28/12/2025
Little update from me 🤍
A little ted talk : Being booked and busy does not automatically mean your business is thriving. Doubling your workload from the year before but your profit margins are lower screams something is WRONG! What's wrong is inflation, tax rises , business rates hikes and don't get me started on the cost of ingredients and equipment.
What this means for businesses like mine is I've swallowed the inflation cost myself, it's not truly been integrated into my pricing. Why? Fear of loosing customers?
What I've learnt is it's better to be make one order that is priced correctly for the service , skill and quality I provide than to make two 'cheap' cakes for customers to afford thier budget but that I work twice as hard to produce that are non profit to keep clients happy.
It's the sad reality lots of small businesses as fear sets in to take any order is better than none.
Fact of the matter is cakes have become a luxury item. They are not really affordable for everyone in the current economy. I paid £200 for a lovely meal in town yesterday for my family but I didn't question the waiter on why my steak was £27 and a mac and cheese was £8 as it's just beef , cheese, flour, butter and milk? Yet I am asked regularly to justify my prices. My sector of work is so undervalued. Is it because anyone can learn to make a cake? Is it there are so many unregistered cake makers selling cheap cake, so that's the price comparison? Btw they are not insured or paying tax !! Or because other makers do them cheaper? (They do this to undercut you but I know fact they can't be making money from those orders... the math ain't mathing... the figures don't lie!!)
Either way when something you once loved you start to dread it's time to change it. So this year was the year of the snake which is all about shedding ... so time for me to shed that tired old skin and move into 2026 with fresh new ideas and a whole new feel to Blonde Bakes.
I'm not going anywhere but definitely going part time from Jan, taking fewer orders to keep my business sustainable and enjoyable after all that's why I started this business to turn something I love into a business not a chore 🤍
