From Dough to Dollars: Part III

Hi, Mary LaDisa, Congrats on making your first post. I look forward to many more to come!

Oh gosh, perhaps never . . . That contributor left the site unexpectedly many years ago, and I never found someone to finish the series, nor do I have time to do it myself. So sorry, but sometimes life gets in the way of well conceived plans.

ok, thank you

Hi! I'm new here too. I also really liked these posts and they lead me to the great books and resources of Small Food Biz, which I am currently using to guide me toward selling cookies for the first time.  I have a question about the product cost and pricing tool spreadsheet which I purchased and downloaded from the site. It allows you to cost a cookie recipe but then there is also the added cost of the frosting. Would I then create another sheet just for the frosting? Or would I calculate how much frosting would be needed for one batch of cookies and add it to the same spreadsheet? How have others tackled this dilemna? Thanks!

@CarolineMc posted:

Hi! I'm new here too. I also really liked these posts and they lead me to the great books and resources of Small Food Biz, which I am currently using to guide me toward selling cookies for the first time.  I have a question about the product cost and pricing tool spreadsheet which I purchased and downloaded from the site. It allows you to cost a cookie recipe but then there is also the added cost of the frosting. Would I then create another sheet just for the frosting? Or would I calculate how much frosting would be needed for one batch of cookies and add it to the same spreadsheet? How have others tackled this dilemna? Thanks!

Welcome! I think you could handle it either way (or with a combination of ways*), as long as what you ultimately charge encompasses the cost of all that goes on and into (the labor) the cookie. *When I had my shop I used a different costing program, but I costed out all basic recipes separately and then allocated what I would need of each when pricing out any custom project. Hope that answers your question.

Hi Julia, thanks for your reply! Yes, looks like I could do this a couple of ways. Next step is that I need to investigate how much frosting is required for a batch. Dotty Raleigh of Sugar Dot's eBook will really help with this. She has a great eBook I recently purchased called, "How Much Icing to Make" that I found fascinating and highly recommend. I always struggled with how much icing to make but she has a mathematical solution to this issue. Now it is time to experiment and determine just how much I will need! Enjoy your weekend!

@CarolineMc posted:

Hi Julia, thanks for your reply! Yes, looks like I could do this a couple of ways. Next step is that I need to investigate how much frosting is required for a batch. Dotty Raleigh of Sugar Dot's eBook will really help with this. She has a great eBook I recently purchased called, "How Much Icing to Make" that I found fascinating and highly recommend. I always struggled with how much icing to make but she has a mathematical solution to this issue. Now it is time to experiment and determine just how much I will need! Enjoy your weekend!

Great! I just weighed a typical cookie before and after it was iced (the difference being the weight or quantity of icing used), and then added a small overage for loss in bowls and bags. If you weigh everything, it should be pretty straightforward to determine average quantities used.

I was thinking of weighting them as well! Thank you for your reply and for your help! I really appreciate it It's great to know that you can come to a solution using a couple of methods without guessing or estimating. Especially when money is involved!