Not allowed to take birthday cake to daughters party?

notanewuser

Not read the whole thread but there's a kid's activity place here that doesn't serve food, party or otherwise! They encourage picnics, and you can hire tents for parties but have to cater them yourself, including cake etc.

Spendless

Are they saying that you are not allowed to supply any cake, even one bought in Tesco/Sainsbury's and presented to them still in the original box? Or are they saying you can't take in a homemade cake?

If it's the latter and you are a competent baker/cake decorator I don't see how they'd know the difference between that and one you commissioned from the local bakers.

I had parties at soft play areas from my eldest being one to youngest being seven, so for about 10 years at least for one,if not both kids and never came across where you didn't provide your own cake, but I am the mum that takes in the ready-made supermarket type, so possibly why I never encountered a problem.

After one year where a lot of parents messed me around with invites after I'd booked the most expensive place in town and didn't reply or turn up, I packed in doing it that way. Instead I have everyone gather at my house and then we go to the place of choice and afterwards return home and eat there including cake or eat before going if the time suits better. Would this be an option to you? If you change the booking (if you can) and they query why you aren't eating there anymore you tell them you've changed your mind due to wanting to provide your own cake.;)

krustylouise

Spendless wrote: »

Are they saying that you are not allowed to supply any cake, even one bought in Tesco/Sainsbury's and presented to them still in the original box? Or are they saying you can't take in a homemade cake?

If it's the latter and you are a competent baker/cake decorator I don't see how they'd know the difference between that and one you commissioned from the local bakers.

I had parties at soft play areas from my eldest being one to youngest being seven, so for about 10 years at least for one,if not both kids and never came across where you didn't provide your own cake, but I am the mum that takes in the ready-made supermarket type, so possibly why I never encountered a problem.

After one year where a lot of parents messed me around with invites after I'd booked the most expensive place in town and didn't reply or turn up, I packed in doing it that way. Instead I have everyone gather at my house and then we go to the place of choice and afterwards return home and eat there including cake or eat before going if the time suits better. Would this be an option to you? If you change the booking (if you can) and they query why you aren't eating there anymore you tell them you've changed your mind due to wanting to provide your own cake.;)

They said no cake at all that is supplied through them x

krustylouise

They emailed thanking me for enquiring and they were glad I'd heard such a nice review (this being from the friend who took her own cake) so I replied back thanking them for getting touch and said I loved the sound of the place and was truly disappointed that I was unable to complete the booking due to being refused to supply my own cake.

Person_one

krustylouise wrote: »

Given that the comment was aimed at me I didn't feel that this was a sarcastic comment and certainly didn't take it that way.

It was a bit of an odd one though, did you in fact plan your daughter's conception so that she'd be born in the summer?

I don't think its that simple, generally!

Person_one

notanewuser wrote: »

Not read the whole thread but there's a kid's activity place here that doesn't serve food, party or otherwise! They encourage picnics, and you can hire tents for parties but have to cater them yourself, including cake etc.

If it was my business that would definitely be the way I'd do it.

None of the hassle of running a kitchen and I bet they wouldn't lose much business because lots of people prefer to save a bit of money and cater themselves, especially if all the competition are cake dictators!

Callie22

Coming from a catering background, I can see their point. My parents own a bakery and I worked there for many years. I used to make and decorate wedding cakes and we used to let people bring their own cakes in, and then I would marzipan and ice them. We stopped doing this after one occasion when some people who had been guests at a local party came in and said that they were horrified with the cake that we'd supplied, as they'd found a paperclip in it. Eventually it turned out that the woman who'd baked the cake had secured the greaseproof paper with paperclips, had missed one and had baked it into the cake. After that I absolutely refused to decorate any cake that I hadn't baked myself, as I couldn't take the risk of not knowing what was in it, and I couldn't be confident about the conditions that it had been baked in - and believe me, this annoyed a lot of people. Something like the paperclip incident could have caused a lot of damage to our business, and potentially could have really hurt someone. As business owners, we couldn't take that risk.

So I can see where they're coming from with this. Food hygiene regulations have become a LOT tougher in the past few years and EHOs are much more on the ball with enforcement. Food businesses have a responsibility to ensure that everything that is served on their premises is safe and fit for human consumption - my mum, for example, has to prove that she can trace practically every ingredient that comes into her kitchens, and prove that anything she sells has been stored, handled and baked in the appropriate conditions (I spent hours last time I was home updating her HACCP plans, so I know how strict you have to be). You just can't do that with a homemade cake so you can't take the risk and serve it on your premises - not in this litigious society.

loulou123

I had a similar problem with my wedding venue (incase realise your post is about a kids party) as the price the venue wanted for a cake was ridiculous!

We got round it by taking in m&s cakes still in the unopened packaging (which their caterers then set up etc, and they also made us sign a disclaimer stating if any of the guests got ill as a result of our cakes, me and my husband would be liable not the venue.

krustylouise

Person_one wrote: »

It was a bit of an odd one though, did you in fact plan your daughter's conception so that she'd be born in the summer?

I don't think its that simple, generally!

Of course we didn't, though I know someone who refused point black to be heavily pregnant in summer so stopped trying at a certain point in the year and resumed again when appropriate hahaha

daisiegg

krustylouise wrote: »

Of course we didn't, though I know someone who refused point black to be heavily pregnant in summer so stopped trying at a certain point in the year and resumed again when appropriate hahaha

That is exactly what we are planning to do! Not due to not wanting to be heavily pregnant in summer but due to not wanting a summer baby due to aforementioned educational difficulties they may suffer. Obviously this is anticipating a perfect world in which we don't struggle significantly to conceive. I know that is not at all guaranteed and I can imagine that if we were struggling to have a baby then I would really stop caring when s/he was born! But in an ideal world...