Actual costs of making a wedding cake...

If you add in EVERYTHING it takes to run a business including advertising, office supplies, taxes, blah blah blah, the net is about 43% of the gross. I think it's hard to say that this or that cake cost X amount, because if it cost $100 and you spent $20 on the materials, that doesn't mean that you're taking home 80% of the total money that you take in over the course of a year. You have to figure that there are other expenses that come into play.

A better question might be what percentage of your total income do you keep at the end of the year, or what's your taxable income after expenses compared to your gross income before expenses. I'm working on my taxes now, and my taxable income after expenses was about 57% of my gross. I could have knocked that down if I eliminated some things like advertising in certain places, which I might do this year.

pam, are you a hobbyist or a business?

gotcha

y'know how some use wilton's or earlene's

and if wilton's then maybe it's party servings or wedding

or if it's mff or mmf

boxers or briefs wait that's a different forum

so in my mind--i'm thinking there's another important distinction

between hobby baking and business baking

so that's why i asked so we would know which way to go to help/advise/comment

where hobby baking is mostly for friends and for fun with a once in a blue moon pricing question about an order for a cake that is out of the usual comfort zone

and i'm really happy you are able to be a business wish everybody that wanted to could be

i would price that cake at $4.50 - $5 per serving plus delivery & tax--i use wilton wedding serving chart

i think that decor would be included in the base price

if it was densely covered with the lace pieces a $50 upcharge would be in order

I work from home too, so my costs will be different than a storefront's. It just doesn't make sense to use only ingredient cost to calculate your prices, since that's like a client saying "how long does it take to make wedding cake?" If you say 4 to 5 hours they think that's all the time you put into the business, which we know is just wrong. I just tell people who ask me that questions that it's a full time job, and sometimes more than full time in the busy season!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ptanyer 

I'm not using just the actual cost of the ingredients to cost out the cake, I was just interested in seeing how much you thought it would cost to actually make the cake, and in the end, the price you would quote to the customer. Ingredient costs vary from place to place, and the overhead and other factors are calculated into the final price. But sometimes I like to know how much something cost in different areas. That's all. I guess that "actual ingredient costs" is a closely guarded topic and not open for discussion.

 

Not a secret at all, I just don't cost out every single cake individually. It's all part of the bigger picture.

Maybe the shipping is really high, but I noticed Global Sugar Art has 20lb tubs of Satin Ice for about $50 right now. 

Just thought I would pass it on since you're buying so much! But if you know it doesn't work for you, then it's not much of a saving I guess...