Where Are These People Getting These Prices??
Business By BrandyCakes83 Updated 20 Nov 2014 , 9:38pm by smysha
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I met someone the other day who almost fainted when I said a 2 tier cake I've got on display would be £150 and then told me it was rediculous because she had bought her 2yr old daughter a 3 tier cake for £45 just recently. I don't even want to compete with that.
Good Lord £45 for a three tiered cake! Every time I see stuff like that it just makes me sad; I mean there are cheap cake ladies and then there is that..
A
Original message sent by Gingerlocks
This kind I would imagine...[ATTACHMENT=1676]images2.jpg (10k. jpg file)[/ATTACHMENT]
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It's not just in small towns, this is happening everywhere. The cake business as a whole is at a low point as far as glutted markets and pricing goes. If you're relatively new on th scene you're going to struggle for business, and if you're more established you're going to need to change your tactics to maintain your income. And people are being trained by undercutters that $35 is a normal price for a three tiered cake. Once the weekend warriors decide that they don't want to sell cakes anymore and leave the market (which won't happen for quite a while) the people who are left, trying to run profitable businesses, are going to have to deal with that issue for years to come.
Exactly. Just saw nother one selling their supplies on the local buy/sell/trade page that they were just slinging their $20 cakes on not a week earlier.
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so it's a great opportunity to help her or take out our pricing frustrations on her--the lady or the tiger
This saddens me in so many ways. I used to spend time engaging folks in conversation, hoping they would understand. But in my experience they are only able to understand the issue if they have been selling cakes for a period of time, have less money than when they started, and are totally exhausted. At that point they resent the world and stop selling.
But in the meantime, dozens of newbies have started businesses, most with the same price point. I don't know where howsweet gets her energy but I don't bother anymore, unless it's a student in my class.
Lots and lots of business have been ruined due to cheaper options being invented: encyclopedias, blockbuster, bookstores, newspapers. Unfortunately, technology and saturation is bringing the cake prices down. The loss of novelty is the problem, in my opinion, not the cheap cake lady. The cheap cake lady is a victim of the saturation just as much as everyone else. If you knew five people that crocheted, you would think "Hey, crocheting must not be that hard if everyone can do it!" See, loss of novelty, is causing the product to lose its value. Higher prices will not fix the problem, here is why: Lets say everyone starts charging higher….then those customers who can't afford it would go to to wal-mart. So, the customer pool is dramatically declined for the at home cake ladies, leading to less orders. Only the best will survive then? Yes, but people don't just stop their hobby because they people aren't buying their craft, so they'll give it away! Really, the problem is saturation, and I don't think that is going away anytime soon. And frankly, everyone has a right to make cakes, just because an individual had a grandma that taught them when they were five doesn't mean someone else shouldn't pick it up as a hobby. As others have mentioned, crafts, youtube, etc. are responsibly for the saturation in cake decorating. Also I should note: I am in total agreement that cakes are worth A LOT and people selling should charge their worth…I am just speculating to why there is a decline in prices besides the theory that one day people just started not charging enough. People don't charge enough because they can't do to a decline in novelty.
I live in a small town. I was researching cake prices in my town, one bakery gave me a quote for 8" round and 6" round 2 tier, all buttercream filling and simple buttercream decorations for $35.00 so it`s like $ 1.00/per serving, another bakery gave me quote for the exactly same cake $ 80.00 so it`s around $ 2.20per/serving. The $ 35.00 quote was from actual bakery.
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Lots and lots of business have been ruined due to cheaper options being invented: encyclopedias, blockbuster, bookstores, newspapers. Unfortunately, technology and saturation is bringing the cake prices down. The loss of novelty is the problem, in my opinion, not the cheap cake lady. The cheap cake lady is a victim of the saturation just as much as everyone else. If you knew five people that crocheted, you would think "Hey, crocheting must not be that hard if everyone can do it!" See, loss of novelty, is causing the product to lose its value. Higher prices will not fix the problem, here is why: Lets say everyone starts charging higher….then those customers who can't afford it would go to to wal-mart. So, the customer pool is dramatically declined for the at home cake ladies, leading to less orders. Only the best will survive then? Yes, but people don't just stop their hobby because they people aren't buying their craft, so they'll give it away! Really, the problem is saturation, and I don't think that is going away anytime soon. And frankly, everyone has a right to make cakes, just because an individual had a grandma that taught them when they were five doesn't mean someone else shouldn't pick it up as a hobby. As others have mentioned, crafts, youtube, etc. are responsibly for the saturation in cake decorating. Also I should note: I am in total agreement that cakes are worth A LOT and people selling should charge their worth…I am just speculating to why there is a decline in prices besides the theory that one day people just started not charging enough. People don't charge enough because they can't do to a decline in novelty.
Thank You!
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Originally Posted by FioreCakes
The cheap cake lady is a victim of the saturation just as much as everyone else. If you knew five people that crocheted, you would think "Hey, crocheting must not be that hard if everyone can do it!"
Well I agree with a lot of what you said, A LOT of the cheap cake ladies actually can't make beautiful custom cakes...they make slightly above average cakes that they can't command high prices for. I think the biggest problem right now it the Wilton courses; people take course 1 and are suddenly opening up a home business selling cakes. I find it absoultely astounding. The Wilton courses are held litterally everywhere, and are priced fairly affordably, and therefore appeal to a large selection of society. I am not bashing Wilton or the Wilton Methoid by any means, but I do thing there classes are at least part of a much larger problem.
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Well I agree with a lot of what you said, A LOT of the cheap cake ladies actually can't make beautiful custom cakes...they make slightly above average cakes that they can't command high prices for. I think the biggest problem right now it the Wilton courses; people take course 1 and are suddenly opening up a home business selling cakes. I find it absoultely astounding. The Wilton courses are held litterally everywhere, and are priced fairly affordably, and therefore appeal to a large selection of society. I am not bashing Wilton or the Wilton Methoid by any means, but I do thing there classes are at least part of a much larger problem.
Definitely… Wilton, Craftsy, Youtube all equal saturation. I've also noticed very few people want those beautiful custom cakes that command higher prices. For example, I have a friend who does cakes and I used to think her cakes were AMAZING…until….I started caking myself. Now, I realize she has bulges! cracked fondant! …I never even saw these things before! So, unfortunately there is definitely a market for the Wilton I graduate these days due to the general public not having an eye for detail and perfection. Also, you know those Pinot's Palette classes? Do you think they'll ruin art? Probably! Hell! Why pay $500 for a painting when I did it myself for $50!!! So sad.
Originally Posted by FioreCakes
I have a friend who does cakes and I used to think her cakes were AMAZING…until….I started caking myself. Now, I realize she has bulges! cracked fondant! …I never even saw these things before! So, unfortunately there is definitely a market for the Wilton I graduate these days due to the general public not having an eye for detail and perfection.
O absolutely, the cheap cake ladies are run off their feet..I have an acquaintance who I would consider to have very low pricing; the sheer volume of cakes she does is astounding! To be fair it takes her the same amount of time to pop out 3 cakes as it takes me to do 1 (albeit better quality in my humble opinion anyway).
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Saturation......people trying to sell the actual butter-sugar-flour Cakes may not be having a grand time, but the businesses selling products to make and decorate those cakes seem to be hugely profitable and growing rapidly.
So true. Apparently, tutorials are very lucrative.
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Good Lord £45 for a three tiered cake! Every time I see stuff like that it just makes me sad; I mean there are cheap cake ladies and then there is that..
The most upsetting thing was that it wasn't terrible (they insisted on showing it to me) it was amateur, yes, but it was easy to make out what the design was and aside from everything being on the chunky side it wasn't terrible, Certainly nothing to be found on cake wrecks.
AI've got it even worse in my area , beginner who has learnt the 1m swirl is selling cupcakes for £1.00 each !!!! What chance do I have ?:x
The loss of novelty is the problem, in my opinion, not the cheap cake lady.
(bolding mine)
THAT is precisely the issue, IMO, and, as FioreCakes mentions, it's not just cakes, it's everything.
Egalitarianism is a wonderful concept, but in certain instances, it's not.
It's like telling every Tom, Dick, and Harry they can do ANYTHING, whether it's cake decorating, crocheting, sandblasting, whatever.
No, not everybody can do it and do it well.
You can teach somebody the basics, but that doesn't mean they're good at it, no matter how much s/he may practice. If s/he already doesn't have the inborn "gift", they're always going to be at that basic level.
Another thing in reference to decorating (and IMO): One of the reasons why fondant is "the thing to do" now is because it's much easier than mastering buttercream. Anyone can cut out shapes and stick them to the side of a cake (shades of Cake Boss). If everyone can do it, then where's the novelty?
(and please, I'm not putting down those who sculpt in fondant or do figurines or all the amazing and obviously advanced techniques -- I'm looking at it from strictly a beginner anyone-can-do-it standpoint).
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I've got it even worse in my area , beginner who has learnt the 1m swirl is selling cupcakes for £1.00 each !!!! What chance do I have ?
There is a lady in my area who has a 'business' and recently announced that she doesn't make a profit, she does it for the love of making cake. She makes 6 decorated cupcakes with fondant flowers, or plaques etc. in a box for £5.75. This woman has a shop and is still selling cupcakes for less than a pound. There is no hope.
Lots and lots of business have been ruined due to cheaper options being invented: encyclopedias, blockbuster, bookstores, newspapers. Unfortunately, technology and saturation is bringing the cake prices down. The loss of novelty is the problem, in my opinion, not the cheap cake lady. The cheap cake lady is a victim of the saturation just as much as everyone else. If you knew five people that crocheted, you would think "Hey, crocheting must not be that hard if everyone can do it!" See, loss of novelty, is causing the product to lose its value. Higher prices will not fix the problem, here is why: Lets say everyone starts charging higher….then those customers who can't afford it would go to to wal-mart. So, the customer pool is dramatically declined for the at home cake ladies, leading to less orders. Only the best will survive then? Yes, but people don't just stop their hobby because they people aren't buying their craft, so they'll give it away! Really, the problem is saturation, and I don't think that is going away anytime soon. And frankly, everyone has a right to make cakes, just because an individual had a grandma that taught them when they were five doesn't mean someone else shouldn't pick it up as a hobby. As others have mentioned, crafts, youtube, etc. are responsibly for the saturation in cake decorating. Also I should note: I am in total agreement that cakes are worth A LOT and people selling should charge their worth…I am just speculating to why there is a decline in prices besides the theory that one day people just started not charging enough. People don't charge enough because they can't do to a decline in novelty.
No, I'm sorry, but this all wrong. I found something wrong with almost every sentence, but I don't have time to address it all right now. Basically the cheap cake ladies are setting conditions of unfair competition. They are charging so little that no one can make a fair profit, including themselves.
Normally you'd call what they're doing predatory pricing, but there's no intent. The reason the fair trade laws don't cover what's happening is because the writers never conceived of a situation where people wouldn't act in their own best interest (charge as much as they can for cake). The laws are aimed at people who actually have some business sense and go out to make as much money as they can.
And the highlighted sentence doesn't make sense at all if you believe the stuff you wrote prior to it. If you believe what you wrote, then cake prices will (or have) come down and these low prices will now be perfectly fair prices and the exact worth of cakes.
Not charging as much as you can for something you're selling is unreasonable behavior. This whole cake thing is a mess, not things going the way of the VHS tape. And what they're doing does not make improvement of any kind in the industry. If they were to "win", the result will be that most any one with enough brains to make an exceptional cake will find something else to do.
And if you want to talk about loss of novelty... I would say two things about that -
1) there's certainly a perceived loss of novelty - lots of people think they can watch a tutorial and make an awesome cake. But that's not quite right, is it?
2) And why do so many successful bakers sell their secrets? Because it's getting harder and harder to make a living in this business.
There are a number of forces at work here, but the biggest is the cottage food laws that have swept the country. I saw someone write somewhere the other day that there were always people making illegal cakes. That's true. But with the passage of these laws, everybody and their brothers are making cakes now. I saw it happen where I live. I saw cakeries go out of business after the law hit here. And the two that come to mind that survived both employ cheap illegal labor.
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