I am making a cheesecake dessert for a local restaurant and do not know what to charge them.?

Question

This is a homemade New York cheesecake that takes no time to make, but has to be left in oven for three hours to cool and set, then it has to be cut into serving sizes, then frozen. To finish this product it must be semi-thawed which takes another hour to do. Are bakery items charge by the hour, or by a standard percent of food costs? Has anyone out there done this before? Can you help

Answer 1

I am a former chef and I would figure your prices on 3 criteria, your food cost for the cheesecake, time of preparation and you time making and delivering it to the place.

Cream cheese, sour cream, eggs and sugar are not cheap, and for the baking time figure in the electricity used and you time do this, plus a small profit for you, like the one fellow said most places charge way over there cost for desserts, they are like appetizers, salads, soups and booze they are your money making items.

So for a 8" that is cut into 8 slices, I would look at $20, 10" with 12 slices $24.

Answer 2

i work at pizza hut we serve the same kinda cake

and we buy it in at under £10  and then serve it by slice which we have many of [about 14] for £3.something ....

Answer 3

Don't make the mistake of thinking what you charge should somehow be related to the cost of labour or ingredients.

The restaurant will sell the cheesecake for about the same price no matter what you sell it to them for (probably between 2 and 5 bucks a slice, if my experience is right), so if you set your prices too low, you'll just be donating profit to the restaurant.

The easiest thing would be to find out their margins on the same piece of food if they got it through other channels (for example, buying it a supermarket), then undercut by 10%.

Answer 4

I had a friend that took up baking cheesecakes out of her kitchen as a homebased business. 4 years ago she charged 15-20 per cake based on her time and energy costs(cooking). Thats a good base price and then take into account the increased cost of ingredients and energy costs in the last year. Delivery is one added consideration for you also.

Answer 5

I also sell cheesecakes.  Considering that you've used 4-5 8-oz. pkg of cream cheese, which is expensive, plus all the other ingredients - and your time - I'd sell it for at least $25.  Maybe more, if you've done something especially decorative to it......

Answer 6

I would add up what it cost to make it and then put a mark up of what you think your work is worth. One suggestion don't mark up to high.  The restaurant has to mark it up to make a profit.  If the price is to high the customers will be reluctant to order it.  You want a decent price.  I am not saying go cheap either.  Just think about all factors.  

Answer 7

A rule of thumb I just learned is add all the costs multiply that by 4 then add a standard mark up (that is determined by yourself)  Example would be 25%.