely NOT lower your prices! What I've been trying to do is let people know ahead of time the approximate price if I know it's going to be fairly high, or I ask them about what their price range is. This happens a lot for me b/c I get a lot of orders for sculpted cakes, so I like to just give them a heads up that it's going to be around $100 or more. Then they can decide if that's what they want, or something simpler.

Good luck!
Courtney

Doesn't sound high to me either! Is there anywhere near you you could check their prices? ie bakery, walmart etc. Remember you are producing HOME MADE goods not some thrown together manufactured junk.

Good luck - but don't change your prices!

If anything, I thing the first order was grossly under-priced! Only $3.50 for an individually baked, filled, and decorated 4 inch cake?

Next time someone comments on your prices being too high, just smile sweetly and say "Quality ingredients aren't cheap!". People have to start getting it through their heads that if they want something special and delicious, it will cost more than your ordinary grocery store baked good.

Amber

I just don't get people some times. I had a lady call me yesterday for a sheet cake, and I quoted her $35.00. She thought she would check somewhere else and call me back. I'm not going any lower than that, and I hope she enjoys her "other" cake!

Let's see: You offer scratch cakes with custom filling varieties, and deliver them after hours on a holiday. Hmmm.... I think they need to reassess their complaints. The next time someone comments on your prices, if I were you I'd calmly smile and state, " I pride myself on being able to provide custom products using the highest quality ingredients that are made from scratch. I take pride in my reputation as a cake artist and actively avoid trying to make run of the mill cakes that customers can pick up at the local WalMart store. These are custom made and decorated cakes and are priced accordingly."

how much do i have to charge for a 10 inches filled with home straberry jam with whipped trimmed with a home made white cake if i do an image transfert.

thank you

nath sorry my erros because iM french

I live in the suburbs just outside of Detroit and I have found the same thing -- the working class neighborhoods can't afford me and the ritzy class neighborhoods don't want to pay for me. It's very discouraging. Then when people call and say "it's for a bridal shower, how much will it cost me?" and I tell them my prices start at... they get all huffy because I haven't given them the total price!! I don't know, does anyone have any good advice for dealing with "people"??

My pricing method is to add up the cost of everything used to make the cake and multiply by 4. This provides a built in method of paying me for my time. Others on the board multiply by 3 or even use a pricing matrix. The matrix baffles me and I've found multiplying by 4 compensates my time more appropriately when I do something involved. I try to stay away from sheetcakes, but I guess I would price them by multiplying by 3 for simple designs.

Food pricing is tricky..

you buy the ingredients...let's say a bag of flour.

it cost you 1.99...you have to find out how much you are paying per ounce of flour that you use in your product...then multiply that amount by the ounces of flour you use.

You need to do this with EVERY ingredient that you use.

Make a total...multiply that by 33% that's a subtotal that you then multiply by 3% ( that is called the Q factor) the "HIDDEN COSTS OF THINGS YOU CAN"T REALLY MEASURE LIKE SALT, WATER ..i know free..but it takes time to pour it..lol)

then you have ANOTHER SUB TOTAL...that you DIVIDE by the YIELD or NUMBER OF SERVINGS...


so..Now you have the price of ONE...

so, lets say you just make a cheesecake and that total comes out to $1.29 a slice.

Your local Restaurant sell that SAME slice for $3.50

so you go back and raise that $1.29 what your market will bear...

Even is you leave your cheesecake at $1.29 you are still making some profit ( not much but some)

1.29 x 12 slices = $15.48 (low for a cheesecake)

or

3.50 x 12 = $42. 00 ( More like it...!)

Hope that I explained it ok..lol

I'm thinking that sometimes I buy a bag of flour for $2.50. Sometimes it's $1.99. Sometimes it's the big bag at Sams Club for $4.00. I haven't figured out how to figure the price per ounce and/or unit price, etc. Gives me a headache whenever I try!

believe it or not, it is possible to figure out how many cups are in a 50-lb bag of flour. (I went thru a number of bottles of aspirin!) I went to "Ask.com" and typed in "how many cups of flour in a pound?" and came up with a number of websites to help me figure it out.

In general, 4 cups to a lb, so 20 cups to a 5-lb bag. Assuming $2.00 for 5-lbs would yield you 10 cents per cup of flour.

BTW, my cost on a 50-lb bag of flour was about half a penny a cup.

I agree with RisqueBusiness.

Find the most expensive product or the place that sells the product at the highest price and use THAT as your starting. That way you will never cheat yourself out.

i did count all my stuff for my cake to know i much does it cost me. i count all my pound of flour, sugar. cup by cup because my recipe needed by cup and after I can know i much it cost me for a cup. i count my ingredients all like that.

Make sure you consider cake boards, dowels, etc and other structure devices when tallying cost.

People are always going to find a way to complain about money. Even if you charged them half of what you did they would probably still say you were too high. It's all business sense, sure you could charge them exactly what you paid for it, but why would you? Just keep in mind this is why you are the one marketing the goods and they are the ones buying them.

Please give it time, sounds like you are giving REAL QUALITY BEAUTIFUL cakes, years ago before I had to stop doing cakes I got a bit disalusioned about the charging of cakes and if it was'nt the fact that my accident stopped me from doing them anyway, I would have given up, I live in a small town, I worried my self to death about it all, I didnt even know about computers back then (oh my god I'm ancient) but you have the Cake Central family to help you see that you MUST not sell yourself short, you just carry on and charge what you are charging (and a bit more in my eyes) and over time you WILL get the sort of customers that want the quality cakes like you do....This is one of the many many things I have learnt here on CC, so please listen to the lovely "family" you have here, and dont sell yourself short by a couple of comments from...dont know how to describe them.....certain customers, I supose.

Denise

Fill up for $9.00???? I have a Miata, I can't fill up for that.

bobwonderbun, I'm just above the Ohio state line in MI and about a little more than an hour away from you. (so you practically are right behind me like your avatar says!) This areas economy is so bad right now I don't know if people will ever stop gripping about prices.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

I compair my prices to Kroger's and Wal-mart pricing but my items are home made and different than their products are. I know plenty of people really happy with their cakes at these establishments and that's fine with me since I offer home made and it costs more.

A lady I know owns an ice cream shop which also serves food and her prices for a cake are $35 for an 8 in. round $48 with ice cream. She gets so many cake orders!!! A slow week for her is 25, she normally gets 50 orders for decorated cakes a week. Her decorated cakes are nice, but since learning cake decorating (somewhat--ha ha) I'm not so impressed anymore. Her borders are not done even, icing not smooth (but hey, even I have issues with this one) and she just puts a cake kit for the decoration. All her cakes are plain cake mixes, not doctored. I'm not bashing her, just more impressed by her ability to sell so many cakes and people be throwing $$$ at her, when I get complaints for scratch cakes She also sells a 1/2 dozen cookies for $5.50 each but these are home made by her, just your basic cookie-not decorated. She has a booming business and I'm really happy for her, but wish myself and others on here had her problem of turning away business.
She has asked me about making cakes for her with techniques she can't do like basketweave, roses, color-flo, reverse shell borders, anything royal icing and a few others but I said no since she wanted to pay me about $6 a cake. (made me feel good that she asked though since decorated cakes are not my strong point for desserts)


The ingredients I use are not that cheap for me to buy and I still haven't heard back from the US Foods supplier He always says I'll get with you in a few days, well it's been like 4 weeks and I see him every other day at school! I'm calling other suppliers tomorro, I don't have time to wait around.

I think I'll keep the prices the same and if people have a problem then they can go else where, I don't want people to tell others great desserts-bad price! I want them to say I'm worth every penny they spent, so I think I just need to find the right market, which will take some time.

I just need to stay positive and then may be good thing will come my way.

colette peters said people still complain to her about prices....and look how famous she is!

i've noticed an odd anomaly (call molder and scully)...

some rich people seem like they actually LIKE paying more....perhaps so they can brag about how much it cost them?

I can't believe people whould ever complain to Colette Peters!

I think you are right about rich people and higher prices, I know a few people who won't buy even a plain white t-shirt if it's under $40. Yeah, I'm not one of these people. I have a lot of bill to pay so that means I have little money to play!

I love CC for always being so supportive and honest. Some people in my family are just telling me to quit since I'll never make enough $ to do anything with. (I'm only wanting to do a few orders a month for right now because of life being so busy for me) But you all are always there to give me a boost...thanks!