We have a failing business. Actually we have had a failing business since the first day we opened a year ago. Times are so tough. Noone has money to spend on high end custom cakes here. Walmart is our competition even though in the two years I spent researching our business plan I never once thought a grocery store would compete with us. The truth is that with an insane 12-15k in overhead each month our 7-8k revenue stream just can not keep up. We will be offically closed the end of the month.
Well I went into HyVee (local chain grocery store) to pick up a few things for the house. There sitting up on a display case is a 3ft carved Lightning McQueen cake. I'm furious. I already have them as competition because they are sooooo much cheaper than me. Now they are getting another hand up because they are so obviously breaking copyright rules.
As I was checking out, the clerk asked me how business was going. I usually try very hard to sugar coat life but today I just didn't care. I told her business was terrible and now that I had seen their carved Cars cake I knew why. The clerk immediatly decided to call the bakery supervisor so I could bring my issue to his attention! Within a few minutes this disgusting unbathed man came to the front and introduced himself as the head of the bakery department. I asked how he was leagally able to take 40lbs of cake and carve it into a 3D Cars cake. He told me that he has the right because he purchases deco packs and in doing so he is buying the image and is able to use that image however he wants! Wanting to clarify I asked him if I too bought a deco pack toy kit I could then carve a 3ft by 4ft Cars cake and sell it for profit. His response well yeah but you will have to be their customer and good luck becoming one because they only sell to companies who are master decorators. I have never wanted to spit in someone's face as badly as I did his.
So my response was to look up Deco and see. I became a customer of theirs within about five minutes. The way I proved how masterful I was, was by entering my FEIN number. That was a toughy. As a new customer of theirs I then called the company to see what I needed to do in order to make these awesome carved character cakes too. They told me that buying their product does not give me the right to reproduce the characters. Well, duh. So I then called Disney and filed an offical complaint which I am sure will never be heard. I also contacted the copyright department in DC and was told that it was an issue I had to take up with Disney.
I guess in the end I am just heartbroken that I have done everything right and it hasnt been good enough. I just keep thinking about the thousands of dollars I turned away because I refused to make copyright characters. I'm just so very angry!!
Any ideas how I can make the store stop making these cakes? It's one thing when a small bakery is doing it to try to make ends meet, but it is totally different when it is a huge grocery store doing it because they can make an extra buck. I guess the good news is that the cake was excuted pretty terribly. Smeared buttercream and the works. Hopefully no one is actually fooled into believing they will get a high quality cake from there.
Well I went into HyVee (local chain grocery store) to pick up a few things for the house. There sitting up on a display case is a 3ft carved Lightning McQueen cake. I'm furious. I already have them as competition because they are sooooo much cheaper than me. Now they are getting another hand up because they are so obviously breaking copyright rules.
As I was checking out, the clerk asked me how business was going. I usually try very hard to sugar coat life but today I just didn't care. I told her business was terrible and now that I had seen their carved Cars cake I knew why. The clerk immediatly decided to call the bakery supervisor so I could bring my issue to his attention! Within a few minutes this disgusting unbathed man came to the front and introduced himself as the head of the bakery department. I asked how he was leagally able to take 40lbs of cake and carve it into a 3D Cars cake. He told me that he has the right because he purchases deco packs and in doing so he is buying the image and is able to use that image however he wants! Wanting to clarify I asked him if I too bought a deco pack toy kit I could then carve a 3ft by 4ft Cars cake and sell it for profit. His response well yeah but you will have to be their customer and good luck becoming one because they only sell to companies who are master decorators. I have never wanted to spit in someone's face as badly as I did his.
So my response was to look up Deco and see. I became a customer of theirs within about five minutes. The way I proved how masterful I was, was by entering my FEIN number. That was a toughy. As a new customer of theirs I then called the company to see what I needed to do in order to make these awesome carved character cakes too. They told me that buying their product does not give me the right to reproduce the characters. Well, duh. So I then called Disney and filed an offical complaint which I am sure will never be heard. I also contacted the copyright department in DC and was told that it was an issue I had to take up with Disney.
I guess in the end I am just heartbroken that I have done everything right and it hasnt been good enough. I just keep thinking about the thousands of dollars I turned away because I refused to make copyright characters. I'm just so very angry!!
Any ideas how I can make the store stop making these cakes? It's one thing when a small bakery is doing it to try to make ends meet, but it is totally different when it is a huge grocery store doing it because they can make an extra buck. I guess the good news is that the cake was excuted pretty terribly. Smeared buttercream and the works. Hopefully no one is actually fooled into believing they will get a high quality cake from there.
