Adventures in Selling Baked Goods
 

I mentioned in the "(My) Cookies" thread that I have plans in the works to start selling whoopie pies (a handheld treat that is two layers of cake with a cream filling in between -- like if an Oreo cookie and a cupcake got together and made a delicious baby.) I thought I'd start a thread to track my progress, as I have no qualifications other than my enthusiasm and a willingness to work hard. :)

I'm not expecting to make millions, but hopefully it'll be a lot of fun, and give us some extra income while I continue to stay home with baby Anna.

This weekend, I'm test baking. It'll be a chocolate cake with a cinnamon cayenne whipped chocolate ganache (try saying that ten times fast!) Pictures later today when they're finished.

Introducing the Azteca:

Attachment 45102

Testing out some packaging options.

Attachment 45103

Send some to MEEEEEE to test the international packaging!

Sent by thought transference

Whoopie Pies are a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. ;)

What can you expect to pay for a whoopie pie in PA?

I don't know, when I see one I run away before it jumps my fat ass. :lol:

I saw many on the recent trip through PA and NY in gas stations and 7-11s. Wish I had paid attention to the prices.

We have an farmers market a few blocks from my house with Amish sellers. It's only open Fri and Sat so I will get you some information next weekend.

Meanwhile, check these links out:

http://www.padutchcountry.com/pennsy...ie-pie.asp#buy

http://whoopiepiefestival.com/

The whoopie pie festival is Sept 7th.Strasburg is about 1 hour from the Philadelphia suburbs where many Cellarites reside.

For whoopie pie pricing you can call:

Keeping in mind that you'll be at Farmer's Markets, where everything is expected to be more expensive than regular groceries, and you'll almost certainly have to be more expensive than the 7-11s just to break even on the ingredients, let alone compensate you for your time. I would instead visit the markets you intend to be selling at, and look at the prices of the other homemade confections. All you have to do is be on par or cheaper than they are.

I agree that prices are regional. I can at least get prices from my farmers market. The cost of living in Florida is supposedly cheaper than in PA, so some adjustment would have to be made.

At some point she might want to consider mail order, although she's at a disadvantage because people do not equate Florida with whoopie pies.

It's really a Mid-Altantic, New England treat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopie_pies

Thanks guys!

The last time I was at the market I checked on cookie pricing -- they were $1.25 per big cookie. I'll check cupcakes next weekend and try to price them somewhere in between.

I keep thinking that Starbucks sells cake pops -- ONE TINY BITE -- for $1.50, so I think $1.50 - $2.00 would be a fair price for a 3" whoopie pie.

Rich -- I'm making these at home under cottage food legislation, so unfortunately I'm forbidden from doing mail orders. It has to be a face to face sale.

I'm a whoopie pie fanatic. I'm going to have to visit Florida now, thanks. If you ever make peanut butter flavored filling I will immediately jump in my car.

Anyway. I think I paid $4.50 for whoopie pies at Sherman's Deli in Palm Springs. They were pretty big though, maybe 4 to 5 inches in diameter.

Ha! I took some of the extra chocolate cakes and filled them with Jif whipped peanut butter this weekend. They were delicious, so a PB filling is definitely in the works.

For the record, here's a link to the business page I set up on Facebook, and here's one to the donations page I have for start up money.

I've been so grateful for all of the emotional and financial support I've been getting from friends and family. Completely blew me away to meet my initial fundraising goal in two days.

With great support comes great responsibility. :lol2:

Those definitely looks and sound yummy. I would buy one. :)

Tests this week:
Chocolate + marshmallow
Chocolate + peanut butter
Vanilla + peanut butter + marshmallow
Vanilla + dulce de leche

Trying to assemble 80 pies at once. Dum dum DUUUUUM! (Dramatic fanfare)

delicious.

I just gained five pounds reading your post.

thanks for that. :eyebrow:

BigV, I think it's time for a pilgrimage. You can pick me up in Montana on the way to Tampa. Choco will have them perfected by the time we're there.

Deal.

Things are moving along. I have a logo and a set menu, now.

Attachment 45211

You see that, BigV?

Tonight, we dine in Tampa.

I'm hungry.

That's a nice array of flavors you have there. Have you had your first vendor day yet?

Not yet! I'll be filling out the market application this weekend and hearing back within a few weeks. I had been all ready to fill it out, only to discover I needed to have a picture of my stall in the application. (Boo, hiss.) So that set me back a few days, as I had been planning to cobble all that together after I applied.

Keep your fingers crossed I can get a spot at the market near home! They have about a hundred different vendors, but they like to keep it diverse so they don't allow in too many bakers.

Yum. Your menu sounds divine. Save some Azteca for me!

Attachment 45244

Key West whoopie pies - key lime cake with coconut cream filling

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Final packaging choice.

Application submitted yesterday evening. Should hear back within two weeks. AAAAGGHHH.

Awesome!

If you didn't get accepted to the market, where would you sell them?

It looks like you're doing retail packaging. Could you could sell wholesale to cafes/coffeeshops? Are they prepared in a commercial / health-inspected kitchen? (In FL, does anyone care?)

There are several markets in the area -- the application I submitted last night is to the one closest to home, which is also one of the most popular. I have a back up market in mind if I don't get accepted to this first one.

I'm making them at home under Florida's cottage food law. I'm not allowed to wholesale them. :( Or to ship them, for that matter. Over time, if I do well, I'm hoping to eventually rent space in a commercial kitchen so I can expand. For now, it's a creative outlet that will hopefully bring in a bit of cash.

This is so awesome Chocolatl! I wish you the best of luck, they are looking scrumptious!

Should be hearing back from my first choice market in the next ten days. The wait is kiiiilllliiiing meeeee.

I'm between two options for my back up choice. There's a Saturday market which seems to focus more on arts and crafts, and a Sunday market which focuses on food. I think I'm going to go for the Sunday market. I'll be getting their application tomorrow.

In the meantime, all my business taxes are paid so I am officially open for business! I had my first sale last week -- a friend ordered 20 for her family reunion. :)

From the first choice: "You are currently on the list of vendors to be approved for this market for this season..."

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...th_1241432.gif

Congratulations!

WTG~!

I hope you sell out early and often.

YEAH!!!

Great news! I hope they sell out quickly.

You can not *sell* by mail.. however, nothing is stopping you from mailing out "gifts" to friends. Also, nothing is stopping your friends from donating you your start up costs either.. hint hint

PM me a menu and I will make donations to your greatness.

Aww, thanks guys! But there's also the very real fact that they would not withstand the heat from shipping -- creamy fillings and 95F yield a gooey and yucky mess. Maybe I can send some gifts out later this winter?

Spoke to the market organizer and apparently "you are on the list to be approved" means "we still need to decide on you" as opposed to how I read it, "you'll be approved soon." Back to waiting.:facepalm:

Got the email saying I didn't get approved for the first choice after all. Le sigh. On the bright side, I'm approved for my second choice and will be there every weekend starting Oct. 6! Hooray!

I'm glad you got into your second choice. Too soon to get baking, I suppose, but soon enough.

That's good news! I hope you sell a lot.

Did #1 say why ?

I suppose it's of interest to you only if you had significant reasons
for choosing it as your first choice. But OTOH, it might be something
you would want to know about for the future.

#1 was my first choice because it was closest to home and takes place at a beautiful outdoor mall, so it gets a lot of foot traffic.

They only have so many vendor spots available, and returning vendors get first dibs. They normally have a looooong waiting list, vying for five or six spots, so I really didn't expect to get in. They were also told late in the game they need to change the layout due to traffic concerns, so they had to cut about 20 spots.

I'm now on the wait list, so I may be able to get in next year -- or later this year if some other bakers drop out. At least it wasn't an outright rejection. :)

Very good... best wishes !

Glad to hear you're in! Good luck and I hope your sales skyrocket. :)

Yay Cake!

Thanks all for the kind words! I'm super excited. Now I'm trying to decide how many packages to take in for my first day (which was moved to October 13th). Take too few and risk running out, or take too many and let them go to waste?

At the farmer's market I go to, everyone brings their wares in big coolers, and whatever doesn't sell can just be taken back home again. Or do you bake them on demand the night before, and you're trying to decide how many to make in the first place?

Since you're a new vendor, you might consider cutting up some free samples for people to try.

It might be helpful to do a field study.
Go to the event this coming Sunday and get a feeling for how many
customers the other vendors are getting and selling their products.

Who knows, meeting up with other vendors before your opening might bring unforeseen benefits too.

The trick is the market isn't taking place right now! :) October 13th is opening day -- this one takes place downtown, so they take the summers off. All that concrete would be unbearable in the Florida sun! So I can't go scope it out.

I'm definitely planning to have samples, but legally I have to portion those out at home and not at the market. I am planning to take the whoopie pies in coolers, but they won't keep for a week until the next market day. I think I'll err on the side of plenty, at first, and then fine tune as we go on.

But then again, if you've sold out then some people may say "Wahey! They're that good she's sola out ..." and no wastage is always good ....


Sent by thought transference

One way of looking at the question of how many to make is this:

decide how much money you want to make. actually pick a number.

figure out how many whoopies you have to bake to get that money, including samples, cost of materials, etc.

make that number of whoopies

go sell them

if you sell out, you made your target, you reached your goal, CONGRATULATIONS!

if you don't sell out, evaluate what happened. did you overestimate how many you could sell? did you pick too high a number? was it close enough to be within your margin of error? was your price too high? etc.

....

Of course, you want to make as much money as possible. but there's also something to be said for just reaching your goals. when you eat, you just eat a sufficiency, not all the food you can hold, right? enough is enough. well, anyhow, until you have more empirical data about your sales, picking a goal seems to me like a useful approach.

*****

regarding the samples.

since you say your whoopies won't last a week until the next sale, can you sell them elsewhere before they expire? will you be able to eat them up at home/neighbors/friends between the end of the market and the expiry of the whoopie? what about sample *size* whoopies that could be sold in a sixpack of tinys or given away as individual "samples"?

I'm just thinking out loud here.

GOOD LUCK, THEY LOOK DELICIOUS!!

Big V has some excellent ideas!