Please scroll through photos! These are my 4 inch wide, 1 inch thick chewy brown butter cookies. I ran my costs and how much each cookie costs, and to be making a profit that's worth my while, 6 dollars seems to be the perfect number considering my labor, gas, ingredients etc.
However I'm scared people will think I'm overpriced, I recently got my cottage food license and professional packaging in bulk. My plan is to go to shopping centers / malls three hours a day every week 5 days a week trying to sell 50 cookies a day.
So far a local restaurant has been able to sell about 20 consistently a week (it's a pizza place with older clientele) so I'm a bit hopeful, but I'm worried still that I won't get bites. I live in San Diego California, a star bucks cake pop is 4 bucks, a single crumble cookie is 5 bucks, nothing Bundt cakes mini is 8 bucks. Do you guys think 6 dollars a cookie is bad for me?
by Spiteful_Brunette
35 Comments
For a similar sized cookie at a bakery here (Long Beach), I’m paying 3.79. And it’s vegan. But it’s an establishment and they’re popular for pies and cinnamon rolls.
I don’t think $6 is overpriced, but it’s definitely not competitive if something as popular as Crumble is going for $5.
I think you’d get more traction if they were $5 or even $4.50 if you can swing it.
It does truly depend on your area. If people can afford it and make decent money they are more likely to buy. Where I live they wouldn’t sell because a majority of the people couldnt afford it. You could always try it and see what the reactions are.
Another thing you could do is free samples. That would let people know if they would like one and would make them more likely to buy. Good luck on your new business!
I probably would not pay $6 for one of those cookies and I live in SoCal. But, I would probably buy 3 of those for $15, if it was marketed as a “pack of cookies” and I wasn’t paying too much attention.
ETA oh I just swiped through the photos and these are *big* cookies! is there maybe something else you can call them? like mini-cookie-cakes or something?
cookies look great but i think $6 is kinda high. can’t really compare prices with starbucks as people going in are already expecting to pay a premium for the brand. unless you have some type of following already. also for the shopping centers and malls you plan on going to, does it cater to higher income or no frills type of malls?
but good luck as your cookies look fantastic!
You may be able to get $6 if you have the means to really exploit social media. Get pictures and some young people raving about them on Insta and/or Tiktok. They are photogenic, so that is already a positive point.
If something is trendy and blows up on social media, people will stand in line for hours and pay anything to post a picture with it.
I’m a Boomer. I’d never pay $6 for a cookie. I walked into Crumbl once, looked at the prices, burst out laughing, and left. But, I’m not your target audience, so – who cares what I’d buy.
For the record, they look delicious.
$6 is high. Since you’re not established, i don’t think you can charge that much.
I don’t need to watch my spending and I still wouldn’t spend more than $5 for a cookie, and that would be if it was from a well known bakery that is known for quality ingredients and good execution
I can’t see myself spending more than $4 on a cookie from a pop up at a mall. They look great though!
I wouldn’t pay $6 for a cookie, sorry.
Have you tried using the same amount of dough for several smaller cookies to sell as a pack? Even though it’s the same, it can trick the mind.
But yes, I would find that very overpriced.
Do sales. Mark it down for one week and see if it sells better then you’ll know if you need to adjust your prices.
These look like brownies. I think if you marketed them as such the price would sound more reasonable.
You live in an expensive place, so if people are paying chains $4 for a cake pop and $5 for a cookie, it’s likely people will pay $6 for a cookie if you market it right. I wouldn’t pay that, but I don’t live in California.
You could also find an entirely new name for them—a cute proprietary name that makes your item appear very special. Also, try $5.75 instead of 6.
Another thing: I don’t know what you consider a worthwhile profit (It may be unreasonable for all I know), but you should also consider how you can make your kitchen operations more efficient to get the same quality product in less time/for less labour. What equipment are you not using that you could use? Have you tested alternative workflows or are you basically doing things how you did in your home kitchen on a smaller scale?
I live in San Diego and wouldn’t pay $6 because I can go to a bakery or Whole Foods and know I’m getting guaranteed value and (at least to a degree) regulated cooking conditions.
While what you are charging may not be too far from what other companies are charging, they benefit from brand recognition.
Since this is a specific/trendy type of cookie where you bake in a mold/biscuit cutter, I can also see how it may help with sales/appeal.
You are a talented baker and it’s clear you bake with love!
Pricing is difficult! No one will ever tell you they would gladly pay more, and you will always be compared to cheaper alternatives even if they’re worse, or unavailable, or inconvenient.
The thing is, however, it’s much easier to lower pricing than raise it (slowly! Otherwise people will think something’s wrong), and when you’re making something premium, pricing becomes part of your messaging.
Keep exploring other avenues for distribution. Look for premium outlets that might be willing to offer something expensive to their clients, hotels for instance, maybe specialty shops. Try to speak to people in those places. Don’t ask them how much they are willing to pay straight up, but ask them about what cookies they buy, where, when, etc. Use that to map out other possible sales locations and to scout other cookies and their price points.
If you can’t bring sales numbers up that way, then you may need to adjust pricing slowly downwards until you find your sweet spot. You may need to look for some kind of efficiency in your process (maybe you can reduce time spent or improve batch size?) to accommodate.
Good luck!
I’m in the UK and there’s a lady near me who sells baked goods from her home, via self-service from a little shed outside her house. She’s a professional baker and her food is amazing. She charges £10 for a box of 4 large cookies, maybe 3 inches diameter but thin. For more specialist or bigger pieces, she’ll sell them 2 at a time for £10 or £12. But often the things she sells at the higher price per item also look very high-end, like beautifully presented mini pavlovas, for instance.
Your cookies look like they’d taste delicious, proper home baked goods. But is your presentation on point? Wrapped and on the shelf, do they look like they’re worth the extra dollar?
This is meant kindly as I get that your food is probably worth what you need to charge, but does it look worth it to a customer?
No shot established or not.
These look amazing, but holy shit on that last photo they are THICCCC. That’s not a bad thing, but getting people to buy a gigantic, expensive cookie when they don’t know the quality and you’re not an established brand might be tough. Maybe make them a little smaller so you can lower the cost. I think more people might try them then. Good luck! 😊
Zero chance I would pay $6 for a single cookie. I think you’ll struggle with that pricing, especially being new and not having any real hype behind the product that could justify the price.
Maybe sell them in packs? Like a 3 for 15 or 4 for 20 deal? Makes it seem like a better deal to buyers.
Edit: typo
I feel like you shouldn’t call it a cookie because technically it’s more than that. Maybe name it something cool like deep dish cookie 🤣 or a hybrid name. A little marketing goes a long way, a cool name a nice little slogan and 6 dollars doesn’t seem like a bad deal
Something I’m not seeing anyone mention and maybe this isn’t the feedback you’re looking for. You’re saying you need to charge $6 to make a profit but have you asked yourself why? I count at least 10 different kinds of cookies with brand-name mix-ins and buttercreams. Yeah, your cookies are going to be expensive to make doing that. Do you at least shop in bulk?
You’d be better off doing fewer types of cookies until you are more established. Pick 4 or 6 at a time and see how they do. Doing over 10 cookies out of the gate you’re spending too much on ingredients and you’re going to have waste if they don’t sell before they start drying out. A lot of these don’t look like they would freeze well.
I’m going to be honest, this is a baking page so we’re all pretty capable of making these cookies so our opinions are going to be harsher than your average customer. I absolutely would not pay $6 for cookies that look like they are trying to copy brands that already exist. I’ve never bought from Crumble because I’ve heard they are terrible. That is what you’re going to immediately be compared to.
If I’m buying a $6 artisan cookie, it should be unique and look like it’s made from quality ingredients. Not candy bars and chocolate chips. That’s just my snooty opinion, so again probably not reflective of your average customer. I’m on the East Coast next to DC and people absolutely would pay those prices here at the right place with the right marketing.
What does your setup look like? Do you have a table and branding? That makes a huge difference and is a big factor in how these will sell. What do you mean by “go to shopping centers/malls 3 hours a day”? Are you just selling out of a box asking random people to buy your cookies? Because that’s a definite no.
It’s really great that a local restaurant is selling your cookies! Amazing in fact! Nothing I’m saying is meant to discourage you. I bake and do craft fairs so I know that branding and the right audience can make or break a good product. This is the right place for advice and I hope you are successful.
The only way I’m spending $6 on a cookie is if it’s a giant cookie as big as my hand sorry. When I can buy an entire cookie cake at the store for $12 your cookie has to be both big and delicious to compete at $6
I live in San Diego and I wouldn’t pay $6. They look good, but I would probably pay $4 at the most. Can you try making them smaller? Batch and Box (in La Jolla) sells half a dozen for at least $25 (you can end up paying more for their seasonal cookies).
Ridiculous price.
6$ is too much for one cookie that isn’t an oversized cookie , imo.
It would help if you added pictures of the cookies that truly anchor the size.
I know a 1/2 sheet pan is 18×13. You have 5 rows of cookies on one 1/2 sheet pan. That doesn’t jive with 4” diameter cookies. They do look close together, but 5-4” cookies needs 20 inches not 18.
So, you clearly have variability in your sizing. On a latter photo you only have 4 rows. So, something to definitively show size would be helpful.
$6.00 seems steep to me and I live in Chicago. Bu, also I wouldn’t buy a cookie that big because I doubt they would keep well once sliced into 1/2s or 1/4s.
I do think that Crmbl cookies are abominations. So, I may not the best judge. You need to find an audience like my College Offensive Lineman son and his buddies to take on a cookie that size.
Final comment about the price. At $6.00 a cookie I’m expecting something north of Hershey’s chocolate. I’m not saying you have to make the whole cookie out of Vahlrona chocolate. Having “Hershey” as the brand chocolate on top of the cookie doesn’t scream
“ premium” to me but your price certainly does scream “premium”.
Good luck
That’s like Disneyland prices- I would consider lowering the cost for sure.
That is absolutely absurd. About twice as much as what I pay in Toronto for similar stuff
One of my baking coworkers sells her cookies $12 for 6pc look to be the same size too
I would not pay 6 dollars for a cookie unless it was a very very large cookie, and even then I probably wouldn’t want that much cookie. I wouldn’t buy this cookie because I don’t think I would be drawn to an inch-thick cookie and if I were interested, the price would tip my decision to no.
I would never buy a 6$ cookie but I’m frugal
Absolutely tf not.
No,I would not pay $6 for any of those cookies.
>a single crumble cookie is 5 bucks
That should tell you everything you need to know about your pricing. You charge 20% more than Crumbl, a well-established viral cookie brand whose cookies are even bigger than yours. Just answer this question:
What about your cookies do you think customers value so much that they are willing to pay 20% more for a smaller-sized cookie? What USP are you offering?
Yep, I agree with the comments. I wouldn’t pay $6 for those.
Maybe if they were a bit more creative in terms of toppings? Like unique dried fruits and nuts combo (pistachio and fig, ricotta cheese and apricots etc) or some other interesting and unusual toppings.
Tbh, I would rather buy normal cookies and eat them together with the toppings bought separately (choco bar, biscoff biscuits, oreos). There’s nothing special to be worth that premium pricing.
I’ll be pretty blunt; absolutely you’re overpricing your cookies. Given the size of your cookies and the fact that I can literally see the ingredients just shoved in/slightly melted on top, I can safely say that I can produce your exact product for $2. Either you’ve never made cookies and it is taking you too long to pump these out, which would lead you to believe your time is worth much more than it is. OR You are buying your ingredients for far too much at the worst possible locations. In any case, I hope you succeed. Sincerely.
I’m genuinely saddened by the comments recommending shitty marketing or preying upon people not paying attention.
These cookies are not worth $6. Full stop.
You’re comparing yourself to Crumbl, Starbucks, et al. That’s like starting basketball and being like, “Well, LeBron puts up these numbers, so…”, which is absurd.
Like others have said, you either need to source your ingredients better or change your recipes.
Also, Hershey’s sucks.