Our new menu and price adjustments

Allan and I always struggle with this aspect of the business. Creating new cakes are not always easy. It's like giving birth almost. You take ideas available in the market place, and then tweak them to make them uniquely Just Heavenly's and bring them to market. Having said that I paticularly enjoy the process. Part of the reason I'm in the business, I guess.

JUST HEAVENLY'S NEW ALCOHOL FREE MENU - EFFECTIVE 1 October 2007 - AND OUR CAKES WITH LIQUOR MENU

As business people, we also need to ensure the health of the company. As foodies and dessert junkies we strive to make sure that flavour of our cakes and desserts are paramount. Balancing the two through value pricing is always the name of the game.

If any of you have even glanced at the news or newspapers recently, you'll see something that we've been struggling with for some time. Rising prices.

Trust me when I say that we've endeavoured to maintain prices at present levels for a long time. Since 2005 as a matter of fact. Our current prices were established in February 2005. Before all the increases in costs that we have been barraged with. More on that later.

In the interests of maintaining that quality that you've come to expect, we've got very little choice but to adjust our prices so it's in keeping with the present reality of costs. Having said that, I still believe that our cakes are very good value for money as they balance good flavour, ingenuity, creativity, and a value price point. For example, our 9" Choc & Cheese will be adjusted from RM74 to RM82. That's an adjustment of just over 10%. Furthermore, the 9" Choc & Cheese weighs 1.5kg. Making price per kg around RM55. Still very good value for money. And frankly, an average price in our market.

Now back to rising costs.

1. Cost of fuel has gone up, gas (which is one of the mainstays of our energy useage) has gone up,
   
2. Butter which used to be RM2.50 is now around RM4 and sometimes RM5 at retail.
   
3. Flour, which, you must admit, is central to baking is almost 25% up from RM1.70 to RM2.10 (NST, 18 September 2007).
4. Milk and dairy have gone up
5. Cheese, as a consequence has also gone up as well.
6. Almonds, which used to be RM18 per kg is now around RM40.

The list goes on.

And yet, we're only adjusting our prices for WHOLE cakes by approximately 10%.

The thing is, we've never been about the "cheapest" price you could get in town. For that, I leave it to the good folks at many other bakeries who compete on THAT playing field. Instead, we've always emphasised flavour and the enjoyment that you get out of eating one of our creations. Something which is near and dear to our hearts. We want your experience with one of our creations to be one which you can recall as pleasureable.

Now, introducing 2 new menus (alcohol free menu and cakes with liquor menu) isn't just about adjusting prices. There were many reasons;

1. To introduce new cakes
2. To maintain the quality of the cakes that you have come to know and enjoy
3. To diversify our product range
4. To keep producing and creating cakes which bear the Just Heavenly idea of Serving Pleasure
5. And for our Muslim brethren, to comply with our eventual Halal status for most of our cakes. We are in the process of certifying most of our cakes Halal with a certification agent – hence, cakes with liquor will be on a separate menu. Just to be clear, we are NOT halal certified YET!
   

So friends, we hope we can still count on your support as we introduce our new menu. There's quite a few new items on there to excite your palate. And we hope you will come back to us for all your dessert and cake requirements. Enjoy!