DS Forums

 
 

Price of my cake ?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 13-08-2013, 19:15
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712

I have been asked to supply a local tea shop with a chocolate fudge cake.
It will be a round cake, 9 and a half inches across and about 4 and a half inches high, filled and covered in chocolate ganache.
They have also asked me for a price.
How much do you think I should charge ?
They also want a carrot cake and a Victoria Sandwich cake of the same size.
They want to compare MY price with the price they are already paying for their cakes. (obviously, they haven't told me what they are paying now !)
This is my cake -
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 13-08-2013, 20:06
Imej
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Norwich, England.
Posts: 338
Per slice, or for the whole cake Andy? It looks delicious by the way! If you ever need a tester...
Imej is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 20:18
smudges dad
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Fort William
Posts: 22,296
Work out the cost of ingredients, plus fuel for baking, delivery costs (petrol / diesel) and a reasonable amount for your time, then put a percentage mark-up so it's worth doing. Then maybe add a little more. If they won't pay that, then it's not worth doing. Also, look in competitors to see how much a slice costs, work out how many slices you'll get from your cake, then halve it to get your selling price.
smudges dad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 20:32
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
Per slice, or for the whole cake Andy? It looks delicious by the way! If you ever need a tester...

The whole cake
If I put the price too high, they'll refuse.
How does £15 sound ?
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 21:34
Iggy's Boy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,943

The whole cake
If I put the price too high, they'll refuse.
How does £15 sound ?
£15? It must have taken an hour to make and surely your time is worth more than that?
Iggy's Boy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:16
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
£15? It must have taken an hour to make and surely your time is worth more than that?
£20 ?
I don't want to frighten her off
The thing is, I would like this cake to be the start of something big, so I don't want her to have a heart attack when I tell her - what she thinks - is too much.
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:22
littlebooties
Guest
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,305
How much is a slice of cake these days? £2.50? If they get 10 slices out of it that makes it £22.50 for the whole cake, so you want to sell it at a price where they make a bit of profit and so do you.

Smudges dad's suggestions are the best way of working out the cost. Don't just pluck a price out of thin air - very bad business practise. Work it out.
littlebooties is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:22
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
£15? It must have taken an hour to make and surely your time is worth more than that?
And the rest !
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:23
SeasideLady
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 15,472
You can get a very similar cake in Costco - I would say it's 10 - 12 " across, and it costs £7.99. They are the kind you would get in a restaurant for dessert, and proper chocolatey. Their carrot cakes are the same price and size. I don't know how you could price your cake to compete with those prices !
SeasideLady is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:26
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
Work out the cost of ingredients, plus fuel for baking, delivery costs (petrol / diesel) and a reasonable amount for your time, then put a percentage mark-up so it's worth doing. Then maybe add a little more. If they won't pay that, then it's not worth doing. Also, look in competitors to see how much a slice costs, work out how many slices you'll get from your cake, then halve it to get your selling price.
Thanks Smudges dad.
I'll work it out tomorrow. It's getting late now and I've been up since 7am, my brain can't cope with a little simple maths at the moment !
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:29
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
You can get a very similar cake in Costco - I would say it's 10 - 12 " across, and it costs £7.99. They are the kind you would get in a restaurant for dessert, and proper chocolatey. Their carrot cakes are the same price and size. I don't know how you could price your cake to compete with those prices !
There is probably a list of ingredients (preservatives, E numbers etc) as long as your arm !
My chocolate fudge cake has 8 ingredients
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:36
SeasideLady
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 15,472
There is probably a list of ingredients (preservatives, E numbers etc) as long as your arm !
My chocolate fudge cake has 8 ingredients
When you're tucking into 4 layers of moist dark cake and chocolate ganache you're not going to be thinking about E numbers, only how good it tastes
SeasideLady is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:37
Imej
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Norwich, England.
Posts: 338
At work, we times whatever the cost of the product (ingredients/petrol in your case) by 1.8 on the calculator. So if your ingredients cost the same as the Costco fudge cake (£7.99), that method would make it £14.38... a cheeky round up to £15 would make it the same as what you were looking to sell it at anyway. Hope that helps!
Imej is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 22:48
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
At work, we times whatever the cost of the product (ingredients/petrol in your case) by 1.8 on the calculator. So if your ingredients cost the same as the Costco fudge cake (£7.99), that method would make it £14.38... a cheeky round up to £15 would make it the same as what you were looking to sell it at anyway. Hope that helps!
Thanks Imej. I'll bear that in mind
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-08-2013, 23:08
jonnyinscotland
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Scotland
Posts: 990
American but might be helpful: http://www.cakeboss.com/PricingGuideline.aspx & http://jasonkraftblog.wordpress.com/...icing-formula/
jonnyinscotland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 07:28
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 09:27
JulesF
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 5,111
You can get a very similar cake in Costco - I would say it's 10 - 12 " across, and it costs £7.99. They are the kind you would get in a restaurant for dessert, and proper chocolatey. Their carrot cakes are the same price and size. I don't know how you could price your cake to compete with those prices !
Teashops, cake shops, patisseries etc. are not in direct competition with the supermarkets. Customers will pay a premium for home-made cakes
JulesF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 09:36
smudges dad
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Fort William
Posts: 22,296
Teashops, cake shops, patisseries etc. are not in direct competition with the supermarkets. Customers will pay a premium for home-made cakes
This isn't someone selling their cakes retail, but wholesale with someone else taking a slice (sic) of the profits.
smudges dad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 10:03
JulesF
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 5,111
This isn't someone selling their cakes retail, but wholesale with someone else taking a slice (sic) of the profits.
Yes, I know.
JulesF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 10:24
Yeah_Jackie
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Jackie's World
Posts: 15,321
A tea shop will easily recoup £15 selling it by the slice. It has to be worth your while AND theirs.
Yeah_Jackie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 10:25
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
Teashops, cake shops, patisseries etc. are not in direct competition with the supermarkets. Customers will pay a premium for home-made cakes
Especially delicious ones like mine !
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 10:25
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
A tea shop will easily recoup £15 selling it by the slice. It has to be worth your while AND theirs.
So £20 is a reasonable price then ?
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 10:27
Yeah_Jackie
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Jackie's World
Posts: 15,321
So £20 is a reasonable price then ?
How many portions will such a cake cut up into?
Where is the teashop located?
What is their clientele like?
Get a secret shopper to go in and have tea if you don't know this information already.
Yeah_Jackie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 10:33
Aftershow
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 9,568
So £20 is a reasonable price then ?
There's no point just trying to come up with a price that 'sounds reasonable' without taking into account the cost of producing it, and equally, the sales practices of the retailer in question.
Aftershow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-08-2013, 11:01
Andy Birkenhead
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside.
Posts: 9,712
There's no point just trying to come up with a price that 'sounds reasonable' without taking into account the cost of producing it, and equally, the sales practices of the retailer in question.
I have just calculate the cost of the ingredients of my chocolate fudge cake.
It comes to £14.12.
Multiplying by 1.8 (as Imej suggested) = £25.23
Andy Birkenhead is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 17:56.