Do you want to know how to start selling baked goods from home? Are you a fan of popular Instagram cookies or interested in developing a cookie business plan to figure out how to make money selling baked goods from home?
Whether you want to run a sugar cookie business or have several cookie business ideas, you need to know how to sell cookies from home once they’re made. You will need to look into your local laws and regulations, and you’ll need to get used to using social media.
Wondering how to sell my homemade cookies? This article goes over how you can market your cookies as well as how much you should charge for the cookies you want to sell. You may be surprised to see how much you can sell custom batches of cookies for and at how much money you can make by selling just cookies locally. It’s easier than you think to make profit-making baked goods, and people are going to love the products that you put out.
You may want to look into starting your business online with your own personal website as well as different business pages, so sit down and develop your bakery website first. Then, you can market your business on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms. Doing this will allow you to reach the most people, so that you can build a customer base who is interested in buying from you in the future.
Start your cookie business online before you ever make your first batch for sale. Why? You want to establish your business and build up interest. Post questions to friends, have them share your site and have an official online opening date. Take preorders, and be ready to hit the ground running when your cookies are finally on the menu.
How to Package Cookies for Sale
Depending on the state you live in, there may be different requirements for packing cookies for sale. Baked good packaging ideas include using saran wrap, plastic bags, Tupperware, cookie boxes and other containers.
Wondering how to package sugar cookies for sale, how to package muffins for sale, or how to package baked goods for sale? It depends on who is buying and how you’re selling the goods. Most states require you to package the items so that they’re sealed before you deliver them. You should not allow someone to take cookies off a shared plate, for example, since this could be a health code violation.
So, what’s the best way how to individually wrap brownies or how to wrap individual cookies? You may want to invest in paper or plastic bags or box-style containers. In Kentucky, as one example, you cannot mail or ship products to your customers. Instead, they may need to pick them up, or you may need to deliver them directly. Packaging your items individually or in a secure box is best for transport.
If you’re working with a frozen cookie dough business, make sure that your cookie dough still falls under your state’s cottage food laws. Selling homemade cookie dough could spread serious illnesses, so you need to be sure that you keep the items frozen and ready for delivery or pickup.
There are many ways how to package cookies for sale, but you will need to ask your local health authority which ways are appropriate for your business. Most of the time, plastic or other sealed wrappers are appropriate for individual items. You may also be able to use cardboard boxes or other containers, depending on how many items you’re selling and how they’re being transported to their destination.
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How to Sell Cookies On Instagram
Selling your cookies can be simple if you choose to sell them through social media. Word of mouth is a major marketing support for your business. When you’re looking at how to sell baked goods online, the priority should be to set up and link your Facebook and Instagram pages. Instagram updates will also post on Facebook, so you don’t necessarily have to update both.
There are various ways how to sell cookies online. People ask, “Can you sell food on Facebook Marketplace,” and “can you sell homemade food online” all the time. The simple answer is yes, so long as you are following your state’s laws.
To learn how to sell homemade cookies online, it’s good to start with setting up business profiles on major social media platforms. Facebook and Instagram may be linked. You won’t have to worry about how to sell cookies on Facebook directly if you link to your personal website or order form.
Need to know how to start selling baked goods on Facebook? You have a few options. You can buy ads that directly link possible customers to your website. You can set up a business page and have people contact you directly to order. You can also post images and links to your cookies in local Facebook groups and the Facebook Marketplace. This will let you reach the most people.
Wondering how to sell cookies on Instagram? The good news is that you can create your own store on Instagram. You can also set up your own Linktree on your profile, and this will allow people to go to your personal website to make a purchase. Post regular updates with images of your cookies, and you’ll soon find buyers. Don’t forget to use the right hashtags for your local area.
When you take photos, make sure you make them pop. Choose your best-looking products, include a blurb, and share, share, share. You want to post to foodie groups’ hashtags and your city or state’s local hashtags, too. If you have friends with Instagram or Facebook, ask them to share your post as well. This will help you reach the most people.
If you are starting from scratch, you might want to look into advertising on Instagram or Facebook, but that depends on your current supply and demand. As you grow your business, you can continue to take more and more orders through these social media platforms, so you always stay busy.
Pricing Homemade Cookies to Sell
Pricing homemade cookies to sell can be tough, especially when you’re working on smaller batches. How profitable is a cookie business? That depends on your personal cookie pricing chart. Selling cookies for profit means you have to calculate the cost of running your electricity or gas, the baking supplies you need, advertising and other expenses.
Depending on your setup, your chocolate chip cookies price list or custom sugar cookie prices may be different. If you want to know how to sell homemade cookies and make a small fortune, you have to make sure you’re bringing in a profit with every sale.
How much does it cost to make 200 cookies? The pricing will depend on supply, demand and your local market. For example, if you can make a batch of cookies using simple ingredients, like sugar, oil, water, flour and chocolate chips, you may be able to sell each cookie for around $2 for a profit. It may cost you between $.50 and $1.00 to make each cookie, but you’ll see around a 100% profit at that rate. You can find a breakdown of ingredients and the average cost per batch on this website.
Drop cookie prices aren’t necessarily going to cost as much as decorated cookies. Why? They’re not as time-consuming, and they’re easier to make. When pricing homemade cookies to sell, you should look at local sellers and see how much they ask for. Many simple cookies sell for between $2.00 and $5.00 each, but it’s not uncommon to see a dozen cookies cost $55 or more depending on the time and ingredients that went into making them. Some people charge $10 or more per cookie because of their decorative, custom designs.
When you want to reduce your prices, remember that the best way to do so is to shop in bulk. Having bulk ingredients brings down the cost of each cookie substantially. If you find items on sale, like Christmas-themed food coloring at a steep discount, buying enough for the year could help you reduce your overhead as well. Making multiple batches of cookies at once will help you reduce the cost of running your oven, and opting for individual or bulk packaging could make a difference in your bottom line as well.
To reduce waste and improve profits, consider asking for orders before you make any batches of cookies for sale. That way, you know that you have a buyer.
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Cottage Food Law
Cottage food laws are laws that allow certain people in some states to start home-based food businesses. Cottage foods are items that are nonperishable or unlikely to cause illness. Cottage foods are called “non-potentially hazardous foods.” Essentially, these foods are not likely to cause people to fall ill when they’re processed outside of a commercial kitchen.
The local cottage food law in your state will determine what you can sell. Do you need a license to sell baked goods from home? That depends on your state. You don’t in Kentucky, for example, but you do need a permit in California.
So, when asking questions like, “can you sell food on Facebook without a license?” you will need to look into your local laws and regulations. Once you know where to sell homemade cookies legally, you can open your homemade cookie business. To find out more about the local cottage food laws, reach out to your local health department. The health department can tell you more about what you need to do to legally cook at home and how to make products that are safe for consumption.
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