Price Shock!!! - Page 2

Stick to your guns masturbaker, I charge about the same thing. When I first started about 5 yrs. ago, I charged much less and stayed swamped all the time.....sound good? Not so much! I think ppl. found out they could get an awesome cake for very little money and I stayed so busy i could hardly keep up and was exahusted all the time, not to mention...broke. I finally found my senses and raised my prices. At first it scared me because it seemed like business almost stopped and I was second quessing my decision but so enough, it picked up again and I still stay busy but the pay makes it worth it and I'm not so exhausted all the time. There are ppl. who will buy and some who wont. Thats just how it is. I stopped saying yes to everyone. I kinda look at it this way..... when I go shopping for something and find the price is to high and I just cant afford it at the time, I don't expect the store to lower the price for me. I either buy it or I dont.

Yup...sugar, flour, and eggs! And absolutely, some people get it and some don't. And it's ok.

I get a lot of price shock too, and my prices are right on par with other custom cake bakeries in my area. People just don't understand the work and time that is involved in making a cake. That's why I really, really wish on all of the cake shows that they would make sure to show the total price of these immaculate cakes that people are seeing. I think that would bring people down to earth a little bit on what to expect to pay for a custom cake. Just the other day I had a guy want a 3-D sculpted T-Rex dinosaur for his daughter's birthday, called 5 days before he wanted it, and when asked what his buget was said "well no real budget, but I don't want to pay like $100 bucks or anything like that for a cake." I laughed inside to myself, rolled my eyes (phone call), and politely informed him that my minimum for any 3-D cake was $150 and that this type of cake would be closer to $200-$250. He said he'd "talk to his wife and call back." People just don't understand.

As many wise and wonderful CC'ERS have made me realize, I'd rather do 1 or 2 $500 cakes a month than 10-20 $50 cakes. Not everyone can afford a custom cake. That's okay. Even I can't afford to pay for a custom cake, but I sure am glad I can make a darn good one myself. Some people will balk at you prices and some will gladly pay up. You get both kinds, so be happy for the ones that pay what you are worth and let the ones who think you are too expensive find a cake within their budget at the supermarket.

It happens everywhere in every business.
Instead of a "witty retort" which won't win them over - show them the VALUE in what you do.

Yes, it is a lot of money and it's (I'm) worth every penny.

People will pay for what they want. It may take a little while for the spendy clients to realize that you exist. But people really will pay for quality and uniqueness. Don't back down, because then people will always second guess you.

Don't charge less. You will end up giving the product away...lose money. That is not what a business is about. We, women particularly, tend to under rate ourselves and our work. How long does it take you to make a cake? I don't mean just the decorating.

How long does it take to bake the cake, from the moment you start pulling ingredients out of the pantry until it is cooling and you are washing the bowls and pans? Never mind going to the store to buy the ingredients. And how much time does it take for you to make the fillings, buttercream, fill icing bags, all of that?

I did a cake last week at home for a friend that took 25 hours to make, after I counted how long it took to make the modeling chocolate, then all of the figures I made of modeling chocolate, made the ganache, made the buttercream, baked the six layers for the three tiers, and all from scratch. Then assembling the cake, strawberry shortcake on the bottom and chocolate with chocolate mousse filling and ganache on the top two tiers. Then I decorated it. The only part not made from scratch was the fondant since I prefer Satin Ice. I caught a break on rolling the fondant since I had the bakery sheeter at home to roll it out. I only charged a nominal fee since the guy is a friend who has had a rough time of it lately but there is no way I could make a living if I charged lower than $5 per serving once our bakery gets open next month. I charged way less than that for this cake but it is the last time, I will not make that mistake again. In fact, the restaurant three doors down from our new bakery charges $6 and $7 per serving of dessert. I am seriously considering charging more, like $6/serving to start or a minimum flat rate for any cake, extra decorating elements and labor costing more.

We are almost done with the construction of our bakery and in front built a fancy cafe where people can come in for coffee and dessert. The local area is wealthy. If they can afford multimillion dollar houses, they can afford $6 or more per serving of a custom cake. If you go to Charm City Cakes website you'll see that their minimum is $1,000.

I know it is tough out there for some folks but 90% are still working in most of the country and if we start backing down on price while our costs continue to rise, we only hurt ourselves. If you have a really good product, you should get paid a fair market price. Let the few clients who would complain drift away. The ones who can afford it will come. Believe in yourself and continue to make a better product each time and you will succeed.

I am in Ohio also and run into the same problem. There is another woman in the Akron area who charges $1.50 per serving!! Oh, she adds one more dollar for fondant. Very maddening and frustrating to see someone undercharging like that. (Oh, and cupcakes for $10 a dozen!)

Just stick with your prices - I'm sticking with mine! Not letting the competition or customers tell me how much I should make!

I think your prices are right on. Value and quality will always back up your price. Plus the first time you go down on price will be for that one customer who tells all her friends and then they will call wanting the same price...slippery slope. But it can easily go the other way..stay to your prices and get that client who feels they got a good deal, who tells her friends about the awesome show-stopper you made and then you're making amazing cakes at a price that will make you a profit

Sidebar: this might be true in some parts of the country but not so here in Florida. My electric bill for an empty bakery these last two months has been $200 a month to keep it airconditioned for the construction crew. Some days they didn't need it and the weather has been only in the upper 70's most of that time. I can only imagine what it is going to be like once we add the gas service for the ovens, add the three door refrigerator, the hot water heater, the two door freezer, doing laundry every evening, the dishwasher, the two pastry cases in the front, lights on all day, and other electrical appliances. Then we have the $200 per month just for the phone and internet.

Overhead is expensive any way you slice it so factor that in to yor pricing!

I agree with everyone, just stick to your prices.

Many customers who doesn't know about cake wouldn't really know how much time and money goes on a cake--especially when you are running a business.

Before I discovered cake decorating, I would be one of those who would be shocked with $2 a serving. Now that I know how it goes, I understand.

also depends on what size your slices are.

If someone says something like that to you, just reply "I'm sorry that I'm out of your budget range. Please feel free to call me in the future if you need a special custom cake that you can't get anywhere else." Then say goodbye and hang up.

Or this: "My cake isn't too expensive, you're just cheap." Well, maybe not.

Blessings Masturbaker

Recently my fiance saw that something was bothering me ... he could tell by the look on my face. My father was able to pick up the same thing via a phone conversation I had with him the same day. I explained to them that I was concerned that maybe my price for a cake that a client was requesting was too high because she was backing out of the agreement.

They both told me to never sell myself short to a client especially when I know the work that I put into my cakes. They reminded me that clients don't know the true value of the effort that gets put into the cakes that they order. I can't speak for anyone else ... though I am sure others would say the same ... but a lot of love goes into the works of art that we create. We do our best to get our designs as close to perfect as we can.

My fiance and my father told me ... If a client wants to back out of an agreement, then that is not the client for you! You know the quality of what you do and you know the effort it takes to do it. You know in your heart that you are genuine and honest with everything you say to the client and everything you do to your cakes. So stay true to yourself and to your work. And as my fiance and my father told me ... "don't sell yourself short! Clients always want to keep as much money in their pockets as they can."

(And by the way, the client ordered the cake and was ready to give me $40 more because she thought she ordered a larger cake. I reminded her (via her contract) she backed off of the larger cake and ordered the smaller version. So now, not only did she get a quality cake that she loved, she also got a cake decorator whom she sees is honest and true to her work!)

Bless!

Yeah yeah yeah keep your pricing. Look if you want to lower your prices fine. There is ALOT of $$$ sitting in that slot above wally, and below sticker shock. Go after it if you want it. Your volume will go up, so will everything else, including your work load. What you don't want to do though is offer them a stunning cake at bottom of the barrel prices.

There is nothing wrong with offering a respectable product at a fair price.

Mike

I've had some think I'm reasonable...some who don't comment at all but calmly pay the price...and some who never call back and think I'm unreasonable. I think that means I'm probably about right.

Once in awhile I'm tempted to lower prices a bit to get more orders...on the other hand I want to be well paid for the hours I let my little ones stare at the tv while I do cake. Eventually your "rich customers" will tell their "rich friends" and you'll get more business.