How to price your cake?

This is a great tool. You can also download the app if you have an iphone or andriod http://www.cakebaker.co.uk/cake-recipe-pricing-calculator.html

Some people will add ingredients of cake and x 3 to get an amount to charge. This doesn’t really work for me. If you do it on the cakeulator you can add all your costs, time and mark-up that you’re comfortable with. A healthy profit would be around 30% in my opinion. You will be surprised how much it all come to, but don’t sell yourself short if you would like to do it as a business and be legal. You might not have a shop and staff to pay, but you should still have insurance, accountant, tax, electricity, etc to pay if you’re a legal business.

Good luck! x

I hope you find this post useful.

http://veenaartofcakes.blogspot.co.il/2012/01/pricing-your-cakes-beginners-guide.html

Also check out my Facebook page… for ‘Tip Thursday’ – you might find some very helpful as a beginner.

Thanks. All the best.
Veena

I don’t think it matters where a cake comes from, but what you want to earn to make a good living. Considering that you want to grow your business, I think it’s better to charge already on the level as if you would run a bakery. This money will help you to grow your business and expand, and later when you move out from home you don’t need to revise your pricing structure.

Also, I think you should verify your pricing with your competitors to not ruin the market and their business. Underpricing will give your business a ‘cheap’ look. You should pride your work, which in exchange will be reflected in your client relation ships. Charge what is decent and if you are not known, you can offer special deals that are limited by number/time.

Another thing to consider; if you serve now clients that do not see the value and time invested, you will always attract these clientele, based on word-of-mouth marketing…

Pricing is a part of marketing aswell, so do think what kind of clients you want to attract and then think on what they respond well and how they would be attracted to your business.

Here are a few links I grabbed over time related to that matter:
http://www.thebusinessofbeingcreative.com/2013/03/04/value-vs-price/
http://www.thebusinessofbeingcreative.com/2013/02/25/money-is-not-real/
http://buildalittlebiz.com/blog/2010/9/23/pricing-46-random-tips-to-help-you-price-your-stuff.html
http://www.cakeboss.com/PricingGuideline.aspx
http://weelovebaking.blogspot.ch/2011/07/what-is-your-real-cost.html
http://www.motherofcakes.net/2012/01/03/free-cakes/

Hope that helps

Firstly, thank you so much for the help. I just love this site and it’s members, it just shows that Cake Decorators are superb!

I’m going to read up all I can and use all the advice.

Once again, thank you so much!

Hey Jacky,

I just got this on our Facebook Page – I think it belongs here:

Hi did you do a business plan or do you already know your target market and annually how much people spend on cakes because that’s how we decided on what our mark up should be. (although we don’t make cakes so it might not work the same way) but if you are able to buy all the ingredients, work our a day rate for yourself or an hourly rate then you should be able to come up with a reasonable number, but also make sure you do not under sell yourself!! (really important, if your confident then others will be about your work!) a tool that we used was surveymonkey.co.uk on the internet it has surveys you can send to your contacts or people on FB (with names or anonymously) to ask how much they would be prepared to pay for one of your hand made, hand crafted cakes. Put together a portfolio of your work, take lots of pictures and see what people say! sorry there’s no immediate answer. But i hope that helps a little. Amanda

I got this message from Amanda Cass

Hi.

I’ve managed to put together a little program for myself that works out what the cake cost. I just don’t know what my hourly rate should be. I know that my customers love my cakes, but I also know that I’m not the most expensive in my area. I’ve tested the market a bit by pushing up the prices of my cakes, but then I did not get so much response. I also give them a choice between a cheaper cake to a more pricey and more decorative cake. It seems that it’s working as my quote cater for the people who do not want to spend to much as well as those that don’t care about price, but I’m sure I can do better with my pricing, especially now that I’m getting recurring orders.

Thank you all for such great help and response! I’m absolutely amazed!