Students’ success ‘sweetens’ cake business

Cake and confectionery shops here are reporting a hike in sales of between 15 and 20 percent because of the demand from graduating school and university students.
Also being sold out quickly are related items such as disposable cups, spoons and decorations, according to workers and traders.
Khaldoun, a Lebanese director of a fancy cake and chocolate shop in Al-Khaldiyah, told Arab News that they have been receiving orders for graduation cakes for around two weeks. Demand is usually steady for more than three weeks after students complete their examinations. He said that some customers like customized cakes that cost more.
A small, plain cake costs about SR 250, but the more elaborate creations with three layers, special colors and designs, and cartoon characters can set a student back SR 3,000, the director said.
He said that such enormous cakes take around one week to prepare so customers are asked to place orders about two weeks before the end of their exams.
He said he runs a specialized shop dealing only in “certain kinds of cakes and high quality chocolate,” so there are no discounts for graduation cakes. He said “prices are more or less the same all year round.”
But many other cake shops and hypermarkets now have special offers and discounts on such cakes.
The confectionery and cake section at one of the biggest hypermarket chains here sells special graduation cakes at discounts of around 15 percent.
Emad, a worker at the cake section of a hypermarket, said that they have special cakes with customized designs. He said elementary school students prefer their cakes with cartoon characters such as Sponge Bob, the Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie (from Sesame Street) and other animated characters.
“The prices vary according to the size and the designs made of colored confectionery sugar. In general, the prices here are affordable compared with other luxury stores specializing in cakes. The prices are between SR 70 and SR 500 depending on the size,” he said.
With Jeddah experiencing a heat wave and temperatures hovering around 53 degrees Celsius, many parents have now been getting ice cream cakes for their children's graduation parties.
Robert, a Filipino salesman at a famous ice cream and cake shop chain, said sales have gone up by 25 percent for a variety of reasons, including more discounts on offer, the graduation season and the advent of summer.
“I have been working here for about five years and I can say that this summer the sales of ice cream cakes have been the best.”
“We have special designs for graduations including ‘cap’ and ‘diploma’ cakes.” He said the shop does not have the facility to produce edible cakes with photographs or logos, which is produced with a thin layer of icing known as “frosting sheets.”