Hi Cookie Lovers,

I must be on a pricing kick or something because last week I talked about how to make money from cookies and this week I'm talking about pricing cookies themselves. I just think it's important is all!

So pricing. If you've read my How to Make a Living on Cookies post, you'll remember I started out charging 2$ per cookie. That's not a lot but as a beginner, I had to charge accordingly for my skill set. As I learned new techniques and purchased new equipment, I realized that there are several factors that should go into the price of a cookie and that other pricing models I found didn't break it down or charge as I would have liked so I created my own model that factors in the following:

Amount of Colours

Hand Painting

Air Brushing

Text

Hand Cutting

Wrapping

Packaging

Delivery

Allergies

Cookie Size

All of these things take time and effort. If a cookie has more than 3 colours, that's more time mixing frosting. If it has gold or silver accents, I have to wait for the cookie to completely dry then individually paint them on. If I have to use an airbrush, I have to purchase the stencil, the colours and clean the machine (which is not fun) afterwards.....and so on and so forth.

But while these all play a factor, I also wanted to give my customers fair prices for what they want and to me, charging for the dozen to me seems a little unfair. For example say you have an assorted dozen cookies that normally would run 36$ but because you have to put gold on a couple of them, they fall into the higher pricing category of $42 a dozen. To me this doesn't justify charging 3.50 for each cookie when I could have charged you that extra cost for those 3 special ones.

Also, What if a person only needs 15 cookies? or can only afford 6? I wanted my prices to be easy to understand and fair for people of all price points. Therefore, in most cases I charge per cookie using a 3 tier approach for regular cookies and a 2 tier for minis. See below:

Regular Sized Pricing

Mini Sized Pricing

The only thing I DON'T have listed on here is gluten or almond free which is .50$ add on to any cookie.

To me, this is fair and clear about what you get for your money and thus far it has worked very well. The prices are competitive and it really helps me as the baker think before I put too much effort into a cookie that hasn't paid for that type of service. (an issue a baking friend of mine said she had).

Now this being said, once I've made an assortment of cookies, I know how much time and effort goes into each dozen and I can come up with a justification for a set price per dozen. This is why on my purchasing section of the website, you can order cookies by the dozen that have a fixed price. Once you make something, it's easier to make again (IN MOST CASES).

However all things considered, this is what works for me. Other bakers like Sweet Sugarbelle charge on the size of the cookie in addition to other things. Others charge overall per dozen like Issa Cookies with additional costs. For me, keeping it simple and per cookie with my very clear pricing chart is what works.

Hopefully this sheds some light into my particular pricing structure and helps you figure out yours.

Keep on Cookie-ing!

-Ashley