I agree

Starbucks buys their supplies at wholesale prices that we do not buy as home based cake decorators. So comparing with Starbucks is not the wisest idea

After seeing what the market can bear - and you may not have much to compare it to! - really take a critical look at how much time you spend. When customers ask how much I charge for cake pops, my stock answer is that they range from $27/dozen to $60+/dozen depending on the design and complexity. $27/dozen are my "one-step" pops - one chocolate dip, sprinkled or not with any number of colors since it doesn't add time. Adding a swirl (my most popular pops) makes it $33/dozen, since the extra swirl and sprinkling takes more time and frequently a different color chocolate. I make a lot of custom pops (babies, monkeys, halloween eyeballs, bride/groom pops, etc.) and these are custom-priced. The Spongebob pops I did recently were priced at $60/dozen. Bride/Groom packaged favor with 2 pops is priced at $12 each favor. Material costs aren't negligible, but they pale in comparison to your time investment when it comes to pricing.

Many potential customers feel like it's too much to pay, but there are many out there - and they WILL find you - who will pay for the special custom touch you give it. If they compare it to Starbuck's prices, I invite them to get their pops there, and tell them that WalMart also has frozen cake pops in the dessert section even cheaper. I have never had anyone complain after purchasing that it just wasn't worth it!!

Hope this helps.

A

AI think your prices are more than fair. I also charge for delivery. My time, my gas, wear and tear on my car - why should it be free? We need to stop apologizing for charging for our work. Do hairdressers, lawyers,housekeepers or any other service person apologize for being paid? Yet we feel bad. Not happening anymore. If people don't want to pay for high quality freshly made items they should go to Walmart.

We sell our cake pops for $2.25 - 2.75.  My husband took one bite of the cake pops at Starbucks and spit it out and in our area they are $1.50 ea not $1.25.  That's a lot of money for garbage.  My 3 year old granddaughter won't even eat one.

I feel like cake pops are something that people refuse to pay for. They think that since they are small in comparison to a cake or cupcake that they should be cheaper. NOT the case. They are a much bigger pain in the butt and take me a lot more time to make. They also cost more since you add in the coating chocolate on top of the homemade frosting and cake. I have people willing to pay more for a plain frosted cupcake than the nicely decorated cake pops. I start out at $1.50 per pop and go up from there depending on what other things need added to them like edible flowers etc.

As far as a bulk discount... I usually will charge about the same. Sometimes I might give a little discount if it's a fairly simple order and won't take much to make more. I only discount per pop though not the whole order. This way I can bring in a little extra with something I am already making. I also don't allow multiple flavors and designs for only 1 dozen pops and I won't do anything smaller than 1 dozen. I personally think small batches of cake pops are pain. I feel like the time and the effort to not only bake and cool but all the other shaping and decorating that goes with them is so time consuming to not make a great profit.

I charged $1.75/pop for 120 of these cake pops that I did for a wedding

People are always surprised when I quote them $2-$2.50 per cake pop. I try to give people a total price now for the whole order. When people ask me why they are so much I explain to them it's as much work if not more then making a custom cake. A custom cake can easily run $5+ for a slice so a cake pop that's $2 is a bargain!

I think it's important to be willing to say "no" to potential customers. It's not worth our time to take those orders for many reasons:

1. We work longer hours for less pay

2. We drag the market down

3. We drag ourselves down by selling ourselves short.

My pops are priced from $2.25 to $5+ per pop depending on complexity. It used to be about half the people who inquired about cake pops said "no thanks" when they heard the prices. But I stuck to my guns, and that percentage is going down, probably about 25% don't order because of price now. It helps that I have a pricing page on my website now (www.sensationalcakesandmore.com/pricing) so by the time they call, they already had a chance to get over the sticker shock. This helps me to NOT waste as much time on people who do not want to pay premium prices for my premium products - and helps THEM not waste as much time too, so I think it works out!

I live on the southeast side of Cleveland, not a mecca for high-priced goods... but there are enough folks who have excellent taste AND the necessary funds that it's working out for me.

I am so glad that I found this thread.  I have doing fine with my pricing of a range from $1.75-$5.00 per cake pop depending on the design and difficulty.  And most of the time I get very few complaints on the prices.  But I do seem to get the most from customers wanting them for weddings.  I realize that they are on a budget but my time is valuable too!  They feel that if they order 250-300 cake pops for wedding favors or for the dessert table that they should get them at a discount.  It still takes me just as long to make them and the supplies cost the same. It seems that lately I have had a rash of people wanting them for weddings who were shocked at the price of $21.00/dozen for a basic cake pop with drizzle, swirls or sprinkles.  And it makes me second guess myself, but I just keep thinking of the time and work I put into them and that I am trying to make a living at this not just give my product away!  I just have to pull out my calendar of orders to make myself realize that I still have plenty of orders and customers who have no problem with my pricing.  :)

Teresa

APeople really have no idea how long cake pops take to make and the aamount of labor involved. I have had quite a few people tell me I charged too much when I only charge $1.50 each for regular cake pops.

That is not too much at all.  I do have some that I only charge $1.50 for.  If they get the whole dozen in one flavor then I charge that.  And I also make a mini pop and charge $1.00 them.  They are about half the size of my regular pops.  I get quite a few orders for those for wedding dessert tables.

I figure if they do not want to pay my price then I do not need their business.  I would rather not make any than to lower my price to the point where I am practically making them for nothing!

Coming in late here. I will do them, but so far no one has ordered. Anyway my price is $5,000 each. If someone will pay me that, I will make them cake pops and be happy about it. Otherwise, the thought of making cake pops makes me want to hide under the covers.

good answer howsweet!  Actually the market for cake pops in my area has completely disappeared.  I dont' think I could give them away!

AI'm surprised at how many phone calls I get asking for cake pop pricing. They always acknowledge that they don't [B]see[/B] cake pops on my site, nor any reference to cake pops in the text, and nothing regarding pricing for cake pops. Yet they figure it must be an oversight on my part I guess.

I've made pops twice, because my little boy begged to get two of the kits one day at Target. I obliged his whim, had "fun" making them with him, and decided that was not anything I was interested in doing for money.

On average, I charge $2/ea for orders up to 100.  For orders from 100-150 I take .30 cents off and for orders of 150 or more, .40 cents off.   Any special characters or designs are 2.50 up to 3.50/ea depending on the quantity ordered.  Example-I did ONE dozen spiderman shaped cake pops for a client and charged them $3.50/ea which they were very willing to pay.

 While Starbucks charges only 1.25/ea for their cake pops, they are actually only cake on the inside and have a candy coating.  My cake pops have cake/buttercream mixture on the inside and I use real white and milk chocolate as the outside.  This obviously tastes much better and the cost of materials is higher.  I think you need to look at what it costs to make them and the time it takes to make them and the average price of cake pops out there to come up with your figure.

AIs $54 too much for dozen themed cakepops? The theme is hunger games (mockingjay).[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3327065/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3327066/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

You can see it here on Instagram @delicacysweets

Cannot see them very well too tell the workmanship, and your time to create them is included in the pricing.

However, if you can get that price for them then it is not too much.  It seems like a lot for 1 dozen cake pops, but when you think about it, they are like a slice of cake and $4.50 is not unreasonable for a slice of cake.  Cake pops look small but are very filling.

it is going to be difficult to justify your price when people think they can make them themselves and Starbucks sells theirs for $1.25.  Starbucks don't taste as good but some palates don't care. 

AThank you and here is a better picture[IMG]http://www.cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3327468/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

***shuddder*** at the person who suggested Starbucks as a starting price point a while back. Great, $1.25 at starbucks, but unfortunately I wouldn't even pay $0.50 for a starbucks one. Have you SEEN them? Yuck. 

That at being said, like many have said, it realllllly depends on you're production costs and almost more importantly: you're area. I live near San Diego and I could never make them for $1 each, might as well be free.  I charge between 20-30/dozen for orders, depending on the design (more for really intricate ones). And between 1.75-2.50 each at markets/fairs where there are booth fees, more time/cost for packaging etc. 

...starbucks lol

At my shop cake pops start at $22/ dozen.  I can actually do them fairly quickly now and have trained several of my staff to as well. What I do though is use the tops from my weekend cakes to make the pops and leftover icing.  Unless I have a huge order, I never have to bake special for pops.  It is a great use for the tops too.  Stock up on melts when they are on sale and they will be much more cost efficient.  I charge $4 and up for specialty pops and rarely do them as I hate those. 

Cake pops are great to offer if you have a shop with some down time.  If you have cake scraps, are paying employees by the hour, it's something to fill their time and they can sit out on the counter for sale.  However,  after spending 10 hours to make 75 baseball cake cops, for a custom order, they are certainly not worth my time or effort to do custom orders.  

The pops I just did were $2.50 apiece.