Wedding Cake Articles

“Crucial Information You Need to Know Before Choosing a Wedding Cake Baker/Designer”

This article will cover: THE SALES STAFF.

Ask: Do I need an appointment to discuss my wedding cake needs?

It depends on the size of the bakery and the day of the week. The cake shop/bakery should be able to accommodate your unannounced visit. If they require an appointment, it usually means they don’t have enough trained and skilled staff on hand to help you. That could be a red flag.

Ask: How many qualified personel they have on staff that can take an order for your wedding cake? Then ask how many employees can help you make changes to your order, right up to the date of your wedding? The cake shop/bakery should have at least 3 qualified trained personnel to assist you. Plus, they should be all cross trained, which means it doesn’t matter if customer service person, Martha, is on vacation or out to lunch when you come in a second time to change or complete your order. Customer service person, Ashley, should be able to help you in the same competent manner as Martha.

I heard from many brides who were outraged to stop in at lunch or after work to find out that “Mary is on maternity leave for the next six weeks”, and then asked, “to please come back” or “Sarah quit last week and moved to Montana” or “I only meet with brides on Monday afternoon, Wednesday morning and every third Thursday from 8am-11am.” These are complaints I hear all too often from brides on a regular basis.

Here is the #1 complaint of all time. You call your baker/designer during the day and they do not answer the phone or they tell you to leave a message because they are out and they will get back to you. Ask yourself this. How responsive are they going to be if there is a problem with your wedding cake after it shows up at your reception and you need them to fix it…immediately? Trust me, an answering machine can’t redecorate your wedding cake. The good news is there are ways to prevent this from happening. If this concerns you, pick-up a copy of Wedding Cake Secrets Exposed to get some help..

Key point; get the name of the person who took your order and ask for them when it is time to make a change or finish your order. In addition, ask who the best person is to speak with as a back-up in case the person who took your order is not available. My research demonstrates you’ll avoid many potential problems by following this one simple rule.

Ask: What assurance do I have that my wedding cake order will be taken correctly?

Ask them how the order is processed? In other words, what kind of information do the sales people write down on their order form, how do they store their records, and how does the wedding cake decorator understand the information.

The baker/designer should have a systematic approach to their ordering process by which they use a standard format for everyone to understand.

There are seven areas that you need to question: 1. The Bakery | 2. Sales staff | 3. Displays/photos | 4. Setup arrangements | 5. Cake types/fillings | 6. Decorator’s expertise | 7. Delivery process.

This article was written by Edward Otto, author of “Wedding Cake Secrets Exposed.” Mr. Otto has owned and operated a multi-million dollar cake bakery since 1980 and operates a strategic marketing firm helping baker/designers/cake decorators dominate their wedding cake markets. Mr. Otto can be contacted at either www.weddingcakesecretsexposed.com or www.makebiggerprofits.com