Aibu to ask how much you'd pay for these sweet treats?

[user0786]

Hi All,

So I posted a thread yesterday to gather information about a potential business idea I had. We've been struggling financially a lot recently and I've been struggling with my MH so I thought selling a product or a service could help keep my mind busy as well as allow me to earn some extra cash. Thankfully the thread allowed me to realise that there wasn't a demand for that business. However, the posters did suggest another idea based on that business. They suggested a business of selling sweet treats/desserts.

So what would you pay for these sweet treats? What could be a unique selling point that would persuade you to buy if you were local? Any other tips? Thanks in advance!

Around here facebook and market place is full with people selling cupcakes, pancakes, waffles, cheesecakes with branded toppings (oreo, malteser, terrys choc orange etc) at ridiculous prices. Some from their homes, some deliver, some have premises. No idea if they make money.

I would never pay what they are asking for a cheap waffle with a crushed kitkat/malteser/oreo or whatever and some sauce on top. I understand they will have costs to cover but that doesn't make the product worth it to me, but I suspect their market is a much younger age group who cant cook buy that sort of thing so maybe this is not the forum to do market research.

Maybe £4-5 depending on where you are selling them?

I don’t think a treat food / baking business is the right kind of thing to try as a complete business novice in the current climate. Most people are tightening their belts and cutting back on frivolous expenses, not to mention that the current cost of your ingredients and the electricity and gas to create them would wipe out much hope of breaking even, let alone making money. You’ll spend a fortune on certification and equipment and be unlikely to make it back, there are hundreds of little businesses offering this sort of thing all over Etsy and Facebook.

You could make decent money if you can make celebration cakes. The two women I use are booked up months in advance and do it from their own kitchens.

Alternatively, have you thought about bows/hairbands etc? School colours and themed bows are very popular. It also means you'll often have new designs for eg Christmas, Easter, birthday, Halloween, Valentines, or even football teams (champions league/world cup), country ones for Eurovision etc.

Making edibles for sale to the general public would involve a fair bit of bureaucracy as well as insurance.
That could be costly , given the low selling price of your items.

They look lovely, you're very talented

They look delicious
Depends where you're based, what the local competition is and where you're selling them.
I live in central London - in a coffee house i'd expect them to be £4.50 - £5, and there's a couple of trendy markets around Kings Cross/Shoreditch where I'd expect them to be a similar price.
If you can build up a clientele of local cafes, you might get less per cake, but you'd save yourself loads of time selling - a friend of mine used to sell at food markets, time consuming and gruelling.

They look great, but why would I buy from you, rather that a proper shop?

I’m afraid I wouldn’t pay anything. I see tonnes of these businesses on Instagram and as nice as they look, I’ve never ordered because I’d either make something myself or choose something when I’m doing my weekly shop.

I think, for the sake of discussion, we should just assume they taste ‘universally’ good!

Those rose and pistachio ones are sold for £16 for a box of 4 where I am in Bolton. I don't know personally but the baker's always seem to be busy and sell a lot through there Facebook and Instagram pages.
They'll post on their page a few days in advance of baking and take orders, then on the day there might be some left over so they'll to first come first served basis.
Desserts also do well here but mostly large orders for wedding receptions, birthday and aqeeqah parties. I've no idea about the cost of those.

If those are all of yours OP they are gorgeous and I'd buy some.

If you put a description of what each one is(what it has in it)then I think people would be able to give you an idea of if they'd buy them and how much they'd expect to pay.

There are lots of people in the area I live in doing similar and most of them are doing really well and alot of them only sell locally so it can work,I think it all depends on the area you live in really.

Whereabouts are you op?
It does depend a lot on whether the market is already saturated with similar items where you are.
I think cooked meals would sell better but remember before you make and sell food you need the correct hygiene training and certs.
There's a lady here,well a few ladies who make chapattis and sell at all the local Asian food stores, they sell really well if that's something you can do ( apologies if I've misinterpreted your username)

Look at it the other way - how much have they cost? You need to factor in the cost of the op quality ingredients, pots/cases, electricity, delivery, packaging....you need to sell a lot 9f items to earn even £10ph.

Could you do something that is purely profitable like babysitting? You'd need a hygiene certificate and your stock would be expensive. You could end up with leftover stock too.

If you’re struggling financially honestly, putting time and money into something like this is risky. However PP said you need to price according to costs, and then profit. If you pick a random price point you might find you’re not making a loss.

Done to death here too I'm afraid

We are all buying cheaper ranges of food these days. Not many will buy luxury items in this climate

Home cake maker here. There’s a lot to consider, and tbh what random people on mumsnet would pay isn’t the best way to look at this as a business proposition. First and foremost you need to register with your local council as a food business and do the requisite training and inspections. Don’t even think about trying to trade unregistered, councils are watching Facebook and handing out hefty fines at the moment for unregistered food businesses. Be aware that if you use fresh cream or cream cheese you will need a higher level of inspection as they are considered high risk products. You also need to make sure you are fully insured. Once all that is done, you need to consider your costs - ingredients, packaging, utilities, insurance. Then consider your hourly wage. And finally what profit margin you want to make. Don’t undersell yourself, it’s pointless long term. But it’s a tricky climate and it will be hard to establish a viable business with the desserts without an on point marketing and pricing strategy. I don’t want to put you off, but you need your eyes fully open when embarking on something like this.

I'm inclined to agree with PP. It's been done to death since lockdown. Millions of dessert shops, home bakers, dessert delivery services.

I might buy cupcakes, I wouldn't buy desserts. I'd probably only buy cupcakes if you had a stall at a market or something and I was passing, I wouldn't order online. I'd spend £2-3 per cupcake but if it was £3 it would have to taste amazing! Would also expect some sort of multi buy discount for a box of 4.

Are they pics of ones you’ve made or examples of what you would like to sell?

Like PP have stated, cupcakes and desserts are for sale a plenty in my area. The one thing along the
same vibe that seems constantly busy are bespoke birthday cake makers. You have to place an order about 3 months in advance for one of the best ones here. I'm talking, say, absolutely anything you can dream up in the shape of a cake, eg. a tomato sauce bottle replica etc... costs prior to covid were about £30. Last summer I was quoted £50-£80 for a 21st crème egg brownie cake. I couldn't warrant £80 but the £50 version was fantastic. The lady rents a shop unit (probably quite cheap) in a nice but not exclusive residential area.

I would recommend you steer clear of this market OP. Ironing is a good option and has the same advantages and far less pitfalls.

Bit of cannabis in them and £8-10 a pop 👍🏻😂

For the time it will take and the outgoings there really is no money in businesses like this