Elevate Your Processes with Our Cake Invoice Template for Businesses

Cake invoice template for businesses

hey cake errs and bakers welcome back to my channel - it's Emily Miller with my sugar rush and today we're gonna go over what should be in your cake contract now I get this question all the time and that is because most of us cake decorators are creative minded and when it comes to creating the business side of your business a lot of people just don't know what they're doing and that's okay so I'm gonna explain everything that's in my cake contract that I recommend having in your contract I think cake contracts are so important because it tells your clients what you expect from them as well as what they should expect from you so let's go through this together first section is cake design this first section explains that cake is a creative art form and it is my interpretation of the agreed-upon design and that I should be allowed to make any changes to the cake design based on structural integrity stability and any certain emergencies that may come up while I'm working on the cake it also explains that although I'll do my best to color match when requested it is not always that easily achievable because things like modeling chocolate buttercream they start off with a yellow tint to them and it's not always easy to get exact perfect colors design changes so I do a lot my clients to make any changes to their cake order up until two weeks before the cake is actually do I explain to my clients that this is when I actually start planning for their cake order I start buying things I start prepping for it may be looking for the tools that I know I'm going to need and so I cannot accept any more changes at that point it also explains that any changes to the cake order whether it's increasing or decreasing that can affect the price that we have already agreed upon so they shouldn't expect the price to stay the same if they make any changes to that order but I do explain that certain things like changing the flavor on their cake actually doesn't affect the price I charge the same price for all flavors delivery and setup and this one is important so in this section I explained to them that if they want to pick up their wedding cake once it leaves my house it is no longer my responsibility as it shouldn't be and I do everything in my power to make sure that that cake is going to make it home I do a lot of structuring in my cakes although I do recommend to them that three tiers or more they should probably pay for delivery paying for delivery is like paying insurance on their cake that cake is still in my care till it gets to the venue so they need to pay a little bit extra for that and that ensures that the cake will get there intact and that they need to understand that delivery is based on my availability if I already have multiple cakes that day they can't decide last minute Haley decided on delivery after all well okay great but I'm gonna deliver it when I'm available now you need to explain to them that they need to be careful where they're putting the cake in the venue typically venues already know a good place to put the cake but sometimes when it's in a home or anything like that they don't have that place and they just think I'll just put this cake out in the Sun no please explain to your client that where they put the cake does matter and once it leaves your care it is no longer your responsibility if the cake gets damaged it's pretty obvious they shouldn't put the cake outside or in direct sunlight they also shouldn't put it next to a fireplace yes that actually has happened to me they shouldn't put it next to a bar next to a dance floor in front of loudspeakers any of these things they just need to be aware that that could damage the cake I have actually had a cake friend of mine who had a wedding cake fall over on her because it was next to loudspeakers that made it vibrate and eventually fall over I have so many other horror stories from over the years of different ways that cakes have been destroyed company responsibility so I do think that your cake contract should tell them what they need to expect from you as well the contract should protect both parties so I explained that in the case of an unavoidable situation such as I get into a car accident on the way to the venue and the cake gets destroyed that cake is still in my care it's still my responsibility and I tell them that in that case we can discuss a partial refund or if it's fully destroyed they don't get a cake at all we can discuss a full refund then I explained to them that in the case that something happens to me far enough in advance work I know that I can't complete the cake order such as I break my arm the week before and I know that physically cannot do their cake that I will do my best to find another cake decorator for them now I like to offer this because I actually network with a lot of local cake decorators so it's really easy for me to find someone available and I did tell them that I would do my best to find someone who can do the same quality of work for the same price and that I can either transfer the money over to the new cake decorator to give them all the information or they can simply accept a refund I've had so many brides come to me over the years looking for a last-minute cake decorator because there's just up and quit on them and I have spent years networking with other cake decorators so it's a lot easier for me to find a last-minute replacement versus them bouncing around trying to find someone themselves other cake decorators are way more likely to say yes to me last minute than say yes to them last minute allergies so basically I just like to ask them if they have any major allergens that I should be aware of obviously you can't accommodate everybody in the wedding party but you should be able to accommodate at least the bride and groom and maybe even immediate family I typically like to paint on cakes using almond extract so if I know that they're allergic to almonds then I can use something like Everclear to paint on their cake it's just the little things like that but they may not suspect will be in their cake but it's just nice to go over that and just make sure that you're covered but I do explain to them that if there are any allergies there's always the chance for cross-contamination and if they have an allergy that is too extreme I highly recommend going to a specialized bakery non edible items so I just tell them things like hey real flowers are going on your cake please don't eat the flowers they're not edible also if there's things like sugar flowers yes they're technically edible but there's wires and things in the flowers so I just tell them please don't eat all these things they're not edible and it is not my responsibility if someone injures themselves by eating something on the cake that was not meant to be eaten and I recommend removing any non edible items before cutting and serving their cake deposit so I explained to them that they are going to sign the contract in person with me right then but they are not officially booked until they've put down a non-refundable deposit the deposit is non-refundable because it is meant to book and secure their date so that I set it aside for them and I don't book any other people that day once you set aside that date for them you are turning away other potential clients and so if they decide to cancel on you you need to be able to keep some of that money because especially if it's last-minute there is a chance that you may not be able to fill that spot with another wedding cake so this section is meant to protect you and if they're not ready to book right then I do let them know that my availability is first-come first-serve if someone else comes to me put down their deposit that date is now secured by somebody else a lot of cake decorators I've seen like to do a 50% deposit and then the other 50% remaining balances do before their date personally I like to require a smaller deposit that's just me and it is based on how much their cake order is you decide what works for you final payment and my cancellation policy so I remind them that two weeks before their wedding is a lock out dates for any changes to their order so this is also when their final payment is due I let them know that although I'll start sending reminders to them two weeks before if I don't receive payment at 7 days before I'm not responsible for fulfilling their cake order in which case I would keep 50% of the payments made at that point or the non-refundable deposit whichever amount is greater for the cancellation if they cancel the wedding at any point that I keep their non-refundable deposit which has already been discussed if the cancellation is within the two weeks before after the lockout dates then it is too late for me to find another client to fill that date so that's why I would keep 50% of the payments made or the non-refundable deposit whichever amount is greater because within the 2 weeks before they should have already paid the full amount now I'm pretty lenient with my clients if they cancel within 48 hours before I do tell them that the amount refunded if any would be determined by me and I let them know that 48 hours before I've already done all the shopping for their all the prep work for their cake it's already baked the buttercream is made the fillings are made and at that point I probably have already started stacking their cake so it is too late for them and there's a very good chance they won't receive any refund I take on a lot of cake orders though so it is pretty easy for me to reuse some of those cake layers even just a week or two later if you do a lot less cakes than I recommend extending that 48 hours to maybe a full week before if they cancel within that week time period then they probably won't get a refund and I just let them know that if anything comes up that may change their date that communication is key and if they're upfront about any issues that arise I will do my best to accommodate them I've been doing cakes for years I've also worked in an event venue and things come up sometimes a family member gets so extremely sick and they postpone the entire wedding for that one family member those are extreme circumstances and personally I think that you should be a little bit lenient with customers in situations like that another section that is not in my contract that maybe I would recommend adding into yours our cake stand rentals I do rent out my cake sense but I've been pretty lucky to get almost all of them back intact without being broken or damaged a lot of people do charge a rental fee for their cake stands and I actually do recommend adding that into your contract as well and letting them know that if the cake cent has returned to you damaged or broken or it goes completely missing that you will charge them for that so that's my cake contract let me know if you have any more questions or if there's anything that you think I missed in my contract I'll drop a link below for you to download a copy of my contract to use as a template for your own contract and I highly recommend that you go through the contract and make any changes to it that is specific to your business and your needs and what you feel comfortable with don't forget to like but especially do not forget to subscribe to my videos for more delicious content coming your way and while you're here I want you go watch some of these other videos you