Well, Brian added this little section on our blog for my cakes, and people have actually been getting on and looking at it, so I figured I should write something in here.
Yes, I had plans to start a cake decorating company. I wanted to not only make a little extra money (to finance my girls nights out that I have with my three best girl friends, probably far too often) but also to have an artistic outlet. I also figured that this would be a good time to do it since the oldest three kids are in school all day (9am - 4 pm) and Jasmin is getting a little bit older and does pretty well at entertaining herself. This of course was before I found out that we are expecting again. This sort of throws a wrench in the works and makes me think that I am most likely going to hold off on trying to really get anything started for a couple more years. I will continue to do the cakes on special occasions for family or friends, but I am not at all motivated to do any sort of advertising or anything like that.
My other concern about the whole cake business is that I wonder if people would really be willing to pay enough for the cakes to make it worth my time and effort. I spoke to a woman who used to have a cake business and she said that this was her main problem, people wanted to pay the same for the cakes as they would if they went and grabbed one from the local grocery store. The problem is, just for supplies for one cake it costs me between $15-$20, because the fondant is quite expensive, and then you add on the time it takes to decorate (for instance, the baby cake that I made took me 7 hrs to just decorate it, that does not include the time it took to bake the cakes and make the filling and icing) ... the cakes would have to be pretty pricey. A friend of mine who does catering stated that I need to charge at least $100 per cake. Would anyone really want to spend that much on just a cake? I would love to hear all of your opinions.
Well, I feel like I just rambled on forever ... but now you all know what is going on with the whole "Cake By Michelle", as Brian named it for me. :) I will continue to add more pictures on here as I make more cakes.
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3 comments:
Michelle,
Although i LOVE your cakes, I wouldn't spend that much on one. The reason being that we are poor college students and I cringe at how much it costs me to decorate and make my own cake! I'm sure other people would pay that much...they are amazing!
These are amazing cakes, I definately think people would spend that kind of money for them. I personally couldn't do it all the time, but for special birthdays (8 or 16 perhaps?), baby showers, Weddings, anniversaries, definately. These really are quite impressive cakes and there are a lot more people with a lot more money out there than me! If word got out, you would be as busy as you wanted to be!(probably having to turn people away)
Michelle, I am Kathy Spann's sister, I had a cake business for years in Laveen. My name is Arlene Cheatham. I didn't have any problem getting paid for my cakes. I told people this. There are mink coats and rain coats. My cakes and store bought cakes. You're paying for the Best cake you can buy.
I realize that you give your customers the price when they order what they want. Give them several options. If they can't afford one cake they could afford one that is easier to make. Once they taste your cakes and if they like it. They will pay anything for those special occassions. Everyone wants a good tasting cake. I could bake and decorate a wedding cake in about 3 hrs. I made several hundred dollars profit. Know what you are worth and charge it. Donate a couple of your cakes to the teachers lounge at the local schools. Leave several business cards with the cake. You will be surprised
how quickly your business will grow.
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