Are your cookies priced to make money?

A few numbers, and you get your real cost, a fair price, and a check of what you charge now.

1What one batch costs you

Ingredients for one batch ($) flour, butter, sugar, chips... Cookies per batch Packaging per cookie ($) bag, label, sticker Your time per batch (minutes) mixing, baking, packing Pay yourself ($ per hour)

2Where you sell

Farmers market Pre-orders and pickup Cash only, no fees

Profit you want to keep % of the price

Fees (examples: swap in your own)

Card fee (%) Card fee per sale ($) Cookies per sale average Booth or event fee ($) Cookies sold per event

3Your price

Sell at-

Cost per cookie

Per dozen

Profit per batch

4Check what you charge now

Your price per cookie ($)

Markup or margin? The mistake that costs bakers money

Markup compares profit with your cost. Margin compares profit with your price. Take a cookie that costs $1.00 and sells for $1.50: that is a 50% markup, but only a 33% margin. If you wanted half of every sale to be profit, you needed $2.00. This page always works in margin, after fees, so the percentage you pick is what you keep.

Your time counts as a cost here. If you don't pay yourself, your "profit" is really just your wage.

Cookie Price Check is a free planning aid. It does not give tax, legal or business advice. Check whether your state lets you sell home-baked food, and how, before you start.