At Bakers & Cakers, we’re invested in your success. We’re not just creating a marketplace that makes it easier for you to sell and meet new clients, but also an enhanced network to support your business. This will include tools to help you track your expenses, secure discounts that will lower your costs, and a resource page just for bakers, where we’ll share tips and help from people just like you. If you’re not already a part of Bakers & Cakers, sign up today!
There are very few questions that stump experienced bakers. However, even those of us who can convert measurements in our heads without even thinking about it are often lost when it comes to pricing our cakes. Relax, in the mean time while we’re building our costing tools we’ve put together a quick how to price your cakes fairly guide, so that you earn a reasonable rate for your hard work and customers still get an good deal.
Bakery Pricing Guide: Do These Things First
1) Track your ongoing/ overhead expenses. You should account for everything, from the cost to run your oven to supplies, such as baking pans, spoons, and certifications. You should know the total amount it costs you to operate, even before an order comes in.
2) Track your supply costs. Create a spreadsheet of all your baking supplies, including everything from flour to fondant. If you need to order expensive toppers and such, be sure to add those to your list as you make a purchase. We’ll be adding tools onto Bakers & Cakers that will help you track things more easily in the very near future.
3) Determine your hourly rate. This can be a very tough decision. Do a little research to see what companies are paying someone with your level of skill or check out job sites to determine a fair rate of pay.
4) Track your time accurately. For some, the oven timer is enough. However, this often leads to issues of remembering to write it down or forgetting to stop/ start the timer. If you’re not a natural when it comes to time tracking, invest in a phone app that can do all the tracking for you.
Then, Use This Cake-Pricing Formula:
Overhead + Supplies + Wages= Cake Price
Overhead Expenses: You may not know how to divide up your ongoing expenses right away, but it should be spread as evenly as possible across all orders. Add up everything you pay for to operate in an average month, including a portion of things you pay for quarterly, yearly, or bi-yearly. Then divide that by the number of orders you get in a month to calculate your per cake overhead costs.
Supply Costs: This is fairly simple, and you’ll probably wind up with a good idea of how much raw materials cost for your most common orders. Include the cost of everything, down to the last teaspoon of vanilla!
Wages: Your wages are the total time you spent on the cake multiplied by your hourly rate.
Finally, Check for Competitiveness
Arguably, the biggest room for issues here is your wages. If you aren’t using a strategy to calculate them, you may underprice yourself and earn nothing. There’s also the slim chance that the wages you’re setting are pricing you out of the market. Before you list a price or quote a customer, double-check what a few similar businesses are charging for cakes like yours. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, you should probably be within 5-10% of other bakers in your area.
Get Listed on Bakers & Cakers
If you’re not already a part of Bakers & Cakers, sign up today!
