Hello fellow bakers

Does anyone use a price quote sheet for wedding cakes? I need to create one to use during my wedding cake consultations. Lately I find myself under pricing the cakes and would like to have a price quote sheet to use the specifies terms and price. I know what I want to include as far as the prices but I need some help on terms and clauses such as:

"The quote serves as a guide to the price of your cake. The final price is based on the complexity of the design".

I really don't know what else to say but want to make sure I have as much detail as possible so my clients will know what to expect.

Any suggestions or samples of your quote sheets would be greatly appreciated.

To me, a "quote" is the same is "this is the price I'm going to charge you for the cake."

The scenario you've just given is what I would call an "estimate" ... not a quote.

If you are building the quote during the consultation, you should be gathering all of the information at that time and by the time the consultation is over, you know what the cake will look like and you're able to price it accordingly.

Everyone has a different style of talking, quoting, designing, consulting, so what works for some, wont' work for others. I know if I was given a type of sheet with LOTS of spaces to fill out, like I've seen on here, I'd be totally lost. My system is so simplistic that I'm sure it wouldn't work for most.

Just create a checklist of everything you need to know and need to ask. If there is a charge for it, make a column to the right to fill in as you go. At the end of the consultation, add up the numbers in the right column and you're done.

Thanks for the advice. It truly helps!

I just need something that will keep me from undercharging in the future.

One more question for you. I had a consultation last week and based on what the bride chose, I need to charge her a little more. They've signed the contract but have not paid the deposit just yet. Do you think it's too late to inform them that I will need to charge a little more based on the design she has chosen. I basically undercharged her by $250 (probably more).

you need to figure out why you've undercharged! Is it because they added elements to the cake after the contract was signed or was it just simply an error on your part? If it's you making a math mistake, personally I either call and let them know a mistake has been made ($250 is a BIG loss), and if they freak over the cost I let them know that I'm sorry for the mistake but if they had sat down and figured the cost according to my serving chart they would have come up with the same and that's that....if they want to "un sign" they're welcome to at that point. However if you're constantly making mistakes then something's not right...........if you get nervous and don't add right then don't give them a quote on the spot...tell them you'll call or email them the quote after you've gone over everything.

When I quote a price, I stick to it! If I made a mistake and quoted $100 less, then I eat my mistake, if I quote too much...I correct it and let them know.

I recently quoted a bride a little over $300.00 for a 3 tiered fondant covered cake w/ fondant accents and 2 11x15 double layered cakes (kitchen cakes) all with filling and fondant and accents...whole shabang.

20 min. after I got home I got a phone cal from the bride saying she thought I made a mistake that SHE added up everything at home and got almost $600 for the total.......I readded and realized YES I forgot to even charge for the kitchen cakes (150 extra servings of cake)...only added up the main cake w/ plates and set up fee and delivery and such.

I thanked her for pointing it out and gave her a 10% discount on her WHOLE order........she's already got me 2 more bookings since her tasting because she keeps telling people about me and singing my praises about my cakes and so forth. She was more worried about her 30% deposit not being enough to hold the date now lol...I told her it would stay what she paid, and the rest was due like normal (only it's like 80% still due instead of 60%)

did you set this up yourself???? You got it all figured out Debbie.........seriously, I just need to be your shadow for a week and I swear my life would be so much easier!!!

I sit there with a calculator, and while I know my servings and my prices for everything there is still a LOT of room for errors!

yes, I set it up myself. I LUV excel!

Remember ..... "Debi Does Data!"

I think my undercharging comes from both an error on my part as well as nervousness. In this case, I undercharged by way too much. Usually it's under $100 which I think that has to do with the fact that I need to charge more per serving.

I will speak with the client and let them know that based on the design they chose and #of servings needed, I made an error in my calculation.

Thanks for the advice. Both of you have been very helpful!!

you know, I used to charge $2.00/serv for bc tiered cakes and then added a charge of $10.00 / plate pillar set used so a 3 tiered cake uses 2 sets so that's $20.00 added for a deposit and if they don't return them I order more. Well, I also charge a $25.00 set up fee and had all these numbers to crunch

tiered cake $2.00/serv.
filling $.25/serv.
fondant $.50/serv.
set up $25.00
pilars $20.00
delivery $15.00

and so on.

I alleviated the problem with the plates by just raising my price per slice to $2.25, that more than takes care of the cost of the plates and pillars. I tell them (I'm not going to charge a separate deposit or rental on the plates, but I would like them back) 8 out of 10 DO bring them back, which saves me time and money ordering more (which is ok, because they've already paid that cost anyhow) but the ones that DO bring them back, literally SAVE me money! lol

So debbi do you have a template or anything for your excel set up that you'd care to share with me?

I'm completely self taught on the pc and do alright (my DH is a computer guy but Hates to have to deal with computers when he's NOT working.....so I never bug him with anything).......actually I surprise my DH with some things, like photo progams, he's always coming to me and saying......."ok, I don't have a lot of time can you just edit out this background and put the photo in an oval frame?" In like 20 seconds I'm done! Saves him time messing around and makes me feel important LOL

So Debbie, wanna feel important LOL J/k

In all seriousness if you could just point me in the right direction.........like.....do you just enter the info in a list and it automatically adds it? Is there a function that tells it to add your columns...that's what I need help setting up.

Is there a "technical" term for the type of worksheet you've made?? I know there are a lot of templates and so forth online through Microsoft, so even if I have a "proper name" for that type of template (since I don't know all the business lingo) maybe I could find one that I could adapt to my own needs?

Ok so I'm not too far off from you charge. I charge the following:

$2/serving for buttercream
$3.50/serving for fondant
$25 delivery and setup for the first half hour...since I live in the metro Atlanta area I charge $10 per additional half hour that I have travel

My problem was I didn't look closely at the picture to see that there were 8 tiers for the cake she chose. Her guest count is 150 but the 8 tiered cake served 280 and I only charged her for the guest count and delivery...sigh!!

I would love to see the spreadsheet too. I have another consultation coming up in December and want to make sure I quote the next price accurately.

Debi, your spreadsheet sounds fantastic! It's such a great idea and I'm sure it makes life so much easier! Now I just need to refresh my excel skills! I'd love to see a template of the one you use as well, if you'd be willing to share.

AgentCakeBaker: You may want to re-think going back to the bride you undercharged. If they signed a contract, and the contract contains the (underestimated) price, you may have a legal obligation to deliver for that price. I'm no lawyer, but think not only about what you might be obligated to deliver, but also about the potential damage this could cost your business. If it were me, I would rather give up the extra $250 I should have charged for the cake than have someone out there spreading word that I practice "bait-and-switch" tactics. Painful I know, but your reputation is worth more than $250.

Like Debi, I'm an Excel junkie....I took the cake matrix that someone created and posted on here and formulated it to what we do. I created the various cake sizes for each shape on the main page...If the customer wants fondant, then I got to that page....If I need to add in chocolate, gumpaste, fondant, or marzipan items, then I go to that page and add in what I need....The summary page totals everything from the other pages....I add in mileage for delivery charges, table toppers (for either food-related or purchased from us items), and on the contract page, it summarizes everything that the customer wants to order, calculates the total price with tax, and is set up to show the balance and the balance due date. Like Debi, I just put in a few numbers and the computer does the rest for me.

Paul

Ah, Paul! A cake and numbers guy! It's true! It's true! You DO exist! ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why, yes, I do....AND, I teach!

Happy Thanksgiving, Debi and everyone else!

Paul