No matter what the dessert, i was thinking $1/each at the VERY least. Even if you made 100 Treasure bars from one of those kits from the grocery store, they would be worth at least $1 each.

My dessert bars are 2" x 1.5" because I get 32 of them out of an 8x12 pan.

You really think I can get at least $1 each? Or should I cut them larger?

That means I could sell a pan of brownies for $32....am I doing the math right?

Agreeing with Deb...unless you make small items for dessert bars all the time, you are unlikely to have a stash of sheet cake size items that you can freeze until time to cut. I do dessert bars all the time and 100 pcs would be $1.50 pp and would probably serve 20. Additionally, when you do a dessert bar, you need to pay attention to presentation, otherwise you have what looks like a potluck supper dessert table at church. In other words, you can't just pile up some brownies. You have to take the time to decorate every one of those little cuties. Time, time, time!

I think you should charge per person and not per bar.

An 8x12 pan give you 32 bars... say you charge $2.50 per person for a basic brownie... that's 2 pieces per person so 16 people per pan or $40.00 and have a minimum order... $100-200 I think is reasonable... and the funkier flavors charge more. You are not the dessert sampler from Sam's Club... you are offering a gourmet dessert spread. People want artisan desserts they best be willing to pay.

I would just like to add that sometimes we are our own worst enemy. I know your bars are probably close to heavenly, yet you're second guessing yourself about the cost. I've come to realize that everything I bake; I'm sacrificing my time and energy, and pouring everything within me to make them absolutely perfect, and I gather that you do the same. YES you really can get $1.00 per bar!!! Yes your desserts are worth at the very least that much. You have to believe that what you bake and that your time is worth it and soon, other people will believe it as well, not to mention taste it. (I'm sorry for the preaching, but I use to feel the same when someone commented about my prices.....now I laugh because they're eating S*** (store-bought) and actually paying for it)

Ok so 1.50 per person times serving 20 people would only be $30 which is a heck of a lot less than what I was going to charge. Think about it!!

I am experienced as a former pastry chef, artisan bread baker, and many other hats that I have worn and I assure you that no dessert bar of mine has ever come *Close* to looking like pot luck supper.

Part of working is learning how to do things quickly and efficiently and still making them look good.

For cakes I do a per person rate, but for all those little things, like dessert bars, cookies, brownies, chocolate candies, cookies, cupcake, etc. I charge per item. They are most of the time so much more time consuming, and also more times more wasteful of materials, and ingredients. I would go this way, so you gets your money's worth for all the effort. And YES your stuff is worth that, and by all means girl start charging $1.00 a piece at least!

OK now certain people are going back and editing their posts trying to make me look stupid or something after I have replied to their post.

That is not giving me fair help, sorry to the people who are editing their posts after I am replying. I will now have this thread closed and THANK YOU sincerely to all the OTHER people who gave me REAL advice and actually thought about it before typing it instead of editing their posts AFTER I have already read and RESPONDED to them.

I'm talking $2.50 per person PER ITEM... not on the whole. So your original order had 3 different items... so that would be $2.50 per person per item... so $120 min. Even that is piddly really if you think about it.

You are a trained pastry person... you have skillz... you should be paid for them. So if you are going to offer a dessert spread for 20 people... that's 2 pieces per person of each item... 3 items total... that's 120 items. Some items will be pricer per person because of the ingredients and time involved... basic brownies are easier to make than fancy petit fours or mini eclairs or something like that. If you calculate your ingredients... multiply by 3 and THEN add for your time. You need to be making more than you are or you will burn out fast... all that work for basically what you paid in ingredients as profit is NOT enough.

Get yourself a price list per item per person and stick with it... figure out what it costs you to make them and make sure you are making more than a sweat shop worker. You would be better off working for a bigger bakery/function hall making pastries than you are working for what you are working for right now... you'd make more money.

Don't even look at the grocery stores to compare prices... they don't make their own pastries.. they are all frozen and shipped to them... the lowest quality crap out there. I'd be willing to bet that the bakery up the road is getting at least some of their stuff frozen as well. If you are making it all by hand... they need to be paying for that.

I said TWO fifty.. not one fifty... never did I say one fifty. And like I explained... I meant per person per item since different items will cost different amounts you don't want to have a flat rate per platter unless you will offer only certain items and have a basic, premium, and luxury option... then you could do $6-$12 per person flat rate.

I didn't edit anything either... it will say in a post if it was edited (this post will say it was edited since I edited to add that it will say if a post is edited)

I am certainly not trying to make you feel stupid... just that you need to charge more.

You know reading your little edited post rant makes me think you were talking about me. I certainly hope not. I didn't edit any of my posts until the one above this one, and that was just to add that eventually a post will say if it was edited. You misread/misunderstood what I wrote... I didn't change the number. It was always $2.50 and I was specifically speaking of a single batch of brownies... not your original order. Sheesh... and here I was trying to be helpful.

no, No, NO!

See...this is starting to get out of hand.

Please see PM, FromScratch. The comment was not directed toward you.

I have my answer, thanks EVERYONE for your help.

The END.

Happy caking.