Cake Samples Being Shipped?

i would suggest they plan to stop by when they are in town

 

i would not ship a sample

 

just my thought on the subject

Well...how about...

 

 

"Let me know when you will be in town.  I will have a tasting package ready for you to pick up and take home.  My tasting fee is $XX"

 

So you pack the normal portions for tasting onto a hard disposable dinner plate with a printed decription of all the items.  Wrap nicely and have a paper bag ready.

If they won't be in the area before the event, I would offer to ship the sample items frozen as long as they cover the shipping costs (this could be expensive). Depending on your recipe you may need overnight or 2nd day shipping.

Jason is right - - as long as they're paying for the samples AND the shipping, go for it.

i'm not crazy about doing sample anyway (in fact i hate to)

 

(color me jaded)

 

but just for discussion

 

to me how can you be sure your samples are gonna be super when they arrive

 

it's too iffy to me to ship cake

 

frozen & thawing cake balls--maybe

 

those recipes have to be well tweaked in my opinion to survive the journey and the packaging and the freeze/thaw process

like i mean the cakes & things that are shipped routinely

 

like we gotta shipment this year all in a cool styrofoam chest lined with several freezer packs

 

of a honey baked ham and all these sides and cool stuff

 

including this awesome coffee cake--worked perfect~~~~~

 

sometimes the water in a product can freeze and crystalize and sog the thing out when it thaws

 

not always--just saying--too many variables for me to chance it myself

I have had the bride send in a local relative or a friend to try out the cakes for them at my shop.

Charleston is a very high destination wedding location.  My out of town brides schedule consultations for when they will be in town.  Sometimes they book the date well before the consultation.  As a matter of fact, I am meeting with a bride tomorrow at 1:00.  Her wedding is in June & she paid her retainer to reserve her date in October of last year.

 

Shipping can be expensive & no one can ensure how the samples will arrive.  For me, not an option.

Ive done it on occasion. Only un filled mud and fruit cake samples, individually wrapped, then bagged, in a postal box. These days, I encourage pick up. But frankly I have so much business to choose from, I don't need to court out-of-towners.

My samples are free. I find this goodwill/generosity yields the most positive results in terms of bookings.

Hello closest topic to my question... wondering how to ship frozen cake (how to package and which company best to use)? I am in Ontario Canada. Thanks

i would look for styrofoam packaging for this very purpose--it is available and you can get the size you need rather than get a giant styrofoam ice chest and ship some enormous package--unless that's the amount of cake you are shipping

 

put in the freezer packs

 

package up the cake

 

ship her off

 

but once frozen and securely packaged you could get away with two or three day arrival time as opposed to strict overnight i think

 

your cake--say it's a bundt type cake--you want to secure it well enough so that if it gets up & down type bumping it will not have any room to move in there and this way you can avoid it breaking up on the ride and arriving in crumbles

 

and wrap the freezer packs so that they cannot condense onto the cake or course

 

i'm not sure where to find this packaging  in canada but they got it somewhere

 

http://www.uline.com/Grp_93/Insulated-Shippers-Supplies?pricode=WF712&gclid=COTC9NfL9LQCFQf0nAod9h8Alw

To keep cake frozen solid, you need to use dry ice and overnight shipping.  Styrofoam cooler inside box is required by airlines to hold dry ice, cake well wrapped inside that.  Special labels in addition to waybill.

 

If you are shipping up north, you also need to confirm that the cake has room on a cargo flight well in advance, so that it is not left on the loading dock somewhere for a week. Try to ship Monday through Thursday so you know the cake will get there before a weekend when shippers offices shut down.

 

If possible, leave decorations like gumpaste flowers off the cake.  Pack them into a separate box with foam peanuts.  Have a separate waybill because DHL has lost "box 2 of 2" for me.

 

UIine does sell packing supplies in Canada.