Hello,
If any of you still do (or did) ever drop off sample cakes/cupcakes to help boost sales and draw new customers, could you please post a pic of your sample platters/boxes so I can see what looks best?

(Indydebi, you gave great advise about doing this - do you have any photos?)

I'm a bit frustrated because~ I called one business back the following day to tell them something, however the owner had no idea what I was talking about and said the receptionist must have kept all the cakes for herself. I was quite clear that they were for the staff to share.
That was a colossal waste of my time.

Maybe it's me... Can you please post photos?

thanks

I don't have any photo's to share, but I did it a lot for a while. I bake my samples as cupcakes, and so if I make 4 flavors, I have around 100 extra cupcakes, put 9 in an 8x8x4 box, tape a card to the top, and go drop them off places. I put one piece of pink tissue paper in the box, pink is my company color. I iced the cupcakes with a nice swirl, but I didn't decorate them.

maybe next time tell the receptionist that you will call her boss in the next few days offering them a 5-10% off coupon if they like the cake.. or something... maybe say you included 2 signature flavors and 2 new flavors and you want feed back... if they smell good i would be tempted to keep em! lol.

good luck

I really didn't have anything to take pictures of. I just threw 12-18 cookies in a white cake box and handed them to the receptionist. I always tell her "now you have to share them!"

I guess I should be flattered that she liked them enough to horde them.

The cafe owner who sells my dessert cakes ~ I just learned that he's been taking credit for making my cakes. The whole point of selling them (cheap) to him was to gain exposure. I was wondering why he didn't want my lables on anything. There was an article written about his establishment recently, which tipped me off. He doesn't (and can't) bake. Again, I should probably just be grateful. I'm not...

K2,

I feel like there was another tread about this. How much money do you make from him? Is is worth it? Especially if you aren't getting any customers out of it?

I don't mean to stir things up, but that is lame. It's one thing to take a compliment for your cakes that he is selling but to CLAIM he makes them. IMO if you don't make enough to justify it.. drop him and let him figure out what to tell customers when they ask for "his" amazing cakes. Oh all of a sudden he can't bake? lol. Then have a gf call and order something and see what he says. I think I need some caffeine to get this little mean edge off of me this morning

Maybe make a label that says prepared by K2Cakes especially for Name of Cafe? and put your website on it? Agree to the lower price if you can do that... if not charge him alot more.

I really thought this was going to be a great idea, until he started taking my labels off. I'm going to try and talk to him this week about that (but keep it pleasant). I don't like being bullied when I'm attempting to stand up for myself and my work, which is what I'm afraid of.
As I'm finding out the hard way with this, things can turn ugly real fast.

The above is one of the reasons I'm getting more samples ready to go out. It feels like a punch in the face.

Thank you.

Hey Kristi, are you getting snow today? We're all rain down here in MA lol:

Is this the same guy that you were making those 4" square espresso cakes for?

This is the main reason why I won't wholesale to cafe's, well the main reason is, in MA I can't legally wholesale out of my licensed home kitchen , but, even if I could I wouldn't.

Did he tell you that he would give you credit for the baked goods? If so, I'd cut him off completely. He's getting your high end product at a wholesale price and he's taking the credit for baking it? What a jerk he is!

Hey Debbie~ I'm heading your way in a couple months... going to RI to visit my college buddy!!! Finally, after not seeing him for 15 yrs.
We're stopping in Boston on the way back to take the kiddle to the museum... (hint, hint)

The weather has been fabulous this weekend, infact we were out sledding down our ENORMOUS snowbanks a few hours ago. (neighbors think I'm crazy...I love to play in the snow!!)

Yeah, I've about reached my limit with the wholesale gig. Maybe it's egocentric, but I want my lable on the containers.

Thanks for calling my stuff "high end". It's funny, because I was recently asked if Vegan cakes cost LESS because they are "missing ingredients". (not sure which one to use...) I burst into hysterical laughter.

Well if you guys need a bathroom/refreshment break, you're welcome to stop by.

I was excited to see your Vegan Brown Sugar cake recipe on the homepage this week. I can't wait to make it for my niece when she visits from Scotland in April. She's a vegetarian and I like to serve food that they'll be able to eat and enjoy. (I'm sure she's tired of the veggie platter I serve her every time they come. ) If you have any recipes that would be nice to serve for lunch I'd love some.


I'm happy you guys are enjoying the snow. I used to love sledding when my kids were little. Now, I probably wouldn't be able to walk the next day if I tried it!

Good luck with your sample boxes, I think they're a great idea.

That sounds perfect. Do you think Wholefoods would carry it?

They probably do, especially in Mass. There are LOTS of vegans in Mass, and even a vegetarian society.

If not, I'd be happy to overnight some to you. I even think you'd like it.
Once in a while, I put tofurky slices over bread (for my husband and daughter) and pour vegan gravy over that and mashed potatos. Like an open faced, hot sandwich. (I don't eat bread)
I think the above is a very Maine thing?

FYI~ I'm not a fan of the "Yves" brand of soymeats found in the grocery store. To me, they resemble rubber - the taste is ok, but I don't want to play frisbee with my food, (or resole my shoes) I want to eat it.

That is so sweet of you to offer that. My Salon is in Providence on the East Side not too far from Brown University. There's a great Wholefoods Market right nearby. I'm sure with all the Brown and RISD students in the area there's quite a few vegans. I'll check out their vegetarian section this week. She's not visiting til April, so I'll have time to try out some of the things you suggested. Thanks!

Oh, that's right... RISD, brings back college memories (Although I went to art school here). I was telling my husband today that I really want us to move closer to RI ~ art, culture, etc.

The offer still stands if you need it.

(just to keep on "subject" ) my mini Green Tea cupcakes came out wonderfully, as did my mini Boston Cream Pie Vanilla cupcakes.
I can't wait to dress them up and send them out!!

LOVE the mini cupcake pan!!!

Ok, after all your wonderful responses, I think I'm ready to drop these off. I dressed this batch up a bit. I think these look better, even if they are a bit exotic for the everyday person.


"Green Tea cupcakes w/ green tea glaze and fondant pseudo-lotus."

Questions? Comments? Sarcastic remarks?

They look wonderful and sound delicious. I might have to fly over there and have me a taste.

Dkelly, i'm from providence, RI too! I was just there last summer. When my hubby leaves to Iraq I am going to head up there for the summer. I have family in your area, right on Doyle Avenue.

The cupcakes look great, they're so "springy" which we need desperately!

curtsmin24..........really? That's so cool! Do you mean the Doyle Ave in Pawtucket? I'm in North Seekonk, right on the Pawtucket line.

Lucky you, living in sunny, warm Florida now.....I would definitely make that move in a second. Blessings and good luck to your dear hubby and to you while he's away. Thank you guys for all the sacrifices you make for all of our safety and freedom!

OK Kristi, now I feel the need to make some sample boxes, yours look so cute and delicious! What does a green tea cupcake taste like? Is it savory/sweet?

Thanks ...now to figure out where to drop them off...

I also made some mini Boston Creme vanilla, carrot minis, and Mud cupcakes, but I am stumped on where to bring them. Most of the Dr. offices are in the hospital. I'm going to keep brainstorming...

I think the Green tea cakes (or atleast mine) are a bit savory/sweet. The glaze is sweet with a hint of Matcha. The cupcakes are less sweet.

My daughter is hanging off my back while I type ~ I promised to take her to the Noggin website. They have some wonderful interactive games there (we'd be outside if it weren't so darn cold this morning)

I can't really offer any extra advice for the first question, but I did have a similar situation to yours with the cafe owner.

A family "friend" owns a VERY popular, expensive lunch restaurant in our town. About 2 years into my business, she asked if I would be interested in selling some cakes "through" her to help jumpstart my business and introduce me to the highest end clients in our town. I remember being so excited. I later found out that she also was removing any and all labels and taking full credit for everything I did. She also always placed last minute orders -- it was rare that I had much notice (even when I knew she knew about the orders WAY in advance!). I was selling to her at an amazingly low price since she was doing me such a "favor!" Needless to say, once I found out that she wasn't giving me the credit...that was over!

Now I do have others that I sell to at a standard wholesale price knowing full well that I will never get any credit for that, and that is perfectly fine with me. Once they pay me, it belongs to them. They can label ever how they like. It was just in the above situation that was the whole purpose of selling to her so cheap to obtain more "exposure" for me !! Good luck!

(I can't believe I'm asking a RI resident about Maine news, but)

Firefighters? Errrr? What do you mean? Maybe I should buy today's paper?

We only receive the weekend paper, and I don't watch the news anymore because our local station is a JOKE ~ plus it upsets my daughter. We do buy the New York Times and sometimes the Boston Globe (MUCH better papers) I occasionally watch CNN and the like.

Seriously~ the new reporters and Newspaper (around here) are jokes. You can almost feel the "smiles" when they report horrible news (when they actually do cover an important issue.) That is, when they aren't too busy making petty, inane observations that take up an entire page. (I'm sure a few are good people, but the majority just want ratings.)

Sorry, that is why I don't watch our local news. I didn't mean to get carried away...

Duh, to me.... I thought you were asking about something you saw (or read) on the news.

Dropping off to the Firefighters is a BRILLIANT idea!!! That's what I'm going to do when the old man (DH) gets home.

I also thought about the Police station, but I can just read the headlines now:
"local vegan decorator arrested on illegal cupcake drop-off... police offended by lack of dairy. Accused was heckling the officers and force-feeding them what she claimed was a healthy alternative."

Ok, so maybe I should keep my absurd sense of humor to myself...

[quote="K2cakes"]
"local vegan decorator arrested on illegal cupcake drop-off... police offended by lack of dairy. Accused was heckling the officers and force-feeding them what she claimed was a healthy alternative." /quote]

^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^

How about local Bridal shoppes or Florists? Maybe they'd allow you to set up a display with a dummy cake and business cards.

There's a place near my house called "The Good Seed", they sell all kinds of "All Natural" products/foods, vitamins etc., I wonder if a place like that would be helpful in sending customers your way. Do you have any such places near you?

I'll try that.

I did gather enough courage to stop at the police station (around 5pm) so there was no one there except one officer behind the "Security access only" door. After hesitating, I knocked. Well, I saw him grab his gun (coincidence, he was leaving for the day), so I freaked out.

He came to the door and couldn't have been nicer. He was excited because he was a culinary grad!!! What timing!!! He said he may have me do a decorating demonstration for kids. I'm glad I went.

Just an update about "that guy".

I asked him if I could start putting my labels back on the cakes, etc. I sell there, and he flat out said:
" No, the customer throws out the containers anyway."

I'm not impressed. This was the night he called me telling me he was completely out of cake, etc... I don't do last minute Wholesale, it's too much trouble. I had a big order for another store, plus a Castle cake due tomorrow, so after trying to guilt me with, "my customers will cry if you don't get them here by tomorrow.". I said, next time call me when you are "almost out". I'm pretty proud of myself for not being bullied this time. I could have chewed glass, I was so irritated.

Just wanted to share, incase anyone is still watching.