Saturday, March 14, 2009

Cake Decorating Supplies - Necessary If You Go Professional

By Rebecca Wincup

If you are a "cake artist" who has a passion to create edible works of art then it will not be lost on you that people will pay for these types of products and services. In fact they are in high demand and people often think about starting a business in this field. The difference between a hobby and a paid job is professionalism. Before you make any rash moves, be sure you have all your ducks in a row. Look into lining up your reliable suppliers before you do anything else. You will be pleased to find out how easy this is and how many options are available to you.

This is a good thing for people in the cake decorating business, because competition develops better prices and quality in terms of specific items and customer service. When you start looking for a vendor, be sure to talk with several and set up small deliveries from them to get to know them. In this way, you will have relationships established with several suppliers, and you will never be stuck without supplies.

One thing you should be cautious about is quality. It may be tempting to just go with the cheapest suppliers, especially at first; however, this can backfire on you. In order to retain quality customers, you must provide a quality product. You can't do this with inferior ingredients. So be sure to inspect all goods you buy from every vendor. In this way you will know the quality of your ingredients before they go into your cakes. This will help you to know which vendors to retain and which to pass by on your next order.

An advantage of getting to know several vendors is that it will help you to know which vendors should get your business for which products and services. It will also help you to establish a backup in case of emergency in the future. No matter what happens, you will always have a supplier if you take the time to establish a relationship with several.

Once you have determined which vendors will provide you with the highest quality goods, you can then determine which ones will give you the best prices. Some of the companies may require a minimum order, so even though their prices may be low, you may not be able to use them until your business is well underway. You do not want to unbalance your budget by sinking too much money into inventory right at first.

Until you have established which vendors you will use them most, don't place any big orders. Order only the amount of cake decorating supplies you will need to fulfill your obligations. This will give you another point to consider in choosing regular vendors - speed of delivery. When you have familiarized yourself with a few vendors and feel comfortable with the quality of their supplies and the speed and efficiency of their service, you can begin ordering in bulk.

One strategy for choosing a vendor that you may want to employ is to order samples from several companies. This is easily accomplished online. When you do this, you will have a good overview of the types of cake decorating supplies that are available to you. You will also have established relationships with several vendors and you will have a good idea of what kind of service they provide. Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to make a well-educated choice regarding vendors for your business. In summary, test the waters to begin with, once you have experience of a few vendors you will be in a better position to know which cake decorating supplies vendor is the right fit for you.

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