I know it’s my fault for selling at Boot sales – though I got a bit of it at the market too… I have an axe to grind.
Here’s an example. I make a cheesecake. It is, really, a gourmet cheesecake. It has twenty ingredients in it, a base, the cakey part, and a topping. I sell it for €3 a slice, and I think it should really be €3.50. In a restaurant, it’s be, what, €7 or €8?
I think it’s one of the most gorgeous things I’ve tasted, and the only one that was better was the pumpkin cheesecake I had in the Cheesecake Factory in San Diego (drooool).
The people who’ve bought it recently have come back for more to bring home – last week a Sicilian Chef tried it and gave me a favourable report (I was a little intimidated there for a bit, but he was sweet – he’s got a Sicilian Cafe in Rathgar, if you’re passing). But one man’s interest waned to disgust when he heard it was €3. Imagine, that much on a slice of cake. The shock.
I wonder how much he thinks I should sell it for. Never mind the expense of the ingredients, the cost of the fuel, the time that goes into making it. I wonder how much he thinks I should sell it for? €1? €2? If I sell it for €2 a slice, I’ll make a euro on the whole cake. Is that acceptable, I wonder? Or should I come to his house with one and leave it in his fridge for free.
It annoys me so much, that people won’t value hard work and effort and quality. They’ll spend thousands on plasma tvs and god knows what, but cakes? Nah. And the disgust they evince at the idea that I should be able to make any money with my baking. Is it because anyone can do it? Well, do it! Don’t come stand at my stall and give me grief! Get in the car and go buy the ingredients. Turn on the oven. Chop, mix, bake, concentrate, mind the kids while you do it, pay the gas bill, make the fridge space, buy the packaging, eat the excess?
Or come and get just enough from me, for a fair price, because I’ve done all that for you.
I know this is a rant, and I’ve met some lovely, generous customers this summer – you know who you are! And that’s what makes the whole thing so worthwhile. I love talking to people, and I love when people try my stuff and enjoy it. And when people come back.
It’s just the other is so disheartening. And downright rude. If you don’t want it, say ‘no thankyou’. And leave it at that. Just because it’s too much for you to pay doesn’t mean it isn’t worth that much.
email me at piosacake(at)gmail(dot)com
