A customer contacted me for a very "unique" wedding cake. (Pic below). I did a cake tasting with her, we discussed the design, the flavors, size, servings, delivery, set up, etc etc. Before giving her a final price I sat and picked the image apart. I have experience with the topsy-turvy, there is quite a bit of hand painting, the topper is obviously intricate, however I can see how to break each part of the cake down and piece it together. She made some minor changes to the cake in the way of colors and details that actually will save me SOME time... so I quoted her a price.
Ummmm...I came in at 1/3 of what the other bakeries in the area quoted her!!!! UH OH!!
This has never happened to me before. I am typically right in line with the prices in my area. Now I am worried that I am missing something. This woman was very thorough, asked intelligent questions and seemed very educated about what she was looking for. In other words I don't see any "odd expectations" coming around the corner that another bakery was charging extra for. I've run the numbers several times now and I just can't see where I may be in error. Unless she is lying to me (or REALLY over exaggerating in some of the other quoted prices), but what reason would she have for that??
She has asked for this cake to be 14 inch, 10 inch, 6inch (ordering larger than she needs), white cake with buttercream under fondant.
What would you be charging??
Probably around $900 or so. I learned madhatters from a Planet Cake instructor, so that's the method I would use, and ganache, plus the hand painting and the ship....yeah, around $900ish.
Ok, now I'm not feeling as bad. Still just as confused...just not as bad, lol. This woman says she was quoted as low as $1300 up to $2200!?!?!?
After some of the changes she made I told her it would be between $550-$750 depending on whether she wanted the different ship and sword her fiance was considering.
AYeah, I was looking at that ship a little more, and estimating tine, and I'd probably be around $1000 too, maybe more. Lol...hard to estimate when I'm not doing it "for real".
AI would be around 850-900 for that cake. But I could see that being thousands easily.
AI live in the greater Pittsburgh area. So while there may be one or two super fancy decorators in the heart of the city, I keep my prices right in line with the "nicer" suburban bakeries in the out skirts (where I'm located).
My simple guess is that the others didn't really want to do the cake, so they just shot out a number that they felt would either scare her off or make it VERY worth their while to do the cake if she bit the hook.
A
Original message sent by maybenot
My simple guess is that the others didn't really want to do the cake, so they just shot out a number that they felt would either scare her off or make it VERY worth their while to do the cake if she bit the hook.
This thought crossed my mind as well. I have a tendency to do that
ASo I wonder how overcharging and 'overcutting' affect the market. From my perspective, a home baker has charged what, based on responses here, appears to be a fair price on a cake. A cake that more than one person has suggested was probably overpriced to discourage the customer from going through with the order or making it really worth the overcharging caker's time. So for all intents and purposes, the customer is walking away from the situation with the same mind set as she would with an underpricing scenario-- the other bakers price-gouged and the home baker is offering the cake at about 1/3 the price. The difference of course being we're dealing with larger amounts of money. Just a hypothetical perspective of course.
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