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Groupon Nightmare...

Groupon is a joke. I was about to do a deal with them until they told me that not only do they get 1/2 of the value of the sold deal(with I knew) I also had to pay the credit card processing fees that they get when people purchase the deal. My thought was those fees are their business expense not mine. I got thinking, they get 50% of the deal value, plus credit card fees, and have no risk in the transaction… No way would I ever agree to that.
 
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I call BS.

You have what? About 30g of flour in a cupcake (about 1oz)? That costs about 5 cents if you are using expensive flour, so 60 cents for a dozen. Less than a penny for frosting. $2.50 for shipping. And they were charging $40 for that?

10 Minute bake time, and in an 8 hour shift, that is 48 loads per shelf. 6 Shelves and 100 cup cakes per shelf is about 30k a day. Very doable with 8 employees. It would suck, but still very doable. Either way, trying to outsource 70,000 cupcakes in one day? Not gonna happen, let alone paying 20k for 70k cupcakes. Something doesn’t add up there.

Edit: Holy crap, just checked Amazon. People pay for this stuff? If I am going to pay $44.97 for 12 cupcakes, they better have a bottle of bourbon in there.
 
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I’m with pizzamancer on this, how can anyone pay $40 for cupcakes, supermakets are on your doorstep and I doubt they charge anywhere near this. And if people really are buying this on Amazon, I’m changing business and put my ovens to use during the day.
 
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Quite a few years ago I worked for a pizza chain that used their commissary after hours to do pies and deserts…They ended up making way more money on these items than par-baked pizza shells for their stores…

I have a current client that does wholesale sandwiches for gas stations…His pizza place is only open in the evening so his premises are unused for 12+ hours a day…With his overhead being covered by his pizza sales, the sandwiches are a nice little sideline…
 
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pizzasam:
I’m with pizzamancer on this, how can anyone pay $40 for cupcakes, supermakets are on your doorstep and I doubt they charge anywhere near this. And if people really are buying this on Amazon, I’m changing business and put my ovens to use during the day.
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My wife purchased a cookie cake for our son’s birthday. He is off in college and it was more about the thought than the product. I think it was over $30, and probably could have been bought at Sams Club for $10. There probably is a business model in delivery/mail order of overpriced baked goods.
 
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I just picked up 2 pies for Thanksgiving at the local bakery and it was $36.00. :shock: Now everyone sit back and rethink their discounts and $5 pizzas!!! :!:
 
Years back we took over a place that sold cheap pizzas on a 2 for 1 deal…We immediately raised our prices by about 40% and dumped a bunch of money into marketing…For a few months we probably spent about 20%+ of our revenue on marketing…At the end of the day, it was more profitable to spend money on aggressive marketing than it was to try and sell a discounted pizza…
 
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People don’t make rational decisions based on price only. That went out of fashion in the 1800’s. People are manipulated and engineered to buy by branding and marketing.

Think like your customer about quality, but not about marketing.
 
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Not to sidetrack a little…but for cookie lovers… if you ever get to Elk Grove outside Chicago… hit Jarosch Bakery at Higgins and Arlington Hts Rd. Their butter cookies are the best. At almost $18 a pound… they should be. Also would give the thumbs up to cakes and pastries. Ok… the whole dang place is good!!! I miss Sweet Home Chicago!!! 8)
 
Cupcakes are the new"in thing". There are even franchises opening up for cupcake shops. Average price here for a single cupcake is about $7.
High teas once reserved for the high gentry English are now a “must do” and guess what the star attraction is ??? … CUPCAKES !!!
Feed anything with enough BS and you can make a steady profitable market.
Dave
 
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Rented out our old location to a cupcake lady. Brought me a signed lease, first months rent and deposit. Haven’t seen her in the building since…happy to have the money she left…curious if I’ll see any more.
 
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qcfmike:
Not to sidetrack a little…but for cookie lovers… if you ever get to Elk Grove outside Chicago… hit Jarosch Bakery at Higgins and Arlington Hts Rd. Their butter cookies are the best. At almost $18 a pound… they should be. Also would give the thumbs up to cakes and pastries. Ok… the whole dang place is good!!! I miss Sweet Home Chicago!!! 8)
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Yes, Chicago had some great food! I lived in NW suburbs near Arlington Hts Rd (and Golf) in a previous life.
 
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Can’t beat the food in Chicago. Grew up in the same area. Plan on being back there for Christmas. Any TT owners in the NW suburbs of Chicago?
 
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Hey Aero… not sure if anyone on the TT is around the area or not. Talked to many that visit the area though. I would recommend a place if you are near… JJ Twigs in Lake Zurich has been around for a very long time and I have not been for a little while… but they were always a great place for a pie. Their double decker or stuffed pizza with a thick rolled crust was a nice break from traditional Chicago / Lou’s or Gino’s style. Now I am hungry! Can’t beat Gino’s full size sausage patty with that thick layer of cheese under it and that sweet sauce on top! I do wonder why other markets don’t grasp some of the other pizza ideas that come from the area. I just don’t get it! :roll:

A side question…where did you grow up as I am trying to remember a pizza place that was off Thorndale just West of 53 back in the 1980’s. It was in the old Eagle (I think) grocery store strip mall. There was a break in the buildings and it was the corner location just to the East of the store entrance. There was also an arcade that stood in the parking lot right infront of this place in it’s own building. I think the place started with an “S” and they had a very unique pizza that had a crust that was about 3" rolled thick…think loaf of bread around the edge… and a very thin center dough area. I am not sure why but the thick crust was not like eating that much bread… it cooked great and had like 3 unique layers in it. A very crispy outer… a bread like next layer… and then almost a gum line type…undercooked center… but not raw doughy… Just one of those places that you remember growing up. Well share if you like and enjoy your trip back to my home!

Sorry for the extreme hijack here! 😦 Back on topic… the local news last night had a story about a small cafe a few towns away that just lived one of these Groupon nightmares. They did not limit the sales and the interview with the owners also reinforces how Groupon was little help with the design of the offer to be marketed and not ever really showing interest or concern about how this will affect the cafe’s ability to survive the offer. It is all about the profit for Groupon. :x
 
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