Why do cake decorators get paid upfront before the event — party, wedding, bridal shower, etc?

For weddings, it is important that a deposit of 30 – 50% be provided to hold the date. Moreover, because of the stress of the day, you don’t want to attempt to collect on the wedding day itself. The balance should be paid at least 7 days before the event. In all my years, I can recall only a few protests for this arrangement and even then we worked it out, with the final third of the balance paid on delivery.

Nearly everything else related to the wedding is paid in advance, the caterer, the venue, the band, the photographer. The cake should be no different. Think about it this way, when a painter is commissioned to create a painting, she is paid up front because of the investment in time and materials for a very specific request. Cake decorators are no different. We are creating a cake for a unique event or individual. If the client fails to complete the transaction, we can’t resell the cake to someone else. As professionals, we pay our bills when they are due for the cake supplies, utilities, rent, etc and so there is no reason to avoid or feel uncomfortable about discussing money with our clients.

For the wedding cake business, there is a level of uncertainty when booking clients. There are stories of buyer’s remorse where the bride or mother of the bride tries to find a cheaper alternative — like “Aunt Betty” at the last moment. Therefore the cake decorator needs to capture a portion of the payment upfront to secure the deal and lock-in their time for that week-end. The lost income for a cancelled cake can mean the difference between a profitable month and an unprofitable one for a small cake decorating business.

Of course, in different communities there are different standards for wedding service providers so you want to work within the established precedents.

In some locations it is common for a 3-payment wedding cake contract: 1/3 to book the date, 1/3 a week week prior and 1/3 final upon delivery. This is tricky though because of the aforementioned stress of the event. You have to make sure someone with a checkbook will be there at the point of the cake delivery. One thing is certain; you should never leave the event without being paid first. Don’t plan two deliveries, one after the other, where you are rushing to leave and they individual with the checkbook can’t be found. Don’t worry about appearing pushy — it’s business. If you and your wedding cake client are comfortable using Paypal, you can set up a recurring “subscription” payment option so that the 3 payments are deducted automatically and with less stress on both parties.

Keep in mind that your clients are most focused on their event and their concern. They don’t care about your bills or overhead so don’t bring these things up. Don’t let them use the promise of future business or “telling all their friends about you…” to make you change your policy. Make no exceptions, even for friends. Providing great customer service means that sometimes you have to turn down clients who simply refuse to work within the parameters of your cake decorating business. If they complain about paying upfront, chances are you will have difficult interactions with them in other parts of the wedding cake process.

Finally, you should always consult a lawyer and check that your contract and deposits meet local, state/provincial and federal laws.

20% Off Cake Decorating Supplies

Save 20% when you buy any eligible cake decorating products sold by Amazon.com. This discount will be reflected in your cart at checkout. Offer valid through February 28, 2010

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What an inspiration!
Cake Business Documentary

You can also watch Cake Boss on Amazon Unboxed. The best part about this is that you can pay for just the episodes you want.

Cake Boss Season 1 DVD is available from Amazon.com and directly from the TLC Discovery Channel Store.

CakeBoss DVD

Buddy Valastro is one of the most successful and renowned cake artists in the United States. Master baker of Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey, Buddy is the cake boss. He supervises a team that includes his mother, four older sisters and three brothers-in-law. And when you’re working with family on a daily basis, there is bound to be a lot of drama. The Valastros know drama but at the end of the day they also know love. Cake Boss is the half-hour series that chronicles Buddy’s over-arching desire to achieve his late father’s dream of making Carlo’s Bake Shop a household name with or without the help of his family.

Disc 1:

Ep. 1 A Bride, A Boat, and Bamboozled!
Ep. 2 A Fire, A Fashionista, and Family
Ep. 3 Bunny, Birthday, and Burnt Food
Ep. 4 Weddings, Water and Whacked!
Ep. 5 Bi-Plane, Bridezilla & Busting Buddy
Ep. 6 Undead, Unclothed, and Unhappy Mama
Ep. 7 Doves, Ducks, and Delicacies
Ep. 8 Museum, Mistakes and Mother Mary
Ep. 9 Soldiers, Sand and Salads
Ep. 10 Chinese Culture and Cannolis

Disc 2
Ep. 11 A Blindfold, A Bikini and Breathing Fire
Ep. 12 Leaning, Lobsters and Lecutres
Ep. 13 Fireworks, Falling Fondant and Fathers

CakeBoss DVD

Buying a Website Simplified

I see many people asking the same questions about setting up a cake business or bakery website. They vaguely understand what is involved in getting a website operational, but because of their inexperience they postpone the purchase or worse, are taken advantage of as they shop around.

Here are the basics if you still need a website for your bakery or cake business. This guide is intended to explain the basics and offer some suggestions on providers I have used and recommend.

What you need:

1. Hosting

Your website is a collection of web pages (text files and pictures) stored in a super computer with a high speed internet connection. It is the web hosting company who is responsible to host your website. You will purchase a hosting package from the company and can pay them monthly or annually.  When shopping keep in mind their lowest prices are for those customers who pay for a year or more in advance.

Hostgator.com has plans starting at $4.95 a month, but that price requires you to pay for three years in advance

Webhosting will cost anywhere from $4 dollars a month upto $20-30 dollars a month. Unless you are getting hundreds of thousands of visitors a month visiting your website, I would advise a package under $10/month. HostGator is used by many bakery websites. Hostgator is a reliable, honest company offering plans from $4.95 a month if you pay in advance or a $8.95, billed monthly. SuperGreen hosting also offers a $7.95/month plan billed monthly. I like this company because they are, as their name suggests, a green company enabling you to Neutralize your website’s carbon footprint. Finally, Yahoo! is used by many cake businesses. Yahoo! Web Hosting currently has a deal where you can save 25% on your first 3-months of hosting service. They also give you a free domain name. Of course, Yahoo! is a name you can trust and they provide 24/7 support.

2. Domain Name

This is your URL or website address. Your domain name is an annual expense, and needs to be renewed each year for as long as you want the URL. Most registrars offer automatic renewal so you don’t have to worry about losing it.  You can register a domain name separately from your hosting package and it is not required that you use the hosting services of the company where your name is registered. For example, you can register a name at GoDaddy.com then host the website at HostGator. On the other hand, many companies will give you a great deal on the domain name (sometimes free) in order to get you as a hosting client. For example Yahoo! web hosting offers a free Domain when you purchase their services.

The main takeaway here is that if you own the domain, you can host it anywhere. If you want to hold it for several years without building a website, I recommend GoDaddy. Once you’re ready to build your site you can either purchase a hosting plan or tell the domain registrar (e.g. GoDaddy.com) where the website is hosted. GoDaddy is the industry leader in Domain Registration  and they offer compelling deals on webhosting services. (Coupon Code: OYH20H – 20% off hosting)

3. Website

Finally, you need a website. Your website is a series of files that live on your hosting provider’s computer (called a server). Many cake business owners prefer to use a template or site building tool provided by their hosting company. This is a great way to get a site up quickly and with little technical expertise. These are typically Drag-and-Drop tools enabling you to pick a pre-existing theme, then customize it with your own content. A good hosting company will provide tutorials or instructional videos on how to design and build your site. Again, I know many cake businesses who use Yahoo! Web Hosting and are very happy with the quality of their templates. Alternatively, if you wish to do something more custom, you can hire a designer or use many of the free tools available online.

If I can answer any questions about websites, hosting, domains, etc. please leave a question in the comments section below.

If you’ve been thinking about registering a domain name for your future cake business but haven’t wanted to pay the fees,here’s a great offer for you. GoDaddy iss offering a coupon for one year domain registration for 99 cents. Enter BOWL2010 in coupon field to show the discounted price. Additional 18 Cent ICANN fee applies.

World’s Largest Registrar – GoDaddy.com

What is a domain name? A domain name is a Web address, such as godaddy.com, that is linked to an IP address (which represents a physical point on the Internet). When someone types a domain name into a Web browser, the requested Web page displays. A domain name consists of a top-level and a second-level domain. A top-level domain (TLD) is the part of the domain name located to the right of the dot (godaddy.com). The most common top-level domains are .COM, .NET, and .ORG. Some other popular top-level domains are .BIZ, .INFO, .NAME and .WS. These TLDs have certain guidelines but are, for the most part, available to any registrant, anywhere in the world. The part of the domain name located to the left of the dot — “godaddy,” in this case — is called the second-level domain (SLD) name. The second-level domain name is the “readable” part of the address and refers to the organization or entity behind the Internet address. Second-level domain names must be registered with an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)-accredited registrar.

Copyright © 1999 – 2007 GoDaddy.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

What phone number to give out?

Many small cake businesses ask us about the propriety of giving out a non-business phone number to their clients. For example, “Is it OK to give customers your cell phone or even home phone number.”  Those businesses who operate in a rented commercial kitchen or from home need to be accessible and professional.  Some opt for setting up a separate business line or business only cell phone.

Google Voice makes it much easier for small business owners to be readily available to their clients no matter where they are, at home or on the go, without the additional expense of a new phone line. Think of it as a central phone system for your cake businesses.

Once you have an account, Google will handle all of your incoming calls and voicemails re-routing them to your existing phone lines. You’ll never miss another call and more importantly, you can screen your calls live. If you’re a small cake business working out of your home to save money or operating from a rented kitchen and a cell phone, this tool is very cool. As a growing, legitimate business, you don’t want to give out your home or cell number.  With Google Voice you can give customers and suppliers your new Google Voice number instead.

How does it work?

First, Google Voice is still invite only. In order to participate, you need to request an invitation from Google. I am giving away an invite for one of my readers. (read below)

Once you get your invite, you identify your zip code and/or area code so that Google can populate a list of available numbers in your area. If possible, try and pick one that will be easy for your customers to remember or that will have some other business significance.

After selecting a number, you’ll be asked to select at least one existing phone number to connect with it. For example, you may want your Google Voice number to connect to your home phone number, or  to your cell phone. To verify the numbers, Google Voice will send you a code that you’ll need to enter into the Google Voice Web site.

Once you’re verified, you Google Voice number will be synced to whatever other numbers you’ve connected to it.  Any time someone calls your Google Voice number, the phone or phones you’ve tied to it, will ring. Caller ID can recognize that the call is ringing from your Google Voice number. Moreover, a voice prompt can alert you that the call is from your Google number.

Google Voice Summary

Google Voice is a must have for you small cake businesses who don’t want the additional expense of a second business line. Adopting a Google Voice number and then forwarding it to your home, will give you an added sense of security and credibility. It will allow you to answer work-related calls while you’re out of the kitchen/office.

Other features include call screening, mobile apps for many cellphones and Voicemail transcripts sent to your email. It is virtually impossible to miss a prospective customer’s contact if you check your email frequently.

Google Voice is a great application for small bakery business owners to help them manage voice communications. Whether you’re adding some credibility to your business with a professional number or just making it so your business line forwards to your cell phone, it’s a great tool to keep in touch with customers. If you’re interested, head over to the Google and request an invite.

Win A Google Voice Invite
For those of you with a blog, website, Twitter account or Facebook account, win an invite from me just by linking to our site: Cake-Business.com and posting a comment below. If you don’t have a website or any way to link to us, that’s OK too. Mention this post in another forum or website and you’ll also be entered. I will select a winner at random from the comments below on November 1, 2009. Good luck!

Let them decorate cake:

Here’s an article about some women in upstate NY who find cake decorating  more than a hobby: 2 cake business owners, a decorator and a party store owner who offers classes.

New Berlin’s Kelly Banks started her own cake decorating business in 2005. Banks, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America, decided that she didn’t want to spend all of her time working for someone else after she had her daughter. With that decision, Kelly Banks Cakes was born.

“It started off just being something fun, extra income. Every once in a while someone would ask me to do something for them,” she said. “Now I just have cakes every single weekend. It’s definitely more of a business now that it was even last year.”

…Cathy Wise, Party Perfect’s owner, knew she wanted to offer cake decorating classes from the minute she opened her store. Two years ago, “it all just fell into place,” Wise said. “It’s just a fun thing to learn and it’s a great skill to have.”

…Winnie Talbot not only teaches the Wilton classes at Party Perfect, she also decorates ice cream and wedding cakes…

Talbot didn’t intend to become a Wilton teacher.

“I took a bunch of Wilton classes and then I took other cake classes because I wanted to know how to do cakes for our business. Then Wilton started calling me asking me if I’d teach class. I kept telling them `no.’ I didn’t have time. Finally I said, `you know what? If you wait until late fall, then I will start,’” Talbot said.

…Cooperstown-based cake decorator Marjorie Landers has had a few odd requests as well.

“The most unusual cakes I do are groom’s cakes, which can be in any shape or form,” Landers said. “One groom’s cake I did that was a for a groom who was a serpentologist. So that cake was in the shape of a snake.”

But these challenges are part of what has kept her engaged in her work for the last 15 years. “I do enjoy doing new things. It’s fun for the artistic part of me. If you do the same thing over and over again, it gets to be no fun,” Landers said.

via The Daily Star, Oneonta, NY – Otsego, Delaware, Chenango and Schoharie County News, Sports and Opinion – Let them decorate cake: Local women find decorating desserts more than a hobby.

What are your impressions of this quirky NY bakery?

notes: cakes are un-covered on the sides and we do not do fondant or frosting.

cake is approx 60 servings with the top tier to save as your wedding souvenir.

price includes delivery in manhattan and set-up; extra delivery fees may apply depending on distance.

via :: momofuku ::.