Do You Sell Cakes Like Publix's Decadent Desserts?
Business By mystsparkle Updated 31 Dec 2013 , 2:53am by shaloop
For anyone who'd like to chime in - I'm a home baker, and as of now all the cakes I've done have been themed fondant/buttercream cakes - But was wondering if anyone out there sells cakes like the ones pictured in this link? I'm not positive if there would even be a market here for it - But sometimes I wonder if people would want to purchase a dessert like this for a more standard get together - holiday - etc.... Any thoughts?
Thanks!
http://www.publix.com/food/catalog/Bakery/DecadentDesserts/Home.do
AI sell baked goods in general. I don't have a lot of orders, as I am just starting out publicly, but there is a market for these 'everyday' desserts.
AYes & no. I do something similar. My cakes are all 4 layers. I do a carrot, caramel, death by chocolate, & peanut butter.
I was VERY successful at Valentnes with a cake for 2. It was a 6" 2 layer with chocolate ganache decorated for Valentines. Sold 16 in one day. For a cottage food law baker, that's a lot!
AWanted to add...these are most successful at hokidays.
Everyday production cakes. I used to knock thousands a week. Mid to low quality. Most are covered with nuts, cake crumbs, chocolate bits or shavings because that takes 5 seconds if it's frozen. You have absolutely no need to do a nice coverage with the buttercream / frosting before you apply. It hides a lot of the flaws, powdered sugar on top does the same.
If you go see one in person at your local ( publix in this case ), you will see the quality is not like the nice pictures on the website. They are knocked out really fast to drive cost down.
AI'm not going to lie, my local grocery store has a chocolate one that makes me drool every time I see it. I know it's made with junk, and probably doesn't even taste that good, but it sure does look delicious.
Thanks for the responses.... I actually did buy one a couple years ago for a family get together - and it definitely did not taste nearly as good as it looked... And I just recently had a friend tell me she thought the one she bought a while back was really dry and she was really disappointed on the taste... Which made me start thinking about maybe offering something like these...
I work out of my home, so make cakes as ordered... I know people like the convenience of walking into the grocery store, seeing a pretty cake like this, and buying it, I just wasn't sure how well it would go over being I sell most of my items through website/facebook and word of mouth. It'll be a while before I offer, since i'd have to bake the flavors i'd want to offer - get pictures up on my site - etc.... Just something on the back burner.... And it probably would be a bigger seller at holidays, you're right - Thanks for input!!
I work at Publix and I love the Chocolate Ganache Supreme cake. If you bought one, it would be super easy to deconstruct. Chocolate cake, chocolate whipped topping, chocolate ganache, and fudge icing. It is delicious. They also sell the slices (squares) and I buy them occasionally and my husband and I fight over them.
If you are licensed you could sell to hotels/country clubs they serve these kinds of cakes but they will want cheap,cheap.
When I was doing daycare as well as cakes on the side I sold a lot of everyday cakes, pies, desserts. My parents would request things for no particular reason other than they had a sweet tooth. I got where I kept several flavors of 9' rounds in the freezer at all times and could whip up several at nap time. I also had a couple base cookie doughs frozen that they could customize with a choice of add ins. My regular cake customers would call too, but not nearly as much my daycare parents, their families, and my neighbors.
When it would get near the holidays I would get tons of orders for cookies, cakes, pies, candy etc. My oldest two children loved when I got swamped because they love to bake (my oldest son is now in school to be a pastry chef) and they got paid to help.
I think it's important you have a good product. I live in a VERY small town; we had a place called Whats for Dessert open a couple years ago. They had a selection of realy good home made tasting cakes (not decorated variety), cookies, brownies, simple pastries etc. Their business was booming, but then they switched to what tasted like prefrozen products and eventually went out of business. In a small town like this everyone talks and they kept saying " What happened to the good stuff?"
AWhile I was working up my skills I did these cakes almost exclusively. It wasn't as much of a money maker as the highly decorated cakes...but there's definitely a market for them
I also have a selection of "standards." I call them my "couture cakes." Carrot, german choc, strawberries and cream, lemon curd w/coconut, coconut cream, black and tan and so on.
they are the go-to party cakes.
jen
I've also wondered about selling these types of cakes. For those who have sold these, it sounds like you have to do them in larger quantities (either year round or seasonally) vs. one-offs to make it profitable? Did you price them similar or higher than the grocery stores? Our grocery stores sell a variety (house brand, LaRocca, Dufflet) and even the better quality cakes are ~$30. With what I want to pay myself for my time there's no way I could compete with that price.
I used to do them wholesale. You can get up to $45. per cake but that's it, wholesale. They cost more in ingredients than a decorated cake! A gourmet $40.00 cake can cost you $20.00 in ingredients alone.........not including labor and over head. Than when you sell wholesale they want 5 or 10 in two days turn around time. HA!
The only way to make money doing them is to be a factory. You'll need a lot of pans, a lot of space to store everything, a lot of equipment to bake them, buy your ingredients in truck loads, hire someone to deliver them, etc...
The only way to really turn a profit on them is to decorate them, so you can get a decorated cake pricing.
Had to chime in here. (Long time lurker, et al). I worked at Publix Grocery in Charleston SC as a decorator apprentice. I was able to visit all the Publix stores in the greater Charleston Area (about 14, if I remember correctly). We decorated the decadent cakes in house with pre-made cakes, frosting and fillings. The variation in how they look results from skill level. Lots of times the Decorator Apprentice is the one making these to "train" so they can make birthday cakes (typically the biggest seller in the bakery - as in on the weekend we'd have 60-70 cake orders a day, divide that by 3 decorators).
After watching and filling that case for 5 months, I can say there is a market - but 80% of the cake sales were only on the weekend. People go to church and want something special for dessert that evening, so they stop. During the week, we'd mostly sell the cupcakes, truffles (pre-made, and decorated in house), and chocolate dipped strawberries (hand dipped strawberries from the produce department, dipped in house-made ganache). For some reason they didn't sell well on the weekends.
I think there is a market for these, but really watch the sales. Otherwise you'll have a bunch of cakes going bad during the week and an inability to keep them on the shelves during the weekend. Also, you'll want to market to church groups, other groups that meet on Sunday. You might even want to do a door-to-door campaign to get the local residents to but them.
Just a few thoughts.... OK, I'll go back to lurking now!~ ;-)
AJimMitten, are you still here in Charleston?
AI mainly sell things like this around the holidays like DD said. Products like Jim stated; Chocolate Covered Strawberries, CCPretzels, etc.
I don't have the time or space to premake these working from home, but for me these are about convenience or indulgence-last min gift to take to a party or a craving I get while grocery shopping.
I do offer them year round but mainly sell them decorated.
Quote:
Had to chime in here. (Long time lurker, et al). I worked at Publix Grocery in Charleston SC as a decorator apprentice. I was able to visit all the Publix stores in the greater Charleston Area (about 14, if I remember correctly). We decorated the decadent cakes in house with pre-made cakes, frosting and fillings. The variation in how they look results from skill level. Lots of times the Decorator Apprentice is the one making these to "train" so they can make birthday cakes (typically the biggest seller in the bakery - as in on the weekend we'd have 60-70 cake orders a day, divide that by 3 decorators).
After watching and filling that case for 5 months, I can say there is a market - but 80% of the cake sales were only on the weekend. People go to church and want something special for dessert that evening, so they stop. During the week, we'd mostly sell the cupcakes, truffles (pre-made, and decorated in house), and chocolate dipped strawberries (hand dipped strawberries from the produce department, dipped in house-made ganache). For some reason they didn't sell well on the weekends.
I think there is a market for these, but really watch the sales. Otherwise you'll have a bunch of cakes going bad during the week and an inability to keep them on the shelves during the weekend. Also, you'll want to market to church groups, other groups that meet on Sunday. You might even want to do a door-to-door campaign to get the local residents to but them.
Just a few thoughts.... OK, I'll go back to lurking now!~ ;-)
Thank you so much for the detailed and insightful answer. You are WELCOME to lurk here, anytime!
AI used to do wholesale dessert cakes which included layer cakes, cheesecakes, poundcakes, brownies, etc. I ended up getting plenty of business from my customer's (restaurants, coffee shops) customers who wanted dessert cakes for holidays, work parties, family dinners, etc. They were from scratch and I had a good variety of flavors. Prices ranged from $30 to $50 for a 9" cake.
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