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BUSINESS IDEAS Jeanne PA
Here's how florists set their prices....
Sun Apr 7 05:35:32 2002
64.12.103.231/3 is the actual costs of the materials, 1/3 is the labor, and 1/3 is the profit. I found this in a florists magazine at Michael's yesterday. I worked the
formula on my typical cake, a single mix regular birthday cake.Mix, 1.49 (average, can't always get on sale)
eggs and butter, .83
10x 2.50
butter, Crisco 1.70
board and box 2.30 equals 8.82
times 3 equals 26.46I have been charging $25 for this, so I am not too far off. I am planning to raise my prices this summer.
This seems like a good for ula to start out withm when you are doing simplecakes. I have been venturing into more elaborate work lately, and I charge
more for this. HTHSheree
Opening a bakery
Wed May 9 06:05:02 2001
I would like to get any advice about opening a bakery/cafe. I am having trouble making a decision whether or not to do so. Please advise. Thank you in advancedi
Re: Opening a bakery
Wed May 9 21:10:12 2001
I JUST discussed this w/ my aunt last night as she has a bakery about 2 hours away from me, and I was very seriously looking at one nearby me (I actually had
app's for the banks and everything!) She talked me out of it w/o really meaning to! :) She was actually pretty supportive of the idea, but wanted to make VERY
sure I knew what I was asking for. She works on avg 70 hours a week (closer to 120/week during Nov & Dec!!!) Nov & Dec. make around 1/4-1/3 of her annual
income... and she has slow months that don't even pay the overhead! She goes in between 11pm and 1am every night (depending on the amt of wholesale orders
for the next day), and works atleast till noon the following day, but sometimes till she closes at 4pm... It definitely lost its appeal when she was telling me just the
hours that she puts in (and she's been there quite a few years now, so it's not like she's just starting out!) She has people upset that she doesn't have "fresh" (aka -
WARM!) stuff at 8am because she gets most of the baking done by 6 to open the shop for the morning rush!That's just some of the main things she pointed out... Hope that helps some!
Dolores
I'm glad you found this out in plenty of time. I totally agree with her! Your life is peaceful now!Brenda (MI)
Have you read a book called "The Baker's Trade" by Zachary Y. Schat? I ordered it when I was considering opening a bakery. It is really well written and has
great advice, and really show you the ups and downs of the business. After I read it, I decided to hold off for a little while, but you may get the opposite response. I
ordered it from amazon. com and it really was worth every penny. Good luck!Dolores
So long as you don't mind working 15 hour days and don't have children and/or husband that will feel neglected...go for it.
Be sure to calculate how many cakes you will need to make JUST to pay the overhead - before you make profit this way. You sure have it made at home!Carolyn (MO)
I agree with Dolores. Many years ago my husband wanted me to open a bakery and I said "NO". I did not want to make pastries, etc. to make ends meet and
have any profit left over, plus I did not want to have to go out to a job every day as I had children at home. Also, I wanted my "free" time when, if I chose to, I
could go to activities at my child's school, go shopping now and then, in essense, be gone when I wanted to be. With a business I could not have done all those
things. I've had the best of it all, I think - anyway, for me. I raised my kids while doing cakes at home, was able to be at all their activities and school events, be
room mother, etc. and got to go to conventions, etc. without having to actually shut down a business. I also have a bridal shop with my cake business and it does
not have open hours, but only by appt. I think the cake business would have been long gone for me now if I had ever opened a shop. I sometimes have burnout just
from the cake stress at home!Dolores
This way you can say NO and not worry! You wouldn't dare to close up if you felt like it if you had a shop somewhere. Not even for an hour. The only time we
ever locked our door and left midday was the day of my brother's funeral. That is the only free time ever in 20+ years.-------------------------------------
Ideas to generate business...
Sun Oct 8 21:19:14 2000Well, here it is Sunday night and I have no orders for this week and I just don't know what to do with my self. My Wilton Class 2 starts this week so I am very
excited about that but I wish I had business for this week. Does anyone have any ideas on how to generate some business?? I thought about sending a little card to
everyone on my "Christmas card list" letting them now I am trying to start a business doing cakes. Has anyone done this? I have a website with some of my cakes
on it, so I sent that info to everyone I know that is on-line and my close friends carry my cards with them (I have great friends!! :) ) but I still am looking for other
suggestions.
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KarenS
One thing I have been doing is everytime someone asks how I'm doing, I tell them about my cake decorating.For example I had my teeth cleaned a week ago and she asked me how I was. I told her I am doing cake decorating now. She was looking for a cake decorator.
I did the same thing to my hair dresser, my neighbors, etc. I have been quite surprised how many people were interested. They don't know any place other than the
grocery store to get a cake and most aren't happy with the taste of the cakes. Once they taste your cake they won't go back to the grocery store.You can also start conversations at the grocery store, department store. If you have children in school you could mention it to the other parents at open house or
other school events. Just somehow get it into the conversation.If you have cards, be sure to have them with you so you can hand them one of your cards. You could even suggest that if they know someone who is in need of a
cake you would appreciate any business they could send your way. People love helping other people out if they can.I brough many cakes to work (free b's), enough that I think everyone has tasted them. They were for my department but I made sure there were extra pieces that
could be shared with others. I only did a couple of cakes that feed almost everyone. The last couple of cakes they purchased from the grocery store I heard many
people say 'this sure isn't one of Karen's cakes'. Just today they are starting to have me do the cakes.You may need to donate some and consider them samples.
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Jody
Don't forget schools and churches. Often they have silent auctions or charity type bake sales... call them and tell them to put your name on the list as a "donor"
when they have their next sale. One of my students asked me last week if I would donate a small cake for their school auction. I debated donating a cake or doing
a gift certificate, but with a cake everyone there will get to see a decorated cake and not have any questions as to whether or not they'd get a nice cake if they
order from me. Plus I can send business cards with the cake and so all those potential customers can pick up a card to have on hand. If I sent a gift certificate the
only person who would see the finished cake would be the person who won the auction.When you're giving out Christmas "tips" to the postal carrier, paperperson, garbage men... give them a gift certificate for a $20 (or whatever) cake. One of my best
customers is my postal lady who orders cakes at least once a month now. She was just here yesterday with a daughter ordering two birthday cakes valued at over
$100 between the two of them. Not a bad return on a $20 gift certificate every Christmas. :o)Another thing we do (which had nothing to do with drumming up business) is to give our neighbors a "goodie" tray or cake every Christmas. It's a great way to get
to know your neighbors and spread Christmas cheer and has the nice side effect of making them aware of your talents. I do NOT recommend handing out
business cards with this particular practice! :o) Good luck with your business!
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Leslie
And they must work too because I saw some of your newer cakes on your website last night and they are terrific!!! I was very impressed and especially liked the
dinosaur bones - did you do the white parts with fondant or the whole cake? Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I was very impressed with all your latest
cakes and cookie bouquets.
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Jody
Thanks ...for the nice compliments! I always appreciate kind words, but they mean so much more coming from fellow decorators! :o) The dinosaur bone cake was iced all in chocolate icing and then the bones were piped in white buttercream and smoothed with my finger. It was pretty easy to do. Fondant would work pretty well too - and would give it a neat 3-D appearance by overlapping some of the bones. :o) If you try it with fondant make sure to post the picture!
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Karen
I plan on sending a small cookie tray, to include about 2 dz small cookies and some candy, to all my previous customers...as a thank you appreciation gift. I am
trying to get these done fairly soon, so hopefully it will schmooze some more biz for me. These are going to be small inexpensive trays, probably foam, may cover
them with pretty wrapping paper. Nothing elaborate, just something to keep me fresh in their minds. I will include a copy of my newly created brochure and biz
cards. I haven't decided if I will include a price list or not...haven't gotten that far yet.I have also pondered setting up an email mailer to previous customers stating the upcomming holidays, and great confection suggestions. Of course I would offer a
opt out for those who do not wish to receive the emails. I may even include a coupon in the emailer...again still thinking on this.
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sally
Suggestions:
When you have 'down time' like this use it to read this board:) This subject has been discussed many, many times. There are many wonderful ideas for drumming
up business if you take the time to read it. Ideas are probably on the FAQ page:)Some suggestions: Any time you go to the doctor, dentist, bank, etc. take pictures and/or a cake. It doesn't have to be big, just nicely decorated and taste out of this
world! Leave your card and/or flyer.Use you 'down time' to practice, practice, practice. Hone your skills! Learn something new. Take pix and use those to enhance your album.
Good luck. We all have been there. In fact, back in March (I think it was) even Earlene said she didn't have any orders for something like 3 weeks. If such a busy
decorator like her has 'down time' none of us should ever complain :)
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Anonymous
Re: Ideas to generate business...
Make friends with florists, photographers, and anyone else who supplies weddings. They will give you word-of-mouth advertising, and you can also give them some of your business cards if you have them. They can then hand your cards to people who are planning events.
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Anna W.
Idea that worked for me
Because the winter is slow I a made a flyer with "featured" holiday cakes- this included cheesecakes, plain cakes, and a decorated gift box cake. I sent it to all my
customers and some people who had expressed interest in the past. This year I am an adding something that is easily shipped- a brandy snifter filled with rum balls,
bourbon balls, and brandy balls (also a good corporate gift) for those who want to send something out of town. Lot of working men and women who don't have
time to cook at the holidays are looking for some great baked items. Hopefully, it would be beneficial for you also. To help load and organize my calendar early, I
offer a 10% discount on all December orders placed by December 1st.
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Michelle
I'm in the same boat!!!
I've been decorating for 8 years now...and there are always slow weeks and even months it seem for me! Just a couple weeks ago someone gave me a great
idea...she makes up flyers for each holiday of "specials" for her husband to hang at work on his bulletin board. She make up 2 or 3 cute, but simple designs, and
then a "special" price that is a little cheaper than she usually charges for that certain size. I haven't tried it yet...I just got my film back this weekend and now I'm
working on one for ME!!! I hope to have it done today. It is just a pumpkin and cute face on one...fall leaves sprayed on another...and a big 12" cookie with the
jackolantern (sp?!) face on it. I'm trying to get it all scanned in with the info today, so he can hang it tomorrow. The deal is that my hubby will take them all to work
the days they need them, so it is convenient fot them too. I hope it helps generate some business. I am not "legal" so it's hard to come up with ways to get your
name out there that aren't too "risky" I know. Maybe try this though...there are a LOT of holidays coming up right now!! ;o)
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Lise
contracts
For those of you who use contracts, do you have them professionally printed with multiple copies or do you print them on your home computer? I really need to get this done asap and am not sure what to do. If anyone of you would be so inclined, I'd love to see some examples of contracts that you find works well. I've looked at Earlene's and would like to see others as well. THANKS!
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Anna W.
I print mine on the computer and then copy it after it is signed on my fax machine. I use a modified version of Earlene's contract.
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Jennifer
I just print mine at home. I print two copies and use a piece of carbon paper when I write it up to make a duplicate for the bride. But I'm starting to go thru them so fast I need to just take a copy of that and my regular order forms and get a bunch xeroxed. But I'll just stick with the old fashioned carbon paper to make the duplicate, it's too expensive to have the carbonless duplicate forms specially printed, unless you're going to be using very large number of them.
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Dolores
Mine is in my big 'WEDDING CAKE WORKBOOK' too. Along with the copy I give the bride with cutting instructions and also the copy/list of what to return, when and how I expect it. (I expect them to be clean and returned on Monday after. Or I charge $2.00 per day and $10.00 for cleaning the icing off them). Sometimes they aren't very clean, but at least they don't come stringing icing all the way from my front door to the counter at least.
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Bakingsue
Holiday stuff!!
Wed Oct 11 05:22:25 2000
Wasn't sure where to post this. I am making up my holiday postcard, which I mail out in a few weeks to all my customers. I was wondering what all of you offered during the holidays?? I'm looking for some new ideas. Last year I did cookie baskets, yule logs, pies, etc. Any other ideas? Would love the help, thanx sue :)
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Michelle
I was thinking red velvet, and chocolate mint torte loaf pan shaped cakes...maybe petits fours with little royal holly or trees on top, arranged around the tortes...little pound cakes in assorted flavors baked in the mini loaf pans...along with the usual cakes and cupcakes, etc. I've seen cookie trees made with the graduated size star cookie cutter that were neat. I'd like to make gingerbread men too. Man, I need to get started...it's approaching fast!! ;o)
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Dolores
If you read the past 2-3 live chat logs, you will gain so many ideas for this. They really gave a bunch!
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Anna W.
Re: Holiday stuff!!
Wed Oct 11 09:43:40 2000
This year I added a brandy snifter (33 oz) filled with rum balls, bourbon balls, and brandy balls, wrapped in celophane and a beautiful bow. Advantages: these are unbaked cookies that even my kids can help me make, because of the alchol they keep well, they can be shipped, they make great corporate type gifts. I already have 2 potential orders (no deposit yet) of 15 and 10.
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traciep
Candy with alcohol
Is there a problem selling candy with alcohol in it? Should you put a warning label on it or only sell to adults?
Just interested for craft shows.
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MarieK
Re: Candy with alcohol
Traci, There are no rules about alcohol in food apparently. I was concerned about champagne cakes, whiskey cakes, fruitcake soaked in rum or brandy etc so I called Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms div of US Government. They said I didn't have to have a license or label anything. This was a few years ago.
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Kathyf
Re: Candy with alcohol
I've always been afraid to use unbaked alcohol in candies and fillings because I don't know if it's safe for recovering alcoholics. The few times I have used it, I label it. How do the rest of you handle this?
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Dolores
Re: Candy with alcohol
I definately think there should be warning. Someone once told me that if an alcoholic eats anything with alcohol, it can set them off on a terrible binge even when they don't know they ate it. I am not an authority so maybe you can find out if this is true. But in the meantime, I would be careful to add labels.
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I am thinking about adding yule logs to my holiday offerings this year. Questions - were they popular and how much did you charge?
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Bakingsue
Didn't get any orders for them, I think I was charging $38.00. The size was a half sheet pan (commercial cookie sheet) Chocolate sponge (from the cake bible) with whipped cream filling, chocolate frosting, meringue mushrooms and royal frosting holly leaves. Oh well, I guess people weren't into those last year.
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Dolores
People request them from us in our bakery and we do several. I think this is a very traditional thing with some people. We charge similar to what the cake would usually cost. It doesn't take longer. Not much decorating to it at all.
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Dean
Copyright infringement & shows
Wed Nov 29 16:02:46 2000This isn't candy related, but some of you may want to keep this in mind when you are doing shows with candies or cakes you may have made
using copyrighted characters. I know the Bakery Bites are legal, I'm only speaking of those that "free hand" their candies & cakes with
copyrighted work. This past September at a small obscure craft show, some friends of ours that did woodworking were set up at a show. They did wood items of Disney cutouts such as yard stakes, plaques, etc. Her husband cut them out and she painted them. She also painted stuff like Grinch, Coca Cola, etc.
Anyway, at this craft show, a man came in the booth on Sunday morning and bought one of every one of the Disney items--paid with cash, and asked for a receipt. Three weeks later they were summoned to Federal court in Dallas--the guy was a Disney lawyer that bought it all and he was making rounds at shows looking for Disney copyright infringement. The judge was "lenient" on them and lowered their fine & their case is now settled--$50,000 fine and 12 months probation-needless to say they are basically out of business. If any of you are making candies using
copyright characters, be sure they are legit. I would have never thought a Disney lawyer would have showed up at a small town "mickey mouse" craft show, but they sure did. It seems that this time of the year is when these guys are making the rounds.
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anna n.
Just wondering...
Thu Nov 30 06:49:36 2000In art classes, I've heard art teachers say that an artist can legally paint a copy of a copyrighted painting or print as long as he/she makes some
small changes so that the copy isn't exactly like the original. Seems like this would apply to the character cakes, too. Maybe some of you are
knowledgeable about this.
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Lidia
Re: Just Wondering... (long)
Thu Nov 30 23:15:52 2000I am NOT a lawyer -- keep salt handy -- these are just my views on the matter.
As far as infringement and copyrights are concerned images are different than literary works. I _believe_ the number is 20% -- if you change an image 20% or more then you are okay. This DOES NOT apply to licensed characters such as Barney, Barbie, etc. If you can tell it is Barbie you are in violation.
Allowable _quoting_ from literary works depends on the length of the literary work. 50 words from a 250,000 word book (giving full author and publisher credit) is okay whereas 50 words from a short 100 word poem is not. Plagiarism is claiming (unauthorized) another's work as your own.
Aside from the money issue (As in, they aren't making money from the sale of your cakes -- which is peanuts in comparison to merchandising.)
the problem of using licensed images comes from control and loss of the image. You could be selling hoochie Barbie cakes (No one wants to see that really. Do they?) upsetting parents and children everywhere.UnPastry example: Some guy in a Barney-like suit was entertaining kids at some major league ball game (Sorry can't be more specific. I don't
follow baseball.). He and, I think, a chicken were duking it out. Ha ha big laughs. Not so. Apparently kids were "traumatized" that Barney had
gotten his butt kicked. The public (and media) went after the Barney people -- "Why is Barney a wimp?" Why are you promoting violence by
letting Barney fight?" -- etc.Portraying a violent Barney or a hoochie Barbie demeans a character which causes the character to lose value. In addition, if companies do not actively fight to keep control of their licensees they risk losing control permanently. That is why you will see "lenient" fines of 50K.
If you do a lot of cakes, or own a shop, I'd recommend using the sheets and figurines which Dolores sells and has so adamantly suggested, to her credit. IMO If you do character cakes only for family and friends, which is why they make the pans in the first place, you are just fine.
As far as Dean's friends go, they probably weren't making so much money as to be a real "threat" to Disney. Of course, nickels and dimes can
add up. It would seem to me that they were made an "example."
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Dolores
Well I heard...
Fri Dec 1 06:33:33 2000That if you make a cake and use something copyrighted...if they can hold that cake up in the court room and a layman identify it you are HAD!
Just think of it this way...Disney wouldn't want an ugly rendition worse than a good one. LOL
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Dean
2 More incidents
Fri Dec 1 05:48:53 2000Now this is ironic that we're on this subject...As you know we own a fudge shop...for over 6 years we have been buying printed boxes called
"Cow Pie" boxes from a big chocolate &r candy supplier. We and hundreds of other fudgemakers have bought these boxes from the same place out in the SW USA for years & years. The box is printed up with all kinds of whimsical sayings and you put some fake grass in it and then swirl a plop of fudge in the shape of a "cow patty" and wrap it up and sell in the the "Cow Pie" box--a great seller. We simply bought the boxes and made the fudge plops ourselves. Well, yesterday I called the supplier to order more boxes & they "no longer make cow pie boxes". I have since learned that they are tied up in a copyright infringement suit over the printed boxes. I don't know the particulars, but I do know that we've bought these for years and even back in 1996 or 1997, Sam's & WalMart also sold these boxes of chocolate patties in these boxes purchased from the same supplier that we and 100's of others bought the boxes from...What took whoever so long to say they own the copyrights? Kind of strange...
(PS--if any of you know of another supplier of "Cow Pie" boxes, I'd sure like to know!!!!--I need some!)
Here's another ironic incident that happened in my town just yesterday too. A guy opened a Cd store off the square here a few weeks ago.
Yesterday he was raided by RIAA and local officials for bootlegging music & "home brewed" CDs. I know music is different from candies &
cakes, but this little town of mine is only 6500 and is far, far, from Dallas. I would have never thought of this happening here..I guess the "napster" stuff is the cause of this crackdown. As for my craft show friends, "Michael" & his wife do them for a living and go all over the country. As soon as a new "character" came out, this is what they started cutting out of wood--we first met them when they were doing Ninja Turltes. I know I have heard other crafters that painted this type of stuff talk about getting a letter from a Disney, Coke, Barney, etc lawyer advising them to "cease & desist painting of our characters"--I don't know if my friend "Michael" had been warned in the past by first getting a letter in the mail--he says he wasn't--I'm betting that he was. Everyone I've known that has gotten these types of letters, that was all it took to scare them out of doing
further copyrights of work.As small scale as cake & candy making would be, I'd bet that you'd get one of these letters from the company lawyer FIRST, then if you didn't quit, you'd get busted like my friends..although I don't think I'd want to take that chance myself. I'm glad we don't make copyrighted stuff--I just wish I had some Cow Pie Boxes for Christmas!
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Dolores
The way I heard that it goes...
Fri Dec 1 06:44:22 2000Around 1975 some down and out lawyers needing fast easy money thought of having people arrested...for doing copyrighted cakes. They would come in or send someone to order the cake. When they picked it up, they delivered the summons. The fine starts at $10,000.00 and is usually reduced to about $2,000.00 - per cake.
These people are called 'checkers' - they will trap you any way they can see a way to do it. Twice they have tried to trap me that I know for sure of. Once a lady in heels and a cashmere coat...of course - a lawyer...looked my whole store over...pans to wedding...strange to begin with...then wanted to order a Mickey Mouse shaped cake. When I told her that was illegal, she spun around on one of her high heels and exited fast.
Recently a young guy...probably a college student working to become a lawyer...the type at least...wanted me to make a frosting sheet of Star
Wars characters. He had it on a floppy disk. WHO knows how to put it on a floppy LOL. I tild him it was illegal. He replied "that song you are listening to is illegal then" - I wonder how he knew songs are copyrighted if he didn't know Star Wars was! I aksed him...no answer. He said he'd get permission. Later that afternoon he brought me this scrolled out handwritten 'permission'. I told him it wasn't a legal document...not on Lucas Prod. stationery etc. He wouldn't leave AT ALL. Sue came out and asked him "what part of no didn't he understand"...not even a rise from
him...stood there. So we ended up having to call the police and they even had to take him physically by the arm in order to get him out!I bet we were his first experience LOL...I wonder if he is still a checker ROFL!
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Kathyf
Re: Just wondering...
Thu Nov 30 08:30:50 2000If it's in any way recognizable as a copyrighted work then it is illegal. Changing colors, facial features, or anything slightly won't get past the
legalities.
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Dean
I don't know..
Thu Nov 30 07:43:35 2000I am by no means an authority on copyrights & trademarks, but I do have a book on the subject that I studied as I have published electronic plans in the past. In this book, it gives examples of literary writings that were judged to be in violation of copyrights and they were changed up so much by the plagiarstic author, that I couldn't tell how they were even similar to the original plagiarsed work, yet a court and judge ruled that they were.
In the case of my friend, I can't remember what the original amount Disney wanted to seek from them for damages, but the judge dropped it
down to $50K--of course they get to pay it out, but still that's a lot of $$ to me... These companies have deep pockets and they can tie you up in court with appeals even if your work remotely resembles theirs & they can easily exhaust your funds just on appeals.. I sure don't think I would
chance doing a picture of Mickey Mouse using blue ink in place of black ink and reducing his ears or eyes in size.
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Sue
Oh man...
Thu Nov 30 06:02:02 2000I'm so torn on this one. I just delivered my first cake to my montly office customer, and as I was there she asked me if I would do a Barney cake for her daughter's birthday. Now, I'm just starting in my business and am desperate for orders, so I said I'd get back to her (since I've never done a character cake before). Now I'm wondering if I have to email her back and say I can't do it? Is Barney a disney character? Even if not, I'm sure he's copywrited too. What do I do? I can't even do something that "resembles" Barney? Do they sell those frosting sheets or anything like that?
I totally understand the copywrite issue. If I created a character, I certainly wouldn't want thousands of people running around re-creating it and profiting from it. I just think most people aren't even aware of the issue.
And WOW, lenient was $50,000?????? I'd hate to see strict!!
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Sue
Decision
Thu Nov 30 06:35:41 2000Well, to avoid problems, I wrote my customer and told her that because of copyright, I can only do a cake with an authorized edible image of
Barney on it if she wants to purchase that. Otherwise I can do any childs theme that isn't copyrighted.When you all buy copyrighted images, do you pass the cost along to your customer, or do you just charge your regular price?
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Dolores
Re: Decision
Fri Dec 1 06:47:37 2000You don't have enough money to buy their copyrights! I just read that Michael Jackson bought John Lennon's rights for $45 million dollars. (I do not know if that is true)...but sounds right for the price.)
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Peggyp
Re: Decision
Thu Nov 30 10:54:26 2000Other options are little figures of the character to be placed on the cake. All the "hot" characters like Barney, Barbie, PowerPuff Girls, Toy Story, Disney, etc. can be found in stores like Target, KMart and WalMart and are quite inexpensive. You can design the cake around the figure, using coordinating colors or creating a "scene" for the figure.
Definitely add the cost of the figure to the cake price, or have your customer bring you the figure. I often do that for the doll cakes.
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Karen S.
someone correct me if I'm wrong....
Thu Nov 30 20:45:57 2000but I have heard that you really aren't supposed to use any plastic characters either unless they are made especially for that purpose and you
follow the design that comes with the kit exactly. When I worked at a bakery, we got around this by designing the cake how the customer wanted it, and then having THEM buy the figures and place them when they get home. (if they wanted something other than the kits we offered) Does anyone know if that is true? It seems a little nit-picky, but when you're talking $50,000 fines, you really can't be too careful!
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Lidia
Re: someone correct me if I'm wrong....
Thu Nov 30 23:24:45 2000>I have heard that you really aren't supposed to use any plastic characters either unless they are made especially for that purpose and you follow the design that comes with the kit exactly.
I believe that that rule applies to the bakery kits only; not toys and figurines purchased at toystores, K-Mart, Walmart, etc.
Also, I would think those "kit" rules would mostly apply to walk-in and grocery store bakeries. The kit companies would want ALL their Barney cakes to look alike. If you are a home decorator how would they know it was anything different?
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helenoh
Re: someone correct me if I'm wrong....
Thu Nov 30 21:18:33 2000When I worked in a bakery,we were told that it had to be exactly as the picture on the kit. So that covered everything.
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BethA
Re: Copyright infringement & shows
Thu Nov 30 05:33:17 2000I want to copy this message and hang it in my shop...Next time someone comes in whining, "oh, but it's just a little ol' character cake..can't you
make one just for me?" I'm going to point to this. "Sure ma'am..it's just a little ol' $50,000 fine and I'll lose my career, but what the heck" Anything for you.
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Dolores
Re: WOW! That is incredible.
Fri Dec 1 06:52:35 2000There is a professional poster but I don't know where to get an original. I have one somewhere. It explains that we can't infringe.
One thing...you can tell a 'checker' from a customer - who asks for a copyright thing. A customer is totally amazed when you tell them about
copyrights...they want to know why Disney etc sell the stuff but we can't carry out their theme with the cake. Checkers don't ask why!
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