Rather Large Cookie Undertaking... Need Advice
Baking By planetsomsom Updated 8 Jul 2012 , 6:28pm by GeminiRJ
Hey there!
I finished a pastry arts program a year ago and since then my employers (I work in a restaurant) have figured it out and sometimes I make cookies at work instead of my actual job (dishwashing... sad I know) so it's all good. The last big project I had at work was 400+ cupcakes for a big party plus a 3 tier faux cake centerpiece and it went better than expected. How it tends to go is they buy the ingredients and equipment, I bake while on the clock so that there is no actual cost to me. It's less than stellar, but I like a little variety in my life.
...
So now I have another huge project, but it's for cookies. Cookies for 1000 people!!! Specifically, coffee flavoured cookies that aren't too sweet, of which I've never heard... but I'm still picking my jaw up off of the floor about the quantity.
400 cupcakes wasn't too bad... it took several hours that I would have spent at work anyway. I'm hoping cookies will be slightly faster than cupcakes. Maybe I'm wrong... We've got many many full sized trays, a 60qt hobart and two convection ovens so I'm sure it must be possible.
I'm here today because I was wondering how I would even calculate the quantity of cookies for this project. The forum search isn't very good. Do I really need to make 3000 cookies? or is it a matter of percentage (in case of lack of interest, or not even noticing that there are cookies in a room filled with 1000 people!?)
Surely it depends on the size of the cookie? And are they decorated?
For that many, I'd be looking to make them a decent size (no harder to cut out a larger cookie than a small one) so you can make 1 per person.
That will allow for those who don't want any and those who want two?
thanks!
The only instruction I have is the flavour. I suppose I could push for more information on quantity.
I haven't figured out what cookie I'm going to make (I usually try a recipe at home and bring in samples for approval), but for this many I'm going to try to find something very easy. I might try sand cookies because then I can just pipe quick rosettes. No decorated sugar cookies for me, thanks! LOL I think I would refuse if that were the case.
Maybe I could do them slowly during the month, stack them all on their parchment papers, wrap and throw them in the freezer? Only problem with working in a restaurant is the staff all have sneaky fingers!
If it were me and I had no direction other than coffee flavored for 1000 people, I would be getting more direction!! But if it were up to me, I would do about 2 or 3 spritz type cookies each. They are small, but since they are pressed through a cookie press, they are quick! I could make 3 dozen of these before I could roll out the dough for cut outs 
They are visually interesting without and decoration at all, but you could dust them with a powered sugar or small round jimmy or espresso powder or flavored jimmy. You could even use a 24" pastry bag and a star tip to make them! Even faster than the spritzer because it holds more. Though you'd have to be careful to make them the same size.
As far as storing them, I know about restaurant workers! ( I was cleaning the walk-in one day and moved a skid and found 11 empty chocolate milk cartons! ) but with a helper, you could make them all in one day. ( I made 250 large wedding cake shaped cookies and iced and fondanted them in 9 hours with 1 helper. I think you could make 10 times the amount (at least) of spritz cookies in the same amount of time, but I would make the dough the day before, and refrigerate it in flatened n pastry bags so it warms up quicker and you can grab and go.
I have 5 full size racks in my oven and could get 54 small drops on a sheet, so it would take 47 sheets to do 2500. But with 2 ovens you could bake 540 at once so you'd only have to fill your ovens less than 5 times each at 10 baking time . It will take as long to squeeze them all out
You can do it! But I would get a helper to put them in the oven, remove them from the sheets, and put a fresh parchment down. I'd take them out of the oven myself to make sure they are baked properly.
woo! Thanks for all the tips!
LUCKILY, information has changed and decisions have been made. We're down to 600 cookies, a hundred tiny fruit scones and 150 cupcakes. And our head chef has volunteered to make ganache for the cupcakes! This is much better and now I'm totally pumped!
Hopefully someone can help me out on this as well....didn't get to see the results of your cookie undertaking so I'm curious!
I need to come up with a quote for different price points for cookies for a company - 200, 400, and 600 cookies. I've read the threads where people talk about pricing out smaller quantities of cookies, but what would you do for pricing this many? The cookies would be smaller size to go with a saucer and mug of coffee, a latte, etc. So I think possibly round cookies would be about 2.5in diameter, and then rectangle probably 1x3 or so. They would be RI and decorated with either the logo or the company name. I'm thinking for the logo it might be best to just get edible images printed up (there are images that are nearly 1.5 inches in diameter) and then the rectangular cookies will need to have the name piped onto them....or that could be edible image too - which will all add to the cost. Any help would be appreciated!!
I was hoping to do square cookies, but I don't think that a circular edible image would look right on them - not sure though as I've never tried doing it this way before so advice on that would be good too! Thanks 
Use the same wholesale pricing method you already use for smaller quantities and multiply by 200, 400, and 600.
That's part of my problem though. I am literally just starting out more professionally and this will be my first time doing something like this. I've done a few little things for before, but it was more 'bartering' just because I wasn't fully ready yet and they were 2 small jobs. Otherwise, I've just done a few paid cakes for friends/acquaintances and then cookies/cakes for friends/family/fun. Now I am registered, have a certified kitchen I will be renting from, and have a connection that I made randomly with a national company, so I need to be able to figure out how to do these cookies for them as the CEO said he would help mentor me to build up my business and go into production (they are not a baking company, they are a coffee company). So any further advice would be appreciated!! Thank you!!
I dont know what your pricing is, but For wholesale, I would give them a better deal for each 200 they order. So if 20 cookies cost $30, then 200 would cost $285, 400 would be $550, and 600 would be $800. That is taking 5%, about 8% and about 11%. You can use your own math, if these numbers don't look right to you.
Use the same wholesale pricing method you already use for smaller quantities and multiply by 200, 400, and 600.
That's part of my problem though. I am literally just starting out more professionally and this will be my first time doing something like this. I've done a few little things for before, but it was more 'bartering' just because I wasn't fully ready yet and they were 2 small jobs. Otherwise, I've just done a few paid cakes for friends/acquaintances and then cookies/cakes for friends/family/fun. Now I am registered, have a certified kitchen I will be renting from, and have a connection that I made randomly with a national company, so I need to be able to figure out how to do these cookies for them as the CEO said he would help mentor me to build up my business and go into production (they are not a baking company, they are a coffee company). So any further advice would be appreciated!! Thank you!!
I suggest you get CakeBoss software today!! And put in your ingredient costs, and your recipe, and put in all your materials, packaging and rental for the kitchen and such so you can see how much it costs you and how much you will make from it.
If you can wait until Sunday, and don't want to buy CakeBoss right now, I'll run it through my CakeBoss then, but you'll have to get all your ingredients, cost and recipe, and share it with me .... Don't know if you want to do that.
I'm not sure about the pricing, but the first thing that popped into my head when I saw you were doing small cookies that go with a saucer and mug of coffee are the cookies that hang on the side of a cup. Perfectly adorable and perfect for what you want! You can get the cutters or adapt a mini cutter. Good luck!
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