They lied? - Page 8

Well, I would have assumed that, except that she quoted part of my post in her little rant thing.

WOW, To assume that because I bake from a box that I don't care about my customers is down right ARROGANT! I am always honest with my customers! I do not mind meeting my customers needs/wants. I was once told by a customer that the birthday girl would not be able to eat the cake because of a gluten allergy, having NO experience with gluten free cakes I offered to make a small smash cake, just for the b-day girl that was gluten free, at no charge. It was the first time the 11 year old girl had gotten to eat her birthday cake!!

I personally prefer scratch cake (although I really don't like cake at all), but do not have the skill level to bake from scratch. I am not OBTUSE enough to say that my box cake is a better product. But I can tell you that many people DO prefer box mixes. Is it because they have not had a good scratch cake? Possibly. But who are we to say what our customers would rather have. I am, and will ALWAYS, be honest with my customers. I have no problem admitting that I bake my cakes with a mix.

When I first decided to sell cakes I tried several scratch recipes, but have not found any that I was happy with. I am a stay at home mom/ homeschool mom of 4 kids. I do not have the time or the funds to experiment on recipes just to throw them away (no one in my family eats alot of cake). I recognize that it is an art, one that I have not come close to mastering. If you have, that is great! There is a market for both! It all boils down to integrity. Baking from a box does not mean we lack integrity, it means we lack the skill and/or desire to bake from scratch.

in·teg·ri·ty
Noun:   The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

Ruuuuun, Forrest!

I have decided to bake all scratch cakes, because I enjoy the baking process. That being said, at one point I baked from box mixes and my customers LOVED those cakes.

Sometimes I think 1/2 of the people here are speaking a completely different language.

Nowhere did I say SCRATCH CAKE IS TEH BETTER THEN YOUZ!!!!! anywhere. in. this. thread. Nowhere. Nope, nada. Read again. Ya'rly. I never did. Not once. Not even implied. Not even hinted at. Not even a little bit. I have zero idea what YOU have been talking about, but I have been talking about honesty in business practices.

I'll sum up: Point #1: It's a big world with lots of people that want different stuff then you. I know, crazy, right? That other people actually want and may actually NEED different things? And there might just be someone, other then you, to provide that product or service? Shocking! Stop the insanity!

Point #2: Lying about a product is lying. Gasp! Choke! OMG!

There.

It's very simple: Do you lie? Do you think your customers don't have a right to question you? If so, then yeah, I'm calling you a liar and strongly implying that your business strategy sucks.

BUT... If you don't and you are honest then you need to take a chill pill or have a glass of wine or something. Like, a really big one. Because I was not directing anything at you. Ridiculous the conclusions people are coming to here.

Or you can keep getting as OUTRAGED!!! as you want reading into stuff that isn't there.

LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

FromScratch is arguing against a point that no one in this thread has taken.

I'm so confused. But I sincerely apologize if I have contributed to any "flame wars" or any such thing. I was just trying to respond to the OP's question about why mix bakers tend to get defensive about scratch baking. I wasn't trying to start an argument. TRULY, I REALLY wasn't. So I'm sorry if I did.

I got what you were trying to say and from what I got your bakery is like 95% scratch and I see the confusion they can get. I know bakeries that do all scratch and I know bakeries that do all base mix products, with "Bettercream" and sleeved filling, the whole processed sha-bang. The whole processed up bakery that says they bake from scratch is the one I have a problem with and I am pretty sure SF is refferring to. She isn't talking about the typical "Scratch vs. mix" debate, but about disclosure of what you are sellling. Yet those who bake from a mix are not addressing the disclosure aspect, but addressing the whole "Scratch vs. mix" debate. The only person, who I assume bakes from a mix, and that was Carmijok, said the bakery did not have to say if it was a mix or not, cause it's their business and their business secret. THAT is a load of crap. People need to address that! And yes, it is about intergrity, so people should have some and be honest about what they are selling.

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I too apologize. I took the statement about mix bakers personally, I shouldn't have. I know where I stand with my customers, who are still primarily friends and family and friends of family and friends. I did not mean to insinuate that any specific person lacks integrity, only that I value mine, and that ALL of us should, not just as business people, but as people in general.

She is correct that businesses do not have to divulge their proprietary recipes, but she also said "I just told them 'we do both scratch and mix baking depending on what the customer wants'--which was true." Doesn't sound like she's advocating lying to me, there's a difference between what businesses have to do and what they should do.

But like I said before, asking if you bake from scratch or a mix is NOT the same thing as asking for your recipe. And if you say it is, well I have no answer for that, cause that is just so silly. But really at this point, I think you are just saying whatever to keep things going, cause as you mentioned on other threads, you are here for the entertainment aspect. For some of us, we're not here to be entertained by each other, because this is what we love.

I wasn't trying to start up the scratch v. mix debate again, but the OP asked a specific question about why mix bakers get defensive, and I felt like I could give some insight as to why. I'm sorry that my contribution put this thread "in the ditch" and started "flame wars", etc, etc. I didn't know answering a specific question that someone asked on the thread was against the rules.

I'm sorry if I assumed wrongly that something was directed at me. It's just hard to think otherwise when you quote part of my post along with the others and then proceed to call the whole group that you quoted an "obtuse box mix baker" that doesn't care about my customers. In saying that everyone loves our cake, I was not saying that everyone on the face of the earth would like our cake, I was relating my experience with those who have tasted our cake so far. By "everyone" I meant everyone of our acquaintance. I am not under some illusion that we can do no wrong or that there aren't some people who may not care for it. Nor was I saying that no one will ever ask us if we bake from scratch, just that it hasn't happened yet. And my "what's the big frickin deal" was directed at those who don't want to tell the truth about using mixes, as in what's the big deal, just tell them the truth.

Phew! Did I explain myself well enough this time???