(You Might Be Making It Too!)
I treated myself to a coffee and cake today. A little pick-me-up. But the experience left me thinking about something important.
The café I used to visit had shut down, so I went to a competing one. Their cake counter was full of options—great, right? Except…
No labels. No prices. Just a display of mystery cakes.
So I had to ask. And then the staff had to go through each cake, explaining the flavours and the price of each slice. A waste of time for them, and a bit frustrating for me.
I finally picked one, and it turned out to be £4 per slice. A simple gateau, cut into 16 portions—meaning they were selling an entire, undecorated cake for £64.
And yet, I see talented cake decorators pricing themselves far lower than that, even after hours of detailed work.
Not only that, but many cake businesses don’t clearly display their pricing or offer basic details on their website or social media—just like that unlabelled cake counter.
Which leads to constant messages from potential customers asking, “How much is this?” “What flavours do you do?” “Do you have a price list?”
A confused customer is a lost customer.
People are happy to pay for quality. But if they don’t have the information they need upfront, they may never even ask.
So, here’s what I suggest:
- Make your pricing clear. At least a starting price. No one likes guesswork.
- Showcase your value. If people pay £4 per slice for a plain cake, your detailed designs are worth even more.
- Make it easy to buy from you. The less friction, the more sales.