How Many Cupcakes To Bake For A 4 Hour Community Sale?
Baking By sarascakecreations Updated 5 Mar 2012 , 5:19am by cakespender
Hello,
So in my community they do an annual mom to mom sale and it's all gently used kids clothing, furniture, gear etc. And last yr they had a cupcake stand and this year the spot is open!
So I wanted to get the spot!
My question is the sale runs for 4 hours from 9am to 1pm and well it's a pretty big sale bringing in quite a bit of traffic of parents... most without kids but maybe about 10% are there with their kids.... how many cupcakes do you think I need to make? 100? 200? 300?
I was thinking minis for $1 and standard size for $2
The table rentals are $50 do you think I'll make a good profit.
Also, it's just a community sale so no big companies or anything there that's why it's called mom to mom you have to have kids lol or be selling something child related. My other question is I'm not a registered business so am I asking for legal trouble by doing this sale? Or do you think I'll be ok??? I mean I know plenty of people who sell wedding cakes n stuff from home but I'd rather be safe then sorry.
Sara
They should'nt let you in if you aren't licensed. In my county, even cook-off contestants at fairs must get food handler certified and comply with all of the county rules for that one day. I would call the health dept. If you want to donate ALL proceeds to charity, you shouldn't have a problem. All areas are different and it may be ok, but usually unlicensed bakers stay out of the public limelight.
PLEASE .... anyone have any ideas how many to make?
Has anyone done a 4 hr sale before???
please any advice would be appreciated! ANY!
Ok so I'm in Toronto, who the heck do I call to get a food handler type permit?
Any advice to my other question as to how many I would need to bake?
I would say about 200 and even then it may be too many..I have done tons of Bake sales,Craft fairs etc and you don't end up selling as much as you think you will....and the profit is also not as much as you plan because by the time you do all the baking,icing,loading,unloading,setup of table etc...You really don't make any money!! JMO....it's alot of work for 4 hours!!
I would say 100 - 150. And there are loopholes to the license laws. Here in Arizona, if part of the proceeds are going to a charity and you have a sign posted that the goods were not made in a commercial kitchen, then you don't have to have a license. Good luck!
I do farmers market, and the sales last approx for four hours. I take 60 cupcakes with me. But I am finding out that I am running out of cupcakes by the end of the day at some, not all markets. It looks like you have many choices about how many to make, but 200? seems an awful lot of work for only four hours of selling time. Just my opinion.
It's hard to say - I sell cupcakes at the market every sunday as a way to get business for my other cakes. I take about 120 and sell out often. I did a twilight market at a school once and took 200 and sold out in 3 hours. It really depends - on alot of things like the weather etc. You may sell more if you do a box for cheaper or something. My standard price is $3.00 a cupcake - or 4 for $10. Try to come up with a number that if you only sell for example 70 out of a hundred...you don't mind bringing 30 home. It's always better to sell out though It's hard to know what your community is like...maybe aim for a hundred or so.
I would say about 200 and even then it may be too many..I have done tons of Bake sales,Craft fairs etc and you don't end up selling as much as you think you will....and the profit is also not as much as you plan because by the time you do all the baking,icing,loading,unloading,setup of table etc...You really don't make any money!! JMO....it's alot of work for 4 hours!!
Completely agree! Last year, I got a booth at our 2 day city-wide summer festival. I wasn't licensed yet, but the health department approved my booth on the condition that I only sold certian food items. So, I baked for 2 days and had tons of food. Then I spent two days talking to lots of people but not selling half as much as I expected.
If your goal is to advertise or something like that, then it would probably be good. Put out some big display cakes, have lots of balloons up to give away, hand out lots of cards with the cupcakes, etc.... But, I would hate for you to spend $50 on the table thinking you were going to make money. After paying for the table, ingredients, boxes, gas, blah, blah, blah... profits will be slim.
You need to decide if all the work is worth the risk of not making much of a profit. I would say there is a reason last year's vendor didn't return. This doesn't seem like the type of venue to sell cupcake because the shoppers are there looking for other items - not food stuff - as opposed to selling at a farmers' market.
Also, I think it depends on your presentation. If they have a little decoration or are decorated for a child, a little fondant cutout flower or butterfly for instance, you might sell more. I think they should also be in a box that people can easily carry away with them. If you don't have time to order boxes, maybe you could buy some from a local grocery that has the clear type. Those should be less expensive.
So I'm always the optimistic baker and always brings extra. If it were me I would jump on the oppotunity!!! I wish you the best. If it is possible to find the person who did it last year than maybe ask them how they did and how much they sold. I would make about 9 dozen cupcakes but I would do something else as well like cookies wrapped individually to have as a filler. Good Luck
this is helpful to me also. I am doing my first kid swap on the 16th and was wondering how much to make. I am thinking I will be making alot of mini's as they will most likely sell better. The parents at these swap meets are notoriously cheap. I'm not looking at making huge profits, just hoping to get my cards out there and generate some business.
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