Cash from Baking??

karenccs67

I was wondering where you buy your cupcake boxes from? Ive bought some from a website but the p&p is expensive. my local cake shop doesnt sell them.

Moominmamma

Nat - Could you not bake a few different batches of cupcakes and then photograph them and then use them to take around to local cafes to see if you could get any business that way?

Karen - I get my cupcake boxes from the cupcakeboxes.co.uk site, not sure whether thats who you used... I always order shed-loads to try and get more bang for my buck postage wise, dh loves me when they start tumbling out his wardrobe every time he opens it :rotfl:

Quick question - anyone willing to share their expeiences of approaching cafes etc? Is it best to call first, or just turn up and wow them with your wares? And how much do you sell them for "wholesale"? I've taken some to a local place today and they told me they aim to make 300% profit :eek:

Any inside info hugely appreciated!!

M x

karenccs67

Moominmamma wrote: »

Nat - Could you not bake a few different batches of cupcakes and then photograph them and then use them to take around to local cafes to see if you could get any business that way?

Karen - I get my cupcake boxes from the cupcakeboxes.co.uk site, not sure whether thats who you used... I always order shed-loads to try and get more bang for my buck postage wise, dh loves me when they start tumbling out his wardrobe every time he opens it :rotfl:

Quick question - anyone willing to share their expeiences of approaching cafes etc? Is it best to call first, or just turn up and wow them with your wares? And how much do you sell them for "wholesale"? I've taken some to a local place today and they told me they aim to make 300% profit :eek:

Any inside info hugely appreciated!!

M x

thats where ive been buying my boxes too, just not enough to justify postage, my own fault and i too keep them in the wardrobe :rotfl:. karen x

nat21luv

moomin-thats exactly what i thought. i need to get my pricing right, how much is acceptable to charge for a batch of 12 wholesale? i'd deffo turn up, they can easily turn you down on the phone but not so easy when you come bearing gorgeous cupcakes! 300% profit is pretty easy. say one very basic cupcake with no colours of fancy case with buttercream icing costs 0.15p (muffin size) then 300% of that is 0.45p. on a batch of 12 thats costs= 1.80 so profit needs to be 5.40. sell for 0.75p each x12=9 per batch making you a profit of 7.20 its your costing though so you need to work everything out based on what YOU use.

karenccs67

nat21luv wrote: »

moomin-thats exactly what i thought. i need to get my pricing right, how much is acceptable to charge for a batch of 12 wholesale? i'd deffo turn up, they can easily turn you down on the phone but not so easy when you come bearing gorgeous cupcakes! 300% profit is pretty easy. say one very basic cupcake with no colours of fancy case with buttercream icing costs 0.15p (muffin size) then 300% of that is 0.45p. on a batch of 12 thats costs= 1.80 so profit needs to be 5.40. sell for 0.75p each x12=9 per batch making you a profit of 7.20 its your costing though so you need to work everything out based on what YOU use.

people i know who are selling cupcakes charge £2 each... and only sell in batches of 12. maybe they are using organic ingredients where possible or maybe not but either way theyre selling plenty of cakes.

nat21luv

is that directly to a customer of through an outlet or shop? a shop would charge 2quid but you couldnt sell to a shop for that, they'd make no profit!

karenccs67

nat21luv wrote: »

is that directly to a customer of through an outlet or shop? a shop would charge 2quid but you couldnt sell to a shop for that, they'd make no profit!

no not to shops or outlets but online and word of mouth. i think if youre selling to shops, cafes etc you have to label cake packaging with all ingredients etc.

nat21luv

karenccs67 wrote: »

no not to shops or outlets but online and word of mouth. i think if youre selling to shops, cafes etc you have to label cake packaging with all ingredients etc.

...only if its closed packaging. (the other halfs a trainee environmental health office )

karenccs67

nat21luv wrote: »

...only if its closed packaging. (the other halfs a trainee environmental health office )

thanks for that info, ive always been told its more complicated, more detailed, thanks again. x

Moominmamma

nat21luv wrote: »

moomin-thats exactly what i thought. i need to get my pricing right, how much is acceptable to charge for a batch of 12 wholesale? i'd deffo turn up, they can easily turn you down on the phone but not so easy when you come bearing gorgeous cupcakes! 300% profit is pretty easy. say one very basic cupcake with no colours of fancy case with buttercream icing costs 0.15p (muffin size) then 300% of that is 0.45p. on a batch of 12 thats costs= 1.80 so profit needs to be 5.40. sell for 0.75p each x12=9 per batch making you a profit of 7.20 its your costing though so you need to work everything out based on what YOU use.

Blimey Nat, 8-a-day was enough to fuddle my brain, never mind all that :rotfl:

Will try and get my head round it in the morning... But basically I wanted to charge the cafe / restaurant in question a quid per cake, which doesn't seem unreasonable to me but if they're after a 300% mark up then that's £4 a cake, which is obviously ludicrous (even for my cakes ) So who's being greedy, me or them?!?

I got some business plan books from the library a couple of weeks ago, think praps it's time to actually have a look at them!!