Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Food/recipes

For related content, visit our food content hub.

Original poster

How much would you pay for these?

32 replies

Pennies · 30/03/2009 21:47

My village shop has said it might stock my biscuits and I'm wondering how much to charge.

Bearing in mind they cost about 50p each to make but there is considerable time spent icing / decorating them (an hour for 12 biscuits - more for the spotty ones). I use organic ingredients where possible and everything is done by hand. Mine are about 10cm tall so they are quite big.

The shop charges £1 for a pack of four 3cm x3cm homemade chocolate rice cripsy cakes.

I've seen similar biscuits around for anything from 75p to £5.

What would you say / pay? Would you pay more for some than others?

Pic on profile.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pennies · 30/03/2009 21:50

Also, what the picture shows badly is that they are all glittery in some respect, so they're very eye-catching and attractive to small things (esp the female of the species). I'm aiming at pester power, despite the fact that I believe that I am immune to it (yeah, right).

When I made them before a LOT of people thought I'd bought them from the Bisuiteer (web based biscuit selling co) who sell 16 biscuits for £37.50 .

OP posts:
pointydog · 30/03/2009 21:51

hmm. they do look very nice but it's an iced biscuit. Probably depends a lot on where you live and what sort of shop is selling them.

I wouldn't pay more than £1.50 for a fancy biscuit.

Can you reduce the cost per biscuit?

KatyMac · 30/03/2009 21:51

Packaged like that (7 in a flower shape) I think you could get about £4.50 for Easter present type gifts

If looking at individual types - I'm not sure

Would you sell them individually.....maybe 75p each in cellophane & ribbon? or 95p?

notamumyetbutoneday · 30/03/2009 21:51

the biscuits look lovely!!
Not really sure about what to charge though. Might depend where in the country you are? Im oop North so a shade out of touch with ridiculously inflated london prices.

iwontbite · 30/03/2009 21:52

i wouldn't pay more than £1.20, if they were advertised as hand-made and organic,

stealthsquiggle · 30/03/2009 21:52

Our local farm shop has similar sized ones (animal shapes) for about £1.50, I think (I always go "how much, NO WAY, we can make them at home" but they still stock them so they must sell ).

stealthsquiggle · 30/03/2009 21:53

Presumably you are going to pack them in cellophane bags or something similar?

Trinityrhino · 30/03/2009 21:53

why does it take you an hour to ice 12

notamumyetbutoneday · 30/03/2009 21:54

Agreee about maybe reducing costs rather than risk charging too much. Maybe not ice the whole biscuit, ie just a pattern on the biscuit or not have the glittery effect?

sadly I think many talents such as baking and cake-decorating are a labour of love rather than a way of making any serious money.

JackBauer · 30/03/2009 21:55

I wouldn't pay more than £1.50 max I'm afraid, but I suppose it depends where you live in the country.

feedthegoat · 30/03/2009 21:56

About £1 to £1.50 tbh. Our local bakers sells iced gingerbread biscuits for 75p. Maybe not as pretty as yours but current design is a chick sat in half an egg so appealing to children. Again I'm in North so things may be different price wise!

marmitebabe · 30/03/2009 21:56

How big are they? When you say 10cm tall do you mean deep? How long and wide - approx?
Picture looks super and from that without knowing size I'd say £1 each, but maybe more if they are super-size.
I'd sell them separately - as a quality product rather than 5 for a fiver - like a market stall (although we have some very nice quality market stalls around here!!)
Some of the fancy cupcakes sold on market stalls are individually wrapped and hell-ishly expensive.

Original poster
Pennies · 30/03/2009 21:57

We're in Herts, so there's a mix of those who will do the Lo don price thing and those who are a bit smarter .

I intend to sell them individually, each packaged in celophane with ribbon and with a laminated backing card (pale yellow) in the bag detailing ingredients.

The shop is a little village shop that often sells things that villagers provide for stock as well as your baked beans, jaffa cakes, milks etc. Recently we had some horseradish from someone's allotment. There are often homemade cakes (which sell at £3 for a vicky sponge). In the summer they have a tea room out the back and customers can buy cakes / biscuits from the shop to have with their tea.

If it wasn't for the state of the art till you'd think you'd gone back in time to the 40's. It's lovely!

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 30/03/2009 22:00

There seems to be a reasonable consensus that you could probably get away with £1.50 once packaged - then look for ways to streamline production / cut costs

pointydog · 30/03/2009 22:01

£3 for a whole cake, you see. So it's unlikely you'd get more than £1 for a biscuit.

I know all your glittery stuff will look lovely but I think you are too "involved" with your biscuits. Too personal. Give them plain pastel coloured icing, no frills, and you'd get the sane price for less cost.

MintyyAeroEgg · 30/03/2009 22:01

They are lovely Pennies. I wouldn't buy them because I am immune to pester power. But if I weren't I guess I would pay about 70p per biscuit.

Lol lol hollow lol at the thought of £37.50 for 16 biscuits!

DSM · 30/03/2009 22:02

Seriously - why does it take you an hour to ice 12?

Jux · 30/03/2009 22:04

I think £1.50. Don't think I'd pay more, even if I knew they were hand made and organic.

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 30/03/2009 22:05

Sorry, couldn't get further than the second psot.

16 BISCUITS FOR THIRTY SEVEN QUID????

Farking ell.

Some people are loons.

Original poster
Pennies · 30/03/2009 22:06

It takes an hour (max) because it's sugarpaste and royal icing. There's a fair bit of gadgetry going on and also I'm not a professional so I'm learning on the job. These are about by 3rd batch ever so I'm still mastering the tricks of the trade.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pennies · 30/03/2009 22:09

Interesting. I thought about £1.20p, so i'm not that far out. Bearing in mind that's what the shop would sell them for I will be selling them at less than that to the shop (prob 75p).

So, whilst it's unlikely to pay the school fees it is still nice to potentially get paid for my hobby.

OP posts:
pointydog · 30/03/2009 22:11

seriously, ice them with normaL icing in pastel colours thus greatly reducing cost and time and make more money. Sprinkle on a bit of food glitter if you must.

Original poster
Pennies · 30/03/2009 22:14

Well, today I experimented with royal (=normal?) icing and the results weren't as good as with the sugarpaste. The flower in the middle is royal icing.

I opted for royal, rather than glace or butter, because it sets hard and so it won't get trashed whilst in transit or on the shelf.

OP posts:
Original poster
Pennies · 30/03/2009 22:17

Oh and also my piping experience is non existent, so obviously as I get more confident I'll be able to be more productive.

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 30/03/2009 22:21

Sugarpaste will give you a better finish, I agree - as will royal icing - you just need to roll it thinner and find other shortcuts.

Also - and I guess this doesn't help as they probably only want 12 at a time - but larger batches would be faster.

Swipe left for the next trending thread