The FINANCIAL — Cakes are an important part of corporate and private parties. Cakes can cost you a lot but make your event more enjoyable and memorable. A piece of cake costs on average 1.5 USD in Tbilisi. An anniversary or wedding cake costs up to 1,000 USD. Chocolate cake with fruit is one of the most popular cakes in Georgia. Bakers say that in general Georgian customers are not creative when it comes to ordering cakes.
“Most of the Georgians who buy cakes prefer to buy something tasty but traditional,” said Eka Natsvlishvili, Manager of Biscuit, one of the most popular bakeries in Tbilisi.
“When clients order cakes for weddings they prefer them to be decorated with only flowers. Unfortunately in Georgia there is still no culture of ordering something out of the ordinary.”
“The difference between our Georgian customers and foreign clients, is that the foreigners generally demand colourful cakes, decorated with different ornaments. The most demanded cake at our chain is the chocolate cake with caramel,” said Natsvlishvili.
“I would personally prefer a chocolate cake with fruits inside. There is also high demand for strawberry cake. The season is one of the main determiners of demand. In summer people mostly prefer to buy fruit cakes. Cherry cake is so tasty that many of my loyal clients buy it often,” said Nana Abashidze, owner of a small bakery.
“I had a birthday not long ago and ordered a birthday cake from one of the bakery chains. It was an ordinary cake with candles on it. I think that different and original cakes will not be popular in Georgia for a while yet, though there is a trend for different-shaped cakes,” said Elene Okropiridze 25.
“I am actually in the process of choosing a cake for my wedding. My wedding cake will be decorated with flowers and I think that it will be very beautiful. I had no desire to decorate it with different ornaments, because I think that a classic wedding cake does not need any special decoration,” said Maka Tabadadze, 22.
“My son had a birthday one week ago. I and my husband decided to surprise him and ordered a specially baked cake in the shape of a football field with footballers on it. At first we thought to order a car-shaped cake, but then we thought that a football field was a good idea for our 7 year old boy, who is crazy about playing football,” said Kate Gagnidze, 26.
In interview with The FINANCIAL, most of the bakery chain representatives say that the taste is the main determiner of a cake’s popularity and shape is not so important.
“Our company has been on the local market for 3 years and since then our consumers have been very content with the cakes we offer. We import cake ingredients from France, we only buy flour and eggs on the local market and all of the other necessary products we import from France,” Nacvlishvili said.
“We have a variety of cakes at our chain and clients have a very wide choice. We also have many orders for anniversaries and special occasions, when we bake special cakes for our clients. When someone tries our cake, they never forget the taste. We serve many loyal clients who are our most frequent visitors. I can proudly say that the taste and quality of our baked cakes is our best advertisement,” said Nacvlishvili.
“I have been working in the sphere of cake baking for years already and none of my customers have been unsatisfied with the quality of my cakes. No matter what shape a cake has, the main point is that it is tasty. Of course the presentation attracts customers but the taste is what secures client loyalty,” said Nana Abashidze.
“I offer clients cakes with fruits, caramel, hazelnuts, coconuts and so on. The price of an anniversary cakes starts from 60 GEL and goes up to 200 GEL. It depends on the size and shape of the cake,” said Abashidze.
According to Nacvlishvili, at Biscuit the price of an anniversary cake is about 3.50 GEL per piece. The maximum cost of a baked cake can even go up to 1,500-2,000 GEL, depending on the cake’s size.
