100 Dozen Christmas Cookies - How Much $$$
Baking By absolutecakes Updated 26 Oct 2007 , 9:07pm by Erdica
I got an order for 100 dz Christmas cookies. She wants them to look classy and nice as she is giving them to her clients.
I just got some cutters for tea cup cookies, they are cookies that sit on the edge of your coffee/tea/hot chocolate/etc cup. They are about 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. I thought they would be cute or I could do a nativity scene or just generic xmas shapes. I was going to use Tobas glaze as the icing. She also wants them wrapped nicely by the dozen ready to give away.
So question is....how much should I charge per dozen?
I was thinking somewhere between $20-24/dz. What do you think?
It's going to be ALOT of work.
Thanks!
Katie
i do decorated cookies for a couple of customers. i charge $50/doz which also includes a small inexpensive basket and wrapped with a bow.
have you checked websites in your area and what they charge?
by the time you finish....you might think whatever you are getting, it is not enough! do a good job and she will be a great customer for life!
I think your price range sounds really good!! A quick way to package the cookies......at least this is what I do and people always compliment me on the packaging..I use the cello bags or just the wilton clear plastic bags, put the cookies in individually or you could do a couple in a bag or whatever, then get some scrapbooking paper cut it to size and fold it over the top of the bag and staple in a couple spots......I've even added bows to some.....A.C. Moore has thousands of sheets of scrapbooking paper and at least a hundred that they sell individually so you could mix and match different colors, prints, patterns, etc. if you wanted to.
Hi Katie, I charge about a $1 per inch so those cookies would be $2 each plus packaging. Does she have any idea how she wants them? Perhaps cute little boxes with crinkled/shredded paper and cello bagged cookies with metallic twist ties arranged nicely inside? I'd take the cost of my boxes, bags, ties, bows or whatever and double them for my labour. The boxes could be nice cookie tins from the dollar store or something similar. Toba's glaze is yummy and would be perfect. You could do several different themes. Sounds like fun! Lorrie
That is so cute! I never would have thought of that. I always just tie the bags with ties or ribbon. Great idea!
the leaves are super simple I cut mmf with the same cutter and put it on the cookies as soon as they came out of the oven the fondant was white.....then once they cooled and the mmf got firmer I just took a paintbrush and some americolor gels and starting from the outside edge of the cookie I used the red and started moving the brush back and for making a kind of jagged edge all around the cookie, then did the same thing with the orange kinda over lapping and continued until I got to the center of the cookie then took a really thin brush and painted on the veins they were really quick and really easy!!!!
Your ideas sound great. I would check to see if she is cool with the Nativity Scene ones. Being that she is giving them to clients she may be more comfortable keeping them generic holiday designs rather than religion. Yeah, yeah, I know "Jesus is the reason for the season," (translation, no one needs to flame me) but her clients may not share that sentiment. 
Ok, so I quoted her $5/cookie packaged for the custom glazed cookies and $22/dz for regular traditional gourmet cookies like white chocolate macadamia, chocolate chunk or oatmeal rasin.
My husband is still blown away that people would be willing to spend this kind of money on cookies! I'm sure I will never want to see another cookie again after making 1200 of them!
I'll let you know what she decides, it's either $2200 for traditional or $6000 for the custom glazed. I really hope she goes for the traditional, so much easier!
P.S. Have you been to Toba's website, she is charging $15/cookie for the same glazed cookies! So I don't feel so bad at $5 packaged.
Katie
Hi Katie, yep, I've been to Toba's website. She is a trained Chef and head of a school though and in NY so she might be worth a bit more than us. Like a $1 or so. Hahaha
Seriously, you put a lot of time, effort and quality ingredients into the cookies and you are performing a service that the customer cannot or will not do. It's what makes the world go round. Your pricing sounds perfect. I'd rather she chose the regular cookies as well. You could get your own baking done at the same time. Lorrie
Wow! Great opportunity for you, but major work. I hope she doesn't change her mind.
I would go with something like a snowflake, candy cane or stocking, but it depends on what she wants.
I wish I was closer to help, makes the cookie trays I do for the holidays seem insignificant!!
Wow, sounds like a big job, and a great opportunity! I was wondering when, being the time of year it is, that everyone will be asking about pricing cookie trays. The $22/doz for gourmet cookies sounds pretty good to me (not that I could get that around here); how about pricing the non-gourmet types - plain chocolate chip, oatmeal, snickerdoodles, etc... How do you all price these? Also, if you offer cookie trays for a set price, and just give folks a list to choose from?
Deb
I would go with winter themed cookies so the client doesn't offend anyone with them. Snowmen, mittens, toques, snowflakes, houses, gingerbread men etc, etc. Have you talked with your client to see what exactly she is wanting. I would calculate what to spend by how much she is ordering and 100 dozen cookies is a lot so I think a discount rate should be applied.
"I would go with winter themed cookies so the client doesn't offend anyone with them. Snowmen, mittens, toques, snowflakes, houses, gingerbread men etc, etc. "
I agree with canoewoman. I was just going to suggest this myself!! Good Luck and have fun!! Post pictures too!
I would use 6 shapes, that way each dozen has two of each cookie. I would also avoid cookie shapes that could be fragile and break easily, i.e. snowflake, reindeer, holly leaves- the tips get over browned. Suggestions- Santa, stars (watch out for brown tips again), tree, candy cane, gingerbread men, mittens. Keep the frosting design simple- people are weird about actually eating overly elaborate cookies. "It's too pretty to eat," kind of thing. Also a simpler design is easier for the production line you are going to need.
Price? $24 per dozen plus packaging if she wants something more elaborate than a styrofoam tray.
Either of these boxes would be nice upscale choice. http://www.nashvillewraps.com/ShowSku.ww?Class=047&Type=584
http://www.nashvillewraps.com/ShowDetail.ww?Sku=bfb6pp
Hi absolutecakes - what a great opportunity for you! I just put a picture of some tea cups & pots into my gallery for some possible inspiration. You might consider baking the cookies and then freezing them undecorated to get a jump start on the order. I've found no degradation in flavor/texture when you do that. Good luck & keep us posted.
Thanks everyone! There are some really great ideas here! This is my first year in business and it's going really well, I just hope I can keep up! I'm one of those types of people that has to do everything myself. I just don't "trust" anyone else to do as good a job. So it's going to be quite the challenge for me this coming year, as I will probably need to hire someone to help, well at least I hope I'm busy enough to warrant it!
Thanks!
Katie
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