Church Fair Prices

[ScholesPanda]

I am organising the kitchen for our church fair for the first time. Do people think these prices are reasonable or not? For context, in the south of England, mixed area, some wealth, some poverty:
Bacon/ Sausage/ Veggie Sausage Sandwich: £2.50
Tea : £1.00
Coffee: £1.50 (Filter)
Squash: £0.50
YABU: Your prices are too much for a fair
YANBU: Your prices seem reasonable to me

If you offer free squash, £3 & £1 hot drinks you will probably make little/no profit after taking account of all your costs to provide including for eg disposable cups for squash, hot water & washing up liquid for mugs, heating costs for the day, extra bits and bobs like napkins, sauces for the rolls.

Making money charging for items is hard.

Sometimes you can actually make more profit simply asking for donations on the door.

I don't agree with those saying make tea and coffee the same price, coffee is much more expensive to make. And the less expensive tea will appeal to the older crowd.

£1 for tea/instant coffee is normal for school/church fairs. £1.50 for filter probably then sounds right. Make sure you have plenty of milk, sugar and sweetners.

Sandwiches... depends how much the raw products cost! Again we charge £2.50... but are very good at getting some donations of bread, teabags etc to help off set the cost.

It's a church event.

The coffee is not 50p more per cup. So the additional is more profit, which is bad form.

I would say £1.60 for coffee and tea and £3 for the sandwich. The sandwich is much more expensive to make. I assume you e worked out how much it costs to make? Squash at 50p fine. Are you having cakes? A good earner is selling donated cakes or buying mince pies and selling them for 50p a pop.

Your prices are fine. Stick to 50p increments if you do change anything as it makes the adding up nice and easy.

I think it’s fine.

At a church fair recently we were charged £2.50 for a tea and £4.50 for a bacon and egg roll, so your prices seem good to me. At ours the prices for the filled rolls were variable from £3.50 to £5.50 depending on the filling, which seemed a bit faffy.

It wasn't in aid of the church itself though, and they forgot the egg in my roll (I didn't complain, CBA)

We do free squash for the kids but the other prices are the same as yours

Our church fair is entry £3.50 and that includes the tea room - tea/coffee and cakes

I'd stick with £1 for tea and coffee (maximum £1.50) but up the sandwiches a little. Definitely add instant hot chocolate as well. If tea went up to £2 at my church, there would definitely be several who wouldn't buy any due to lack of funds, but they would pay £1.

Why is it bad form to aim to make some money at a fundraiser?

Use ‘recommended’ prices where people pay what they can. If they can afford more, the extra goes to the church roof, if they can’t, they can still have a mug of tea with a friend and a glass or squash for their child.

For ease of giving change I’d make the recommended price for rolls £3 and coffee £2. A filter coffee and a bacon bap for a fiver is cheap these days and you need to make sure you cover the costs and allow for a profit.

You might not sell much squash if you are in a more affluent area. Juice may be more popular.

Drink and mince pie or cake deal for those who don't want a sandwich. Also, are you offering a veggie sandwich option as well?

Soft drink cans are also extremely popular at ours... we can get 3x24 (72 cans) for £24 in quite a few places, and sell them for £1 each.

She's written veggie sausage as one of the options in her opening post.

Why not have tea and coffee £1, squash 50p, sandwiches £2 and then have a raffle - tickets £1 and raffle unwanted, second items? This way people on low incomes can socialise and others who want to donate can separately?

I’m in the south with a similar demographic. I think your prices are about right. Definitely don’t charge the same for tea and coffee if it’s decent coffee as opposed to a tea bag.

I would not bother with squash but I’d have cans of soft drinks and cartons of juice.

I think your prices sound perfect, they are the same as what we charged at a school fundraiser earlier in the year and we did a roaring trade! Ty not to overthink. Nice and easy round figures both for adding up and giving out change. My only slight addition as a PP suggested is a hot chocolate which I’d price at £1.50.

Good luck and I hope it’s well supported.

It's bad form to try and fundraise at a fundraiser?

Sorry I was speed reading on my commute to the office! @sollenwir

I think the prices are spot on. I live in a similar demographic to you and it's what I'd expect for a family church event. It needs to come in cheaper than Gregg's, which it does 😁

Everything is over priced nt about 50p. A couple with 2 children are looking at around £15 for a drink and a sandwich. I think it's a bit steep .

Also need to make it easy on yourself regarding change so keep prices to whole pounds (unless you have a card reader)
The Christmas fete is also the big fundraiser for the church each year. We often do free squash and biscuits for the children

YANBU but you could charge more for the sandwiches and maybe tea.

These things are built on people being prepared to step up and organise. Whatever you decide is OK, the main thing is you are doing it. You'll sometimes get moaners on either side, often on both sides for the same prices. That doesn't mean you were wrong. Often they are just making conversation! (ooh you're undercharging me etc) so just banter back saying they got a bargain so would they like to put more in for the raffle, or if they say it's too much then it's all for a good cause etc. Do not take it personally. The decisions you make will be absolutely fine.