Cake Cutting Fee

Gabria13

For those of you bringing in a cake from an outside bakery to your reception, are they charging you a cake cutting fee, and if so how much?

ei34

Not from our wedding, but my mother was charged a cake cutting fee at the restaurants she had me and my sister’s bridal and baby showers at...it was always in the $25 ballpark.

MRDCle

Also not for my wedding, but when working at a restaurant which hosted weddings, the cake cutting cost was $1.50 per person/slice.

southernbelle0915

We looked at venues that charged a cake cutting fee. It included the staff to cut it and the plates/silverware to serve it. I believe the range was like $1.50-2.50 per person.

charlotte989875

We brought in our own cake and had a fee; I think around $1.50 per slice?

kahluakoala

This is likely also regional. I'm in NYC area - I ended up going with a venue that included the cake as part of my package (therefore no fee), but most of the ones I saw were between $3-5 a slice.

Jen4948

That's pretty steep for receptions with 50 or more guests.

MesmrEwe

Not unusual at many venues.  Just be sure to go over what's covered (if you need to provide plates/forks, etc.).  Also you may be able to use it as a negotiating point that if you meet a particular minimum that it's included instead of a separate charge or a venue that you haven't signed a contract with to waive the fee.  Also, I've seen some venues charge as much as $5/pp for the cutting because they want to discourage outside vendors from their "preferred" list.  

Cake cutting is a SUPER messy job, there actually is A LOT of precision involved depending on the cutting chart that your baker uses in order to equal enough servings, there is staff time to hand out the cake and bus the tables, if they're using their plates/forks there is the cost of the time for the dishwasher to clean them, which all means they're going to stick around slightly longer..  Think about those aspects, add it up for the number of guests you have, to determine if the rate is reasonable.

Also, a good thing to do is "any extra portions be placed on the cake table for guests to take with them or eat later in the evening" (requires you to likely provide disposables)..

Knottie1470060082

$1-$1.50 sounds reasonable but $3 or more per slice of cake is a little nutty I think.

TrixieJess

Knottie1470060082 said:

$1-$1.50 sounds reasonable but $3 or more per slice of cake is a little nutty I think.

It all depends where you are. Venues around me can be $2.50-$4.00 per slice.