I am just trying to make sense of someting I have reading up on here.
Do you do your tasting after the bride has already booked the cake and paid a deposit?
Or do you do it before as a trial for example like they do for hair (for lack of better example)
I was wondering because I am trying to come up with rules for my business and I want to be clear.
Becasue while i can offer a free tasting on orders over a certain amount on an order I know is alrady mine, I can't afford to do that on a trial basis.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Dina

We charge for all tastings, but if it is the norm in your area to offer free tastings and you don't have a strong competitive advantage just build that cost into the price of the cake.

Setting limits is also important, both on the variety of flavors offered and the number of people at the tasting.

Like Jason find out what is in your area.

You can do a free tasting with only two flavors, then offer different types 4 flavors $20 (will be deducted off cake if order is placed within 6 months and is non-refundable if they cancel order)

Also like Jason set the limit on how many people (two-three the bride does not 10 people she is the one getting the cake) as mention by other no kids a few people had a hard to time due the kids running around and nothing go done except your time was wasted.

Hey Dina!
I offer complimentary cake tastings for orders projected to be over $200 (this keeps people ordering small cakes from taking advantage). They don't HAVE to book with me before or afterwards but I also don't announce this option to every person that contacts me. If they ask for a cake tasting, then I say sure, although I only schedule 2 days of cake tastings every couple months, that way I'm not wasting cake (I don't have a store front where I can sell the rest of the cake).

For me, 3 flavors are free and then it's $7 for any additional flavor they want to try. They can only have 3 people present (I had 1 woman bring 6 people with her... yup, learned that lesson the hard way I've only had 2 people schedule tastings with ulterior motives (they had already put a deposit down somewhere else and didn't tell me until afterwards) so I've changed my rules that you can't have put down a deposit anywhere else. Like Just Sweet said, no kids! They just run around and no one can concentrate.

As Jason & Just sweet suggested, check the other cakers in your area to see what they offer. That will help set a precedent. I hope that helps!

I am a hobby baker so I don't do tastings, but I am also a bride and have gone to a couple of tastings. The first place gave me five cupcakes of different flavors (vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, carrot, raspberry) which she cut in half and my fiance and I shared. The second baker let me pick out four flavors and sent me home with a dozen cupcakes of those flavors. To be fair though, both of these places sold cupcakes in a store front so they had them on hand.