Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
A friend and I are doing a last-minute craft show. To "fill-in" our space, we want to have some baked goods, but have no idea as far as pricing! We will have a couple of cakes (at least one selling by the slice), cookies, brownies, etc. They will all be made from scratch, no mixes! Any help will be appreciated.
Things that are easy to pay for are always good, say $.50 or a dollar, easy in the pocket money.
I would say for really simple things go for $.50, like a small cookie for a kid. Or say 3 cookies for a $1, you can get away easily with nice sized rice krispy treats for $1. Sliced cake, if you slice it and package it nice, with a fork and all, I would say $1.50 or 2, have a coffee maker with a "free" cup of coffee with a slice of $2 cake would sell it.
Hope that helps some!
Well, if you want to ensure that you get the right value for your time and efforts, professional bakers, as a rule, charge ingredients times 2 or 3 (depending on cost and difficulty). Good luck.
Thank you! The coffee idea is great. I don't drink it, so didn't even think of that! I will try to figure the cost of ingredients and go from there.
At our church bazaar we always sell them individualy wrapped like 2 cookies for 50 cents and brownies 1 for 50 cents. We never did over 50 cents but I would say a cake slice for 75 cents or 1 dollar. Another idea is to melt chocolates any kind and dip plastic spoons in them, once hardened, wrap with plastic, tie a bow and sell for 50 cents.
Thanks for the idea about the spoons. I may save that for the show near Christmas (it's a little warm here for hot chocolate right now)! LOL We're thinking of selling bottled water, too. Found out today that we will be right across from a "food vendor wagon" selling funnel cakes, cotton candy, etc., as well as soft drinks.
Take a quick trip to the local grocery, see what they sell that you and I pick up all the time! Fresh bread baked will bring more than the store cost. Homemade donuts and other specialities such as ethnic or holiday foods packaged 4 to a plate will grab that nibbler as they pass.
Selling baked goods is generally comparable to selling any other item, with one important difference - if you are making these items yourself, then you will have a considerable array of costs wrapped up in the final product - costs that quite often go overlooked.
A basic example of some baked goods costs will include ingredients, energy (oven, mixer, etc), labor (your time in making the item), consumables (plastic wrap, parchment paper, aluminum foil, etc), packaging (plastic bags, cardboard containers, etc), display accessories (paper plates, plastic forks, tablecloth, etc), transportation (what it cost to obtain everything and get it to where it needs to be) and last but not least - the selling space rental fee.
Granted, this can be overwhelming to consider all at once, but break it down into smaller pieces and it becomes much easier. Remember that math does not discriminate, so regardless of whether one would rather avoid crunching the numbers, math remains, and will continue to either put you ahead, or set you back, with every piece you sell (or don't sell). In the end, it's up to us to decide whether math shall be working for, or against, our cause.
One tool that helps get math back on your side (i.e., the profitable side) is a recipe cost calculator. Recipe cost calculators are designed to easily handle the complex math and measurement conversions you run into when trying to assess the cost of a recipe.
An example of an online recipe cost-to-bake calculator can be found at http://www.pricingbakedgoods.com
I am thinking of selling homemade bread to raise money for a field trip I will be going on next year. I am thinking about selling each slice for 25 cents and if it has something added in, like honey, to charge 30 cents for it. I don't know if this a good price so if I could have ya'll's feed back, that would be nice. Thank you!
People who tend to do this a lot also tend to learn how to get more properly compensated (towards their cause). I have learned from a few others that whatever they paid per selling unit for ingredients, they multiplied that x3 or at *least* x2. Not only factoring in the value of their efforts (time spent on recipe research and preparation, travel to purchase needed ingredients), but also for their cause. People will almost always pay a bit more for a good cause!
