Cash from Baking??

nat21luv

lol i was on a roll!

i thought you meant you earn 300% profit! oh well, i'll go back to the drawing board and try to come up with some figures! it might only be that one company who's after 300% markup so you might have to make a figure just for them, especially if it means you get paid and you get to advertise. im in the same boat and the way i see it is if im supplying cafes ect then i'll stoop a bit low if it means i generate business, build up a nice little earner in the bank then think bigger. obvioulsy if im supplying direct to customers then im thinking 1.90 per cupcake muffin size-undercutting the opposition! hehe theres a business woman in me yet!!

right off to do some more sums and eat chocolate!

hayley11

Karen, I asked the EHO about selling to cafes and she said it was absolutely fine. It's strange how different EHO's say different things because i've read on here that people have been told they can't do it.

I was going to ask about approaching cafes and doing the costings for it. I was in my fave cafe in town the other day and asked them and they said if I bring in some samples/costings etc they will think about stocking them. Going to pop round to some others too. It'd be awesome if I got my cupcakes stocked in cafes!

hayley11

nat21luv wrote: »

lol i was on a roll!

i thought you meant you earn 300% profit! oh well, i'll go back to the drawing board and try to come up with some figures! it might only be that one company who's after 300% markup so you might have to make a figure just for them, especially if it means you get paid and you get to advertise. im in the same boat and the way i see it is if im supplying cafes ect then i'll stoop a bit low if it means i generate business, build up a nice little earner in the bank then think bigger. obvioulsy if im supplying direct to customers then im thinking 1.90 per cupcake muffin size-undercutting the opposition! hehe theres a business woman in me yet!!

right off to do some more sums and eat chocolate!

I see it as a bit risky undercutting the competition, mainly becuase they might then undercut you, then you undercut them....by the end nobody will be making any money!

I definitely agree about selling cupcakes cheaper to cafes because it would be good advertising and a regular income hopefully.

Anybody who is thinking of writing a business plan, they have a really good template on the princes trust website, it helped me loads when writing mine. Haven't finished it yet but got quite far with it.

I'm going to ring Business Link next week and see what help they can offer me now i'm approved by the EHO.

I am so excited by all this, I am obsessed! I always knew I was destined to have my own business, now I know it's true! :j

Maybe if any of us are successful with any cafes, we could share what we did/said with everybody else? In the hope that it helps them get stocked in cafes too?

nat21luv

good idea hayley, im crap at selling myself so would be great if anyone would be so kind to share their sales pitch?? i hoping that knowing a few cafe owners around town will help but then im worried about them wanting 'mates rates'

hayley11

nat21luv wrote: »

good idea hayley, im crap at selling myself so would be great if anyone would be so kind to share their sales pitch?? i hoping that knowing a few cafe owners around town will help but then im worried about them wanting 'mates rates'

Just be very firm Stick to a price in your head and don't go below it.

I'm going to take a little folder in with my costings, then maybe have the form from the EHO, food hygeine cert, proof of self employement etc. Not neccassarily to show them but if they ask, it might look more professional to have them with me. Then i'll put some pictures at the back of cakes and cupcakes i've made and some business cards.

And i'm going to take some mini cupcakes in for them to taste and a box of four cupcakes so they can see what they look like.

The main thing i'm not sure about is what do I include on my costings that I show them? The prices of my ingredients? How much ingredients? Just a list of ingredients? My cost price, the price I am charging them, the price I think they should charge??? :rotfl:

nat21luv

i think you need to keep some things secret. if i was a cafe owner and you showed me your costing then i would hammer the price down until i got your cakes for not much more than your costings. they dont need to know that, keep schtum! i would only include the price you are charging them and the RRP. its up to them how much they charge the customer really, your just giving them a guideline, say between 1.75-2.00? they dont need an ingredients list although they might want to keep one for reference. deffo take your hygene cert with you although its not essential(which i think is weird when your dealing with food and selling to the public!)

Moominmamma

Ooooh, it's all soooo complicated isn't it *sigh*

Will deffo have a look at that Prince's Trust thing Hayley, cheers for that I too have been meaning to get in touch with Business Link for about the last 18 months but never quite seem to get that far, stupid really because as someone quite rightly (imho) pointed out to me a cupcake is only going to be, say, 5% tastier or more attractive than the next persons whereas a decent marketing campaign will be 100% more effective than 95% of the competitions, and let's face it girls, cupcake bakers are pretty ubiquitous out there

On a more positive note I've had a message to say the cafe are definately interested in my cakes :T although I'm trying not to get excited in case it's a question of "Oooh yes, we love them... but coud we squeeze you down to 3p a unit..." We shall see.

In case it would be of interest to any of you I've still got the email the Business Brain guy sent me about marketing cakes etc and would be happy to pm it ~ I found it quite helpful.

nat21luv

yes please moomin-any info helps! have you got any pics of your cakes? i'd love to see them xx

Moominmamma

Just off to pick the kids up Nat so will post a pic later, but pm'ing you now

M x

karenccs67

Moominmamma wrote: »

Just off to pick the kids up Nat so will post a pic later, but pm'ing you now

M x

me too please if you dont mind. x