Priced Cookies Too Low And Regretting It!
Baking By sugarbabys Updated 8 Jul 2010 , 2:34am by crumbcake
I have recently been given the opportunity to sell my decorated sugar cookies in a a bakery in an upscale location at wholesale. The cookies that I am doing for them are approx. 4 1/2 to 5 inches, covered with fondant and detailed with royal icing. This is my first account and I wasn't entirely sure how to price my cookies. I know how much it costs to make each cookie and I considerd. It literally took me two hours to complete an order for 20 cookies. Not sure how to go back to the bakery and address readjusting the cost. Right now, I am getting 75 cents per cookie and they are selling them for $1.50. I am certain that these cookies could bring more than that. Anyone have experience in this area?
I haven't sold any of my cookies wholesale. (I'm not crazy about someone making more money than me off my work or marketing me,( another story)). I can't tell you what to charge them but I will say that you need to get what your worth. I personally would go back and adjust my pricing. I think a cookie covered in fondant should go for a little bit higher.
I would like to know as well. $.75 isn't enough. I would want to make at least what I sell the cookie for, which at the minimum for me is $4 ea. If I sell an $8 cookie I better get at least $8 for that cookie. I spend anywhere from 10 mins to an hour on each cookie. $.75 wouldn't work.
I agree..You are way undercharging...I would charge at least $2.00-$3.00 per cookie or more.These are fondant covered with RI...Very time consuming.They are getting 50% profit from your cookies..To me that seems quite high...I would raise the price and re- negotiate the price they will sell them for.You need to be paid for your time and ingredients as well as everyone making a profit.If they say no...move on!
There's no way they should be upcharging 50% and there's no way you can even afford to sell those cookies for only .75 each. You might as well donate cookies to a children's hospital for that...it would get you about as much profit!!!!
It will open your eyes very much to figure out your costs AND how many hours you spend on them...if you are not making at least *close* to minimum wage (AFTER costs taken out), its really not worth doing them.
I'm in the Kansas City area. I am going to go back and readjust my pricing and hope that they accept. I can also explain to them that a lot of my time is spent making and coloring the fondant as well which is extremely time consuming in addition the detailed designs. I didn't consider electricity or gas mileage for delivery in my pricing either. Duh!Wholesaling is completely new to me and it does kind of seem like a rip off when I consider how much I make when I sell them retail. However, my retail sales aren't as consistent as I would like them to be. I don't want to lose them since they have offered to let me use their commercial kitchen (a requirement in my area)while I am selling to them. I feel like such an idiot, but I am definitely learning a lesson in this for any additional accounts that I may work with in the future.
20 cookies / 2 hours... at $7 minimum wage (NO- I don't think you deserve minimum wage, but hold on...). ... at minumum wage, it is $.70 PER COOKIE. Now add the ingredients, elecrtricity, and DELIVERY.
Yes, retailers often DO mark up 100%, so that is not that wierd. But if they want a specialty item like that, they should lower the markup, and you need to raise your wholesale price.
I bet you made nothing, all things considered, at 75 cents each. Sorry. I don't think anyone is pricing them at less than $1 an inch, so these should retail at $4-$5.
Good luck- I know a steady customer is a good thing. 
Geez, i just got an order for un-iced 3-inch cookies and i'm charging them $1 per cookie!! You really need to get more money for fondant covered and decorated cookies! And yours are pretty big too.
If you don't feel like having to explain the time and work it takes to make the cookies (cuz we all know that the average person has no clue about how much work it is), then just tell them that the cost of your ingredients went up and you need to account for that and adjust your price. They'd probably understand that better.
One thing i did learn from all the wonderful people here. A wholesale account where it would be worth to charge a bit less is one where there is a standing order every week/month, etc and the order needs to be quite significant (not 20 cookies). Anything less than that should be charged your normal price.
it doesn't matter what THEY charge for your cookie.........your price is YOUR PRICE...if they want to charge more so that they make a profit, then let them.....but you shouldn't have to take a loss to give them a profit!!! That is not GOOD business on your part (or theirs to take advantage of you like that)
Wow! That's crazy! You should be charging them at least $3-$4 a cookie. (And that's giving them a deal since they are buying a bunch from you).
You definitely need to find some time to speak to them about the issue. But be prepared, they may not want to buy them from you anymore. Which is fine, someone else will come along who will pay you what you're worth!
The cookies proved to be extremely popular on their first day in the bakery. They sold out before the end of the day. Maybe because they were so reasonably priced. Anyhow, they have requested more, but only 20 again. I definitely think that it's time to discuss upping the the size of each order and increasing the price. They are required to give me 48 hours notice on orders. 20 cookies aren't going to last two days. This is their first time selling anything like these in their store, so I'm sure this is a learning experience for everybody.
So glad to hear your cookies were a hit!!
I think you should give them your normal price for cookies unless they make a substantial standing order every week...then you can figure out how much of a discount you want to give them.
Good luck to you; it sounds like you have great thing going on there!
Just a suggestion, rather than trying to "guess" what the price should be (sorry if this seems harsh, thought hard how to characterize your initial price), do some looking around for what cookies like yours retail for. This could help get a sense of what a retailer would sell your product for.
In addition there are a number of sites and forums that discuss how to determine wholesale and retail prices and some of them deal with baked goods. Frankly you have to keep in mind they are out to make a profit as well and there are fairly standard markups and margins for retailers. Put another way there are rules for wholesale.
Thus the post that said your price is your price and let them mark up is misguided--if a retailer is not happy with their margin they will not push your product. You do not just get to choose how much of a margin they will be able to get from your product. Again retail mark ups are fairly standard (whether this business is aware of them or not). If your wholesale price is too high such that they cannot add standard retail mark ups for baked goods they will likely stop ordering from you. Your price is affected by whether you are selling wholesale or retail.
The benefit of selling wholesale is that you are able to make a good profit because you are selling in large quantities. Although 20 every few days makes sense from their standpoint (they do not want to throw away a bunch of stale cookies) such small orders may not make selling wholesale to them worthwhile.
The only reason they're charging $1.50 is because you're charging .75. I wouldn't offer a laundry list of reasons I'm raising my prices. I'd simply say, after consideration of my time spent designing, creating, whatever word you choose, the price I must get for my work is $x.xx
If you start listing gas, mileage, etc..etc.. it's going to make you sound unprofessional and that's not the impression you want to give.
Just FYI I charge $1.00 per cookie for a very simple dip into glaze and topped with sprinkles that I keep in my case daily. I know they could easily get $3. or more for the cookies you describe.
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