cross post: Ideas to earn an extra $200. a month.

[stef]

I accidently posted this in the survival forum.

Ideas to earn an extra $200. a month.
This is the busy season for graduations, proms, engagements, most likely lots of birthdays, plus anniversaries...

So, if you were the hostess with too many details to take care of, would you pay $75. to $80. for someone to prepare fancy cookie trays for your event? There would be enough for 10 -15 people in this price range.

Later in the year come Thanksgiving and Christmas. Again, lots of women work outside the home and don't have the time to do all the special things they'd like to. Would a specialty platter of mixed, high quality cookies be appealing? Sorry the pictures are so big. This is just a little sample of my recipes. I also do 'fancies'.

[bluemoonluck]

I replied to your post in the SEP thread.....

Basically I think it depends on where you're located. If you live near people who have money and would value homebaked goods (they're very trendy in some areas!), then you could probably charge that much.

If you live in an area with a lower income level, people will just go to the store and buy ready-made cookies - which are already decorated and festively displayed on platters. I see them in Wally World and BJ's all the time, and they're a lot cheaper than you're charging (although their quality is nowhere NEAR what yours is!).

You also would need to look into the legality of selling food made from your own kitchen. I know that's been discussed here before, and the regulations vary by state.

[stef]

Originally Posted by bluemoonluck

I replied to your post in the SEP thread.....

Basically I think it depends on where you're located. If you live near people who have money and would value homebaked goods (they're very trendy in some areas!), then you could probably charge that much.

If you live in an area with a lower income level, people will just go to the store and buy ready-made cookies - which are already decorated and festively displayed on platters. I see them in Wally World and BJ's all the time, and they're a lot cheaper than you're charging (although their quality is nowhere NEAR what yours is!).

You also would need to look into the legality of selling food made from your own kitchen. I know that's been discussed here before, and the regulations vary by state.

Our town has a mixture of low to medium high levels of income. It's a college town, also has various professional groups; (physicians, teachers, attorneys, etc.).

In our locale we have permission to make and sell baked goods, jams and jellies from home. There are more stringent restrictions on hot food items.

[Jennifer L.]

Advertise, advertise, advertise and see what happens. One thing about cookies, if they don't sell they are easy enough to store in the freezer for the family to eat later on. Have you thought about selling at a Farmer's Market? Or start out by selling at the FM and have cards made up to hand out in the bag that tells people you will bake for special occasions? People who go out of their way to buy at a FM may very well be the same people that will pay for party trays.

They look delicious, btw. Good luck with the idea!

[soulsurvivor]

I've paid as much as $60 for a dessert tray that had up to 20 servings. I have a former coworker that still works a job full time and caters on her off hours. She stays swamped with orders, especially wedding cakes. She doesn't advertise and relies on word of mouth to keep her in business.

The dessert tray had mini brownies with fudge icing, layered lemon pudding bars, and chocolate dipped strawberries with decorations. I felt it was a good value and worth what I paid. Everything was packed in good restaurant quality packaging and one of her teenagers delivered it for an extra charge.

So, would I pay $75 to $80 for a cookie tray as shown above? Probably, but I would want some of the "fancies" in there for that price.

Be sure to post your menu/pricing at the local hotels or any buildings that host convention/meeting types of venues. Often those who host business meetings will want some type of refreshment/break item and you could certainly provide a needed service with the cookie trays.

[stef]

I agree the packaging and presentation has to be done professionally. I've done a lot of thinking about this and calculated that an initial personal investment for baking and packaging materials would come to around $350.00 (this would include the $35. local inspection fee of my home kitchen).

Here's a 'berry' treat to thank you for your thoughtful comments. (:

[Joshie]

I hate to be the wet blanket here but, no, I would not pay that much money for cookies from a home baker. If I had the funds to spend that kind of money I would go to a good bakery. People tend to recognize cookies from well known local bakeries. People willing to shell out that kind of money tend to want the fancy name and want others to know where they got their food. How many cookies do you allow per person?

While I am sure your cookies are tasty, I would want fancier ones. I would like some iced with buttercream frosting. Snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, and oatmeal cookies taste good but they're quick, easy, and cheap to make. I would want special cookies I wouldn't make like thumbprints and white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies.

I don't think you would do well around here. I hope your idea works where you are. I would suggest carefully researching local laws before proceeding. Our 4H group sells food at local craft shows. The health department comes out and inspects the kitchen. Everything hot must be cooked on site. The lady who usually organizes it says we're lucky they let us have each family drop off cookies (instead of needing to make them on site). We would not be able to do berries.

I would want to know how often your kitchen needs to be inspected. I would also want to know how much insurance costs. Should somebody say you made them sick in our litigious society, you could lose everything you have if you are not insured.

Can you do wedding cakes? You'd only have to do a cake a month or two to make $200.

[painterswife]

Originally Posted by Joshie

I hate to be the wet blanket here but, no, I would not pay that much money for cookies from a home baker. If I had the funds to spend that kind of money I would go to a good bakery. People tend to recognize cookies from well known local bakeries. People willing to shell out that kind of money tend to want the fancy name and want others to know where they got their food. How many cookies do you allow per person?

While I am sure your cookies are tasty, I would want fancier ones. I would like some iced with buttercream frosting. Snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, and oatmeal cookies taste good but they're quick, easy, and cheap to make. I would want special cookies I wouldn't make like thumbprints and white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies.

I don't think you would do well around here. I hope your idea works where you are. I would suggest carefully researching local laws before proceeding. Our 4H group sells food at local craft shows. The health department comes out and inspects the kitchen. Everything hot must be cooked on site. The lady who usually organizes it says we're lucky they let us have each family drop off cookies (instead of needing to make them on site). We would not be able to do berries.

I would want to know how often your kitchen needs to be inspected. I would also want to know how much insurance costs. Should somebody say you made them sick in our litigious society, you could lose everything you have if you are not insured.

Can you do wedding cakes? You'd only have to do a cake a month or two to make $200.

You make some great points. I live in an area where people will not hesitate to spend that and more but they expect specialty items not the local stuff available at the weekly farmers market. You need to know what your competition is selling and how yours compares. Researching what is already out there and comparing that to your product will yield far better info than asking here will in regards to pricing.

[stef]

Joshie, you make a good point, and I don't feel a bit like you 'rained on my parade' because you don't know my product. (:

I have done cookie catering in the past, just do not have pictures of all I've done.
I don't like baking cakes for some reason, and they don't turn out well for me.

I found an order sheet for a previous client and here are some of the cookies I baked (it was for a large graduation party)
1. Almond butter sticks
2. Chocolate brownies
3. Chocolate crinkles with chocolate frosting and chopped, salted peanuts
4. Cookie pizza; a pan cookie topped with frosting, chocolate chips, m & ms, mini marshmallows, nuts and drizzled with white chocolate
5. Iced and jam filled thumbprints
6. Lemon bars
7. Lemon crinkles topped with a lemon glaze
8. Oatmeal raisin
9. Peanut butter kisses
10. Raspberry bars with white chocolate
11. Chocolate shadows
12. Snickerdoodles
13. Chocolate chips.

It was a big, seasonal project. Many hours of work and very rewarding.
My thoughts at present are turning in the direction of having clients on a more regular basis.
I have a lot of recipes, both plain and fancy. Most people seem to enjoy the traditional cookies more than the dressier ones.

[Joshie]

Stef, I sure didn't want to just sound like a Negative Nellie. Having experience cookie catering puts you in a better situation than most people. Do you have a business license? Tax number? Business insurance? Will your regular car insurance cover you if you're transporting cookies? Will your homeowner's insurance allow you to run a business out of your home? Remember, you will need to pay quarterly taxes on what you think you'll make so excellent record keeping is an absolute must.

I know that you said that you and cakes don't get along very well but I would encourage you to explore this option. Take some of those inexpensive Wilton cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby. As they say, practice makes perfect and you can eat and give away your failures. The ingredients aren't all that expensive. Fondant cakes are popular now but I think most brides in most towns get regular piped cakes. Those fondant cakes can easily cost $100+ for a small round cake.

A cousin made our wedding cake. Heck, I think she made all family wedding cakes. She has worked as a small town school lunch lady and has decorated cakes on the side for a good 40 years. She easily makes more than $200/month for her weekend job.

It sounds as if this is a passion of yours and I wish you very well. Good luck!

[Terri in WV]

I agree with Joshie, if I were to pay that kind of money, I'd want some fancy cookies that were not easily found at the store-nut rolls, cream horns, mini cheese cakes, etc.

Have you thought about fudge? I sold it like crazy and it's so easy to make, but people will shell out the money for it.