Cookie Pricing Diagram

Stefanie - You should definitely check out Aymee Van Dyke's From Dough to Dollars column on this site, especially Parts 1 and 2 of her cookie costing and pricing series. Part 3, relating to calculating profit margins, will be posting in early January. You can see her full series, so far, here: http://cookieconnection.juliau...rom-dough-to-dollars

Wow - so grateful for this post.  I am taking an online class in order to make my business more profitable but it seems so difficult unless I do large orders - which I have done but they aren't consistent.  I will read the posts but may be back for some advice and maybe even a little support I am feeling kind of down today when I did the numbers last night

Yeah, it's tough to be profitable making super complicated cookies on occasion; scaling up and diversifying to simpler types or other products (and pricing the really complicated ones at what they're worth) are really key.

Thank Heavens of this post!

My friend and I are just starting a cookie business (at home covered under Texas Cottage Law) and we are always wondering is it too much or too little? We currently charge by the dozen $20/dozen and have only had one person turn away but we will not budge in our prices because it does take a lot of work. But thank you for this post. Definitely have to value our work!

how much would you charge for a cookie like this? I am having a hard time figuring out my pricing and I its confusing my customers, currently I sell these for $8.50 a dozen since I am just starting out but I need some other opinions on pricing..i don't want to cheat myself or under value my cookies...I am just not sure what to do, thank you so much ~jenna age 24

Way too low . . . I'm sure you spent more than an hour on them. And I'm sure your time is worth more than $8.50 an hour. Here's a more rigorous post about how to figure out your costs and price to make a profit. It's important to know your cost structure so you can price without losing money. http://cookieconnection.juliau...costs-and-break-even

thank you all so much, I am just starting to do this more seriously and I appreciate all your time and caring to respond to my post, it is very much appreciated I am so glad to be here among other cookiers

Hola a todas hermosas mujeres artesanas.

tengo el Problema Mismo Que los muchas "la VALORACIÓN de mi trabajo" yo no tengo una tienda las vendo por medio de mi página www.dulcesgalletasdecoradas.com

y por recomendacion. Yo vivo en Alicante (España) y las tiendas de aquí las venden entre 2,50€ y 4 ,00€ Pero son de pasta de azúcar punteadas y aplicaciones de pasta de azúcar, solo eso. Digamos que es una tarea fácil. 

Nadie las realiza a mano pintadas o con glass y diferentes técnicas como utilizo entre otras aerógrafo.

comparto que siempre habrá personas que no valoren el trabajo de uno. 

Yo quisiera poner Un saludo valor diferente a aquellas galletas que son pintadasna mano como a aquellas que son más complejas por tecnicas, llevándolas a Un saludo valor de 4,50€ a 5 € c/u. también hay que contar con su envoltorio, si es cierto que la cadena de producción inicia y termina en mi, no cuento con personal.

gracias por este espacio espero algún comentario o consejo 

Here's a rough translation of the post directly above:

Hello to all beautiful women artisans.

I have the same problem as many: "the ASSESSMENT of my work." I have not a store; I sell through my page www.dulcesgalletasdecoradas.com and recommendation. I live in Alicante (Spain) and the shops here sell between 2.50 € and 4 € 00 but all are dotted sugar paste and fondant applications, just that. Call it an easy task. No one paints by hand or uses royal icing or different techniques such as airbrushing. There will always be people who do not value the work of one. I would like to put a different value to those cookies that are that are painted by hand, as those that are more complex due to technical nature, leading prices of € 4.50 to € 5 c / u. They must also have packaging, if it is true that the production chain begins and ends in me. I do not have staff.

Thanks for this space I hope any comments or advice.

Hi, I'm responding the same way as I have to Stefanie and some of the others. In order to fairly price your cookies AND make a profit, you truly need to understand your cost basis in addition to knowing what others are charging in your area. 

You should definitely check out Aymee Van Dyke's From Dough to Dollars column on this site, especially Parts 1 and 2 of her cookie costing and pricing series. She links to a tool which can help you start costing out your work; it is a traditional and widely accepted food costing approach used in most profitable food service businesses. You can see her full series, so far, here: http://cookieconnection.juliau...rom-dough-to-dollars

Hi everyone!

I'd like to say, that here in chile, the cookie business is not too high (at least the good cookie art) what's trendy here is the cake business. Most of the people who sell their cakes and pastries are 99% women, and of course, cakes are more expensive than cookies, that's why i decided to start my own cookie art business (i create my cookies and then sell them) and what i've noticed about this, is that people find the prices "too high", since they think: "well, this is just a cookie". That's pretty offensive, considering all the art work behind it, the time spent, and creativity. I've seen cookie prices (on Etsy) that rounds the 35$ per dozen, and i find that pretty incredible, because the price that i came up with (after analyzing the costs, materials and time) is 23 - 24$ per 2 dozens (approx) and even so, many people still find it "too pricey". Someone once told me: "people don't care about how hard you worked for your cookies, they only care about eating them"... i think it's wonderful when people tell you how beautiful your creations are, and how much they admire your cookie art, but when they directly tell you "i think they're too pricey, in the end, they're just cookies" it's kind of offensive, cause in my case, i take my cookie art very serious, it's what i love to do and it's what fills my soul. 

I stumbled over your Price of $ 24 per 2 dozen. That seems incredibly low. I don't know about wages in Chile, guess they arge lower than here in Germany, and I also don't know about business costs (such as various insurances, taxes, etc.), but that means that you charge $ 1 per cookie. How long do you need as an average to finsh one? I'd guess about 10 min. per piece, based on your uploaded pictures, maybe even longer (and don't cheat yourself, cleaning time, preparing the icing, customer corrspondence, maintaining an onlineshop etc. has to go in this as well!). That would let you make appr. 6-7 cookies per hour = $ 6-7 per hour. Now deduct all the costs you had: cookie dough, colors, icing, electricity, baking paper, bags for packing, taxes, and so on, and so forth. That will probably leave you with $ 1,50 an hour net profit - this seems very low to me, even for Chile. And especially low for this kind of artful product.

I have pricing going on a lot on my mind lately, as I consider opening up a cookie business together with my boss - and I honestly have to say that I will either need to charge 20-40 EUR per cookie (yes, per cookie, not per dozen or whatever), or I will be working for no money at all. I need an average of 30-40 minutes per cookie and I am not very slow - I had the opportunity to compare my speed to people who actually do this for a living and I am about their speed, too. If I had a professional working area and made large amounts of identical cookies, I could be a bit more faster, but even then, no chance to make any of my designs with profit for less than 15 EUR per cookie. Ofcourse, we do have very high side costs in Germany, which make about 40% of this price.

I have to admit that I am reaching the conclusion that it is not worth it. Nobody will pay these prices and I am not willing to work for a couple of bucks an hour. Not if I have to make a living of it.