Hi,
Does anyone have advice on pricing. I'm getting very frustrated with people who want a cake practically for free. How do you deal with people like that. They have no idea the time and effort involved. It's especially difficult when it's a friend or family member. Is there a general price per person that should be expected? I just make cakes out of my home, but more and more people are starting to ask for cakes. I feel that this dicouraging me from pursuing cakes for people. Any advice???

Next time they balk just give 'em the number to Wal-Mart. You get what you pay for.

I agree! You certainly do get what you pay for. People will eventually come to understand that you are not Wal-Mart and your cakes will not be priced like theirs, look or taste like theirs either!
Good Luck!

Where do you live?

That sounds good. Everytime I make a cake for people they're amazed by how good it tastes. You can't get that at Wal Mart! I live in Toronto, Ontario.

Check to see what the laws are reguarding baking out of your home. In some places that is a no no.

Next you want to sit down and figure out how much it costs you to make a cake. Not just the big things either, you need ot factor in your cake board, box, and all those other little things you use while making a cake.

You can't even begin to come up with a price until you really know how much you are spending.

Take that number, plus how much your time is worth, and factor those into how much your price per serving/cake should be.

If you click on the search box and type in Pricing List, JaimeAnn has her pricing list posted. This may give you some idea. You may need to adjust yours, depending on the area in which you live. Everyones pricing is different for one reason or another but I thought this might help.

Price high, offer quality work, and they will come!!! Word of mouth will spread and you'll get there. If you keep prices low, you'll end up being the overworked "girl next door who makes my kids birthday cakes" that people are always telling me about, that sells cheap cakes and you will end up super tired and disenchanted.

Yeah, who wants to be known as the Cheap Cake Lady?

Whatever worth you place on yourself people will too if you are too cheap folks will think great cake and cheap too, if you are more expensive- justifiably so they will think more than I wanted to pay but well worth the extra - the work load will probably be reduced but you won't make any less.
YOU are worth it - keep telling yourself that.

Thank you so so much for all the great advice!

"Not everyone can afford me ... and that's ok."