# professional organic-nics?



## ozarkrose (Apr 4, 2005)

Any members professional organic bakers?


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## lotuscakestudio (Jun 28, 2001)

Professional? Yes. Organic? When I can. Fair-trade? Definitely.


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## ozarkrose (Apr 4, 2005)

How do you advertise your organic works? Do you do organics by request?


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## lotuscakestudio (Jun 28, 2001)

Most of what I do is vegan since that is what is requested the most. I also offer dairy (no eggs though) and it's always organic since that is my personal choice for what I want to use in my business. If people want organic flour, sugar, cocoa, etc. I will use that too by request and charge accordingly. People are so weird about food choices and what they're willing and not willing to pay for so I let them choose. Usually they are pretty happy with the dairy being organic and as long as the rest is natural, they don't care.

As for how I advertize it- any way I can where I don't pay for it! Several wedding websites contacted me and asked if they can list me in their database. Two (with a third on the way) are organic/green wedding sites and I've made it clear that I do organic by request, but I'm not even sure how they word it in the listing. Organic Style magazine contacted me for a photo shoot (March 2005 issue) and again, I told them organic dairy is a standard, but all other ingredients are by request, but in the caption under the photo of my cake, they wrote "vegan and organic". Which is not entirely true b/c I DO use dairy and organic is by request. In the caption under another cake designer's photo, they have "organic by request". So why they chose to be accurate for her and not me is a mystery. Once I have my website finished, I'll have these details on my site under an "Ingredients" section.


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## ozarkrose (Apr 4, 2005)

Don't mean to get personal, but so you have already attracted a specific clientel? 
I am starting to work in a completely new enviroment, and I have gotten many different opinions (professional and not) on how to market. My past experience was with an educated and health concious clientel and it only took pricing to make it sell; but here my clientel is so diverse I feel "organic" (they probably don't even know what vegan means!) might be a turn-off.


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## lotuscakestudio (Jun 28, 2001)

Most of my clients are vegan so they're into organic.

Ahhhh... then you definitely have to watch what you say. I met a woman once and mentioned that I did wedding cakes. The fact that I like to use organic ingredients was also mentioned. She literally said, "Oh, ORGANIC?! Nevermind! My family and I like sugar in our cakes!" I had to correct her and explain that organic doesn't mean sugar-free. After all, there *is* organic sugar. She still didn't seem convinced. I just rolled my eyes. If you think your clients will be scared of "organic" and "fair-trade", then by all means steer clear. If these are important issues for you, depending on your location and the IQ of your clientele, you could try the educational approach. "Did you know that [Name of Horrible Pesticide], most commonly used in flour, causes [Name of Horrible Disease]? We at XYZ Bake Shop are concerned for your health so we've taken the extra step to purchase certified organic flours which are free from [Name of Horrible Pesticide]. Blah blah blah, nothing but the best, we love you!" type of pamphlets.


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## ozarkrose (Apr 4, 2005)

Are there any organizations for organic bakers? Promotional/marketing ***.?


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## lotuscakestudio (Jun 28, 2001)

None that I know of...?


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## cyngawel (Apr 10, 2005)

Check out the Organic Trade Association <www.ota.com>

Depending on what you're looking for, you might be interested in the Natural Products Expo (West, in Anaheim in March, East, in DC in September), or the Green Festival (after Expo East in DC and after the Green Business Festival in San Francisco in November; the Green Business Festival is associated with Co-op America's Green Business listings; you might want to check them out, too).

If you're looking for info you can give to your customers (or bolster your marketing materials for organics), check out the Organic Consumers Association and The Campaign (which is about stopping genetically modified food, I think they're thecampaign.org). Sorry, I don't have all the URLs handy, but you can Google them.


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