The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hi I have a question

balletly's picture
balletly

Hi I have a question

Hello! I am selling bread to my friends to help my parents pay for my ballet training. How much should I charge? 

BaniJP's picture
BaniJP

Depends on size and how complex and artisanal your bread is. Standard baguette made in 4-5 h - maybe 1,50-3$, depending on size. Super artisanal sourdough loaf with seeds and nuts - more like 3-5$.

Calculate the ingredients (water, flour, salt, yeast, electricity for oven and mixer, etc.) and add a little for your effort.

You can also go to a good bakery and see what they charge, maybe add a little more since you are working on a smaller scale.

BGM's picture
BGM

Hard way to make money. Definitely check out a local Artisan Bakery or better yet a farmers market. There are some indoors in February.

Don't be shy, if it's good and unique it worth more if it's just more of the same, good luck! Find a niche, Cheese and Bacon? Apple and Cinnamon?

bread1965's picture
bread1965

If you lived in a small rural town then I think the 3-5$ price for a good sourdough might be fair but I don't know. But if you lived in LA or NY or some big city like that I'm sure they're not selling sourdough for that but probably twice that.. my 2 cents. I would research bakeries in your town or city.

Turbosaurus's picture
Turbosaurus

I live in spitting distance of NYC and a decent sourdough is $4-5. A Brioche is ~$7.  
if I make my own, the cost is 1/3 or less.  if I sold it for triple, I would earn roughly 22 cents an hour, lol. Not including the utilities to heat on oven or investment in machinery or equipment, in which case, (much like my student loans) it’s impossible for me to live long enough to make back my initial investment!  
For me it’s about enjoying the learning and investigating, experimenting and hopefully someday mastering, or becoming competent, feeling good about my achievement, and the emotional and social aspect of bread making and bread sharing. 

 

Turbosaurus's picture
Turbosaurus

My marketing tips for you:

Make small loaves, only sell super fresh, and deliver before dinner when people are hungry!.  Everything tastes better when you are hungry.  
People hate waste and psychology says people remember “peak and end” of any experience be it pleasure or of pain.  There should not be any leftover bread... the more full they get the less enjoyable the “end“ will be.  they should want more bread when they run out of bread.  This is not about giving people “their money's worth” this is a fundraising campaign where people get good feelings, and if they get good bread too, they will be back all the time. 

Only sell fresh and small and try to deliver/pick up at peak hunger times.  If you can get it to the buyer hot that would be ideal because olfaction.. the sense of smell is extremely influential... that’s why Cinnabon is a multimillion dollar industry.. nobody ever though “I really need a cinnamon roll” until you walked into the mall.  Make breads that are olfactory; think about adding herbs to the dough or sprinkling small ( inexpensive) amounts of high quality aromatic cheese ( eg use Locatelli/Romano rather than Parmesan) or making a good sourdough, adding caramelized onions, or rehydrating dried onions then putting them on top. 

Make decent bread then Overprice it like crazy. Americans love the idea of child businesses/Ambition/meritocracy.  Make sure to promote you are fundraising, not competing with bakeries.

make sure you can make a great bread and try to make it interesting -something they can’t compare 1:1 with the average supermarket loaf.   Good luck!