Can you REALLY make money selling cookies?

ABSOLUTELY. But probably not if you're charging $2.50 for something that costs you $1.80 to make.

And before you come for me about how "nobody in my area would EVER pay $5 for a cookie," lemme tell you a quick story.

When I owned my bakery, we sold cookies for five dollars each.

Yep. $5 for ONE cookie. And that was about six years ago. Today… that price would be completely different.

But you wanna know the funny part?

I didn't even LIKE making cookies.

I had a very good reason for charging what I did. And it's a lesson I think EVERY baker needs to hear, especially if you're currently working your ass off and wondering why you're not making any money.

Here's what I've learned after more than a decade of running a bakery...

Just because you CAN make something doesn't mean you SHOULD be selling it.

Let me explain.

Why I Charged $5 for a Cookie

Back when I was running The Cake Mamas, we made all kinds of desserts. Cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, rice krispie treats, cookies, you name it.

But cookies? They were a PAIN in my ass.

I didn't love making them. I didn't particularly enjoy the process, and quite frankly, I had a million other things I would rather spend my time doing.

So instead of pricing them at $2 or $3 because that's what everyone else was charging, I made a decision.

If someone wanted me to make cookies, they were going to pay a price that made it WORTH my time.

And for me, that price was $5.

Let me breakdown the numbers for you.

Each cookie cost my bakery approximately $1.80 to make.

We sold them for $5.

That left $3.20 per cookie, or a 64% gross margin based on that cost.

Not too bad for a product I didn't even enjoy making, right? But let's say I had listened to all the people who swear customers won't pay more than $2.50 for a cookie.

At $2.50, that SAME cookie would've left me with just $0.70.

And that remaining money still has to help cover any expenses that weren't included in my original cost, plus leave something for the business.

Same cookie. Same ingredients. Same amount of work. VERY different financial outcome.

See where I'm going with this?

Your Prices Should Make Sense for YOUR Business. Not Everyone Else's.

One of the BIGGEST mistakes I see bakers make is pricing their products based on what everyone else is charging.

They look at the baker down the street, scroll through a few Facebook groups, see what their favorite Instagram influencer is charging, or maybe check what Costco or the grocery store is selling something for, and decide THAT must be the going rate.

Friend...what does ANY of that have to do with YOUR costs?

You don't have the same ingredient costs.

You don't have the same labor expenses.

You don't have the same overhead, equipment, production capacity, or business goals.

So WHY are you letting somebody else's prices determine whether YOUR business makes money?

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

And listen, I'm not saying you can slap whatever price you want on a cookie and expect people to line up around the block.

Of course you need to understand your customers, your market, and the VALUE you're offering.

But you ALSO need to understand what it actually costs to run your business.

Because if the only way you can sell something is by charging less than what your business needs to make...

You don't have a profitable product. You have a pricing problem.

Sometimes the BEST Business Decision Is Saying NO.

Here's another thing I wanna point out about my $5 cookies.

If someone wanted to buy them for $5? GREAT!

I was more than happy to take the order.

But if they thought $5 was too expensive?

That was fine, too. Because I didn't NEED to sell cookies.

And I definetly wasn't interested in filling my schedule with products that didn't make financial sense for my business.

In fact, we did this with other products, too.

At my bakery, we turned away buttercream cake orders ALL THE TIME.

Not because we couldn't make buttercream cakes. We absolutely could.

But because our bakery was built around a different type of product, and we had limited decorators, refrigeration, production space, and TIME.

Taking on every single buttercream order would've meant pulling resources away from the products we actually wanted to focus on.

So we referred those customers to other bakeries.

And guess what? The world kept spinning. Our business kept growing. And we didn't lose sleep over it.

I share this because SO MANY of you are operating your businesses like you have to say YES to every person who asks you to make something.

Custom cake? YES.

Cookies for a school fundraiser? YES.

A last-minute dessert order that requires three separate grocery store runs? Sure.

And then you wonder why you're exhausted, overwhelmed, and barely paying yourself.

Sis...Being booked and busy isn't the goal. Being PROFITABLE is.

Every order requires time, ingredients, labor, and capacity.

And when you're spending those resources on products that barely make you money, you're taking them AWAY from the products that could.

That's not how you grow a sustainable business.

That's how you build yourself a really exhausting JOB.

So, Is Selling Cookies Actually Profitable?

YES. Cookies absolutely CAN be profitable.

But whether YOUR cookies are profitable is an entirely different question.

There's a BIG difference between selling a cookie for $5 and actually MAKING $5.

And this is where so many bakers get themselves into trouble.

They see a $5 sale and think, "Awesome! I made five bucks!"

Hate to break it to ya friend, but you didn’t.

You COLLECTED five dollars.

What you actually MADE depends on what it cost you to produce and sell that cookie.

Let's use my bakery's numbers again:

And remember, that amount remaining is NOT necessarily your take-home profit.

You still need to account for any additional labor, packaging, overhead, fees, and other business expenses that weren't already included in your product cost.

Revenue is NOT profit. And money coming IN doesn't automatically mean money you're KEEPING it.

This is also why understanding the difference between markup and margin is SO important.

Because adding 50% to your costs does NOT mean you're making a 50% profit margin.

If you've been using those two terms interchangeably, you're gonna wanna read this next:

Markup vs. Margin for Bakers: What You're Actually Making

Before You Price Another Cookie, Ask Yourself THESE Questions.

Instead of asking random strangers on Facebook what you should charge for a dozen cookies, I want you to start asking yourself a few different questions.

1. Do I know what this product ACTUALLY costs me?

And I mean ALL of it.

Not just the flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate chips.

I'm talking about the packaging, labor, and any other expenses that go into producing and selling that product.

If you're using ingredient prices from six months ago, or estimating because you can't remember what you paid for butter last week, you need to update your numbers.

You cannot price your products accurately using costs you don't actually know.

2. Is the price I'm charging leaving enough money for my business?

Let's say your cookies are flying off the shelves.

You're selling out every weekend.

People LOVE them.

Congratulations! That's great!

But if you're barely making anything after your expenses, what exactly are we celebrating?

POPULAR doesn't automatically mean PROFITABLE.

And your bestseller might actually be the product that's costing you the MOST money.

3. Is this product worth my TIME and CAPACITY?

THIS is the one I really want you to think about.

Because even if a product is making money, that doesn't automatically mean it's the BEST use of your time.

If you're spending four hours on cookies when you could be using those same four hours to produce something with a much better return, that's something you need to consider.

Your time is LIMITED.

Your production capacity is LIMITED.

And the goal isn't to fill every available hour with MORE work.

It's to make BETTER business decisions with the hours you do have.

It's Time to Start Thinking Like a CEO. Not Just a Baker.

Here's a little perspective shift for you.

A baker asks:

"How much should I charge for my cookies?"

A business owner asks:

"What does this product need to sell for in order for my business to make money?"

See the difference?

One is looking for somebody else to give them a number.

The other is making a decision based on REAL information.

And THIS is the shift I want you to make.

You can be the most talented baker in your entire city. You can have the prettiest cookies, the most beautiful cakes, and customers who absolutely LOVE everything you make.

But none of that guarantees you're building a profitable business.

Talent gets people interested. But your NUMBERS determine whether you can afford to keep doing this.

And if you wanna be in business five, ten, or fifteen years from now?

You better start paying attention to them.

This Is EXACTLY Why I Built Costli.

After years of running my own bakery and coaching thousands of bakers, I've seen the SAME pricing mistakes happen over and over again.

Bakers guessing at ingredient costs.

Using outdated spreadsheets.

Copying competitors' prices.

Or worse, choosing a price based on what they personally feel comfortable charging.

And then wondering why they're working 60-hour weeks with barely anything left in the bank.

I get it. Most of you started baking because you LOVE baking. Not because you wanted to spend your evenings calculating recipe costs and profit margins.

But friend, you can't build a successful business by avoiding the numbers that KEEP you in business.

That's why I created Costli.

To take the guesswork OUT of pricing and help you understand what your products actually cost, what you need to charge, and how much money you're really making.

Your recipes. Your ingredients. Your labor. Your packaging. Your pricing.

ALL in one place.

Because you shouldn't need an accounting degree or a spreadsheet with 47 tabs just to figure out whether you're making money on a damn cookie.

Meet Costli and Start Pricing With Confidence

One Last Thing Before You Go...

I wanna leave you with a little homework.

Take a look at your menu.

And I want you to think about the products you LOVE making... and the ones you secretly DREAD getting orders for.

You know the ones.

The product that takes FOREVER.

The one you haven't raised prices on in three years.

The one customers order constantly, but somehow never seems to put much money in your pocket.

Now ask yourself:

"If I knew EXACTLY what this product was costing me, would I STILL be selling it at this price?"

If the answer is NO, something needs to change.

Maybe you need to raise the price.

Maybe you need to simplify how you make it.

Or maybe it's time to take it off your menu altogether.

And that's OKAY!

You don't have to sell EVERYTHING to EVERYONE to build a successful business.

You just need to sell the RIGHT things, at the RIGHT prices, in a way that actually makes financial sense.

Because this is BUSINESS, friend. Not a bake sale.

And if you're struggling to figure out what to charge, which products to focus on, or how to make your menu more profitable, come join me inside Power Hour.

We'll talk through the challenges you're facing, help you identify what needs to change, and get you thinking like the CEO your business NEEDS you to be.

Because you deserve to build a business that does MORE than just keep you busy.

You deserve one that actually PAYS YOU.