'Well-Known Celebrity' Refuses To Pay For Birthday Cake & Instead Wants To 'Promote' The Baker's Business On Social Media
They wanted two birthday cakes and 100 cupcakes with no financial compensation.
American Heritage Chocolate and Joe Shields via Unsplash A bakery owner is being praised for her response to an event planner who requested that she donate a hundred cupcakes, two cakes, and edible decor to a “well-known” celebrity’s birthday party. In return, the baker would receive compensation in the form of “promotions” on the celebrity’s social media accounts and have photos of her baked goods featured in a magazine.
However, the woman claims that her business only accepts cash payments, as her employees have families to feed.
An event planner requested the baker’s services to present free cakes and cupcakes at a ‘well-known’ celebrity’s party.
Bec, the owner of “Three Little Birds Bakery” in Yorkshire in the U.K., took to Facebook to share a screenshot of an email she received from a potential customer, who claimed to be an event planner who was organizing a birthday party for a “well-known” celebrity, although she does not confirm who.
“We are organising a 40th birthday party for a well-known celebrity on the 1st September 2023 in Manchester,” the email reads. “In return for being a supplier for the event, payment would be made in the form of promotion on their socials with over 700K followers, as well as promoted in OK! Magazine. They will be crediting all the suppliers on these platforms.”
The event planner also discloses that the birthday party has a guest list “full of celebrities and industry people from TV/film and music.”
The planner requested that Bec prepare one 40th birthday cake, 100 cupcakes, and one “smaller cake” for the celebrity’s husband since it is also his birthday.
Bec responds to the event planner in a follow-up email.
The baker denied the request, emphasizing that her employees need cash payments instead of ‘promotions’ to support their families.
“I’m so sorry to hear that your client has fallen on such hard times they can’t afford to pay small businesses for their products,” Bec responds. “Unfortunately as my mortgage provider doesn't take payment ‘in the form of promotion on their socials’ and my staff can’t feed their kids with exposure on Instagram, I’ll have to decline your very generous offer.”
She wishes the event planner all the best with the birthday party. Still, she is appalled that she would even be requested such a thing. "What happened to women supporting women?" she asks.
Facebook users hailed Bec for her clever response.
“Brilliant response. I had years of blaggers in business. Always trying to get something for nothing. Well done you,” one user commented.
“Totally agree! Fabulous response!” another user wrote.
Other users branded the unknown celebrity as “entitled” since they seemingly were requesting free services from small businesses.
However, others argued that the event planner was at fault and the celebrity may not have known that they were asking local bakers for free cakes.
“To be fair this seems like the event planner is trying to save some money for themselves,” one user pointed out.
“This is on the event planner and not the celebrity! The celebrity client probably didn’t even know this was going on,” another user wrote. “Really bad practice from the planner though, they won’t be giving their services for free.”
While social media platforms can help a growing business, with social media ads being recognized as one of the most effective tools in advertising, they are not a substitute for cash payments.
Businesses may have an increased amount of customers after their brand is shared on social media, but staff members’ paychecks will likely remain the same for some time. If they are kind enough to offer their services at any formal event, they deserve to be compensated in cash.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.