In a previous article in this series - Start Your Own Cake Decorating Business at Home, Part 1 - we looked at the importance of focusing on a niche and working it thoroughly to maximise its potential. Let's now have a closer look at a specific niche - Childrens' Birthday Cakes - and examine the opportunities it presents you with.
Market Research Let's do the numbers - say your child is in an average sized class of 30 children at their primary/elementary school. Most of those children will have at least one brother or sister, giving you access to a potential market of a minimum of 60 children, and based on the fact that every child has a birthday once a year, that's an average of more than one birthday a week! Of course not every child has a birthday cake, and of those who do, a lot will be made by their mother or another family member, but plenty of people do buy cakes and they do want something a little different from the fairly standard shop bought ones that are available. Remember that this is just one class of children - if you have 2 children, the numbers are doubled. Then there's your own friends and family, sports teams etc, and you can see that the availability of potential clients is huge, just from your own immediate circle. Word of mouth will spread your reputation much wider than this relatively narrow network, so you can easily see yourself getting quickly to the point where you will have to turn down work.
Talk to people Now that you have identified a potentially huge market, you need to do some simple research and find out exactly what the prospects are in your area. The best way to do this is to talk to people. When you are picking up your kids, or delivering them to birthday parties, ask other parents what they do for birthday cakes. And, most importantly, compile this information in a notebook so you can get a realistic picture of your local market's potential. You will need to ask: Who makes their children's birthday cakes? Do they have one every year? If they buy them, where do they get them from? How much do they pay? Would they pay more for a unique, personalised cake for their child? What type of cake do their children like?, and any other questions you consider relevant. The point is to give you a clear understanding of what proportion of the local population are likely to use your services, and also to get an indication of the sort of prices you will be able to charge.
Children's tastes are pretty obvious It is useful in this niche to keep abreast of trends in children's entertainment, for popular film, television, and toy characters are by far the most common themes for birthday cakes. It is easy enough to find this out, you will know from what your own children like (and assume that their friends will all like much the same thing - they are fairly tribal creatures), and from your observations of things like character schoolbags, t-shirts, sweatshirts etc that you see in the schoolyard, you will get a fairly good understanding of their preferences.
Of course, there are several perennial favourites - princess doll birthday cakes were common when we were young and they are still one of the most popular themes for little girls' birthdays, as are horse themed cakes, and pirate ships are always popular with boys. Train cakes never go out of fashion and are a great fun way to exercise your creativity with candy decorations, and there are a number of characters that have remained popular for years - Elmo, SpongeBob Squarepants, Winnie the Pooh, Thomas the Tank Engine, and a variety of Disney characters - all are a standard part of the repertoire. And don't forget the range of number cakes appropriate to the age of the child. The important thing here is that you can practise your skills at producing these character and theme cakes so you are ready to meet the inevitable demand for them.
Don't forget variety Certain characters will be popular among a group of children who all go to each others' birthday parties. If you get several orders for a Spider-Man cake within a few months and you make exactly the same one for all of them, you can be sure that the children (and their parents!) will notice this. They want a different one from their friends', which will enable them to claim theirs is 'better', so you need to vary your design for each one. Some will just want a Spider-Man picture on the cake, some will want a flat cake in the shape of Spider-Man, and others will expect a full 3 dimensional Spider-Man action figure style. Discuss that with them and their parents, and make the most of this opportunity to extend your artistic abilities. And don't forget to charge accordingly!
Check out Andy's blog for more information on children's birthday cakes. Andy is a freelance writer who researches and writes online about Starting a Cake Decorating Business
