How much to charge for brigadeiro and sweets: how to price it by the dozen

Sweets are deceptive. Since each one is cheap, it's easy to look at a brigadeiro and think, "it costs a few cents, I'll charge $1.50 and that's great." Except you don't sell one, you sell a batch of a hundred. And when you multiply that mistake by a hundred, by a thousand sweets a month, that "few cents short" turns into a hole in your pocket.

The good news is that pricing sweets uses the same math as any other bakery product. The difference is that you calculate the whole recipe and then divide by how many it yields. Let's go step by step.

The mistake almost everyone makes

The mistake is pricing based only on ingredients. You add up condensed milk, chocolate and butter, divide by a hundred and slap on a price. The problem: making a hundred brigadeiros takes work. There's time to cook, cool, roll, coat in sprinkles and package, sometimes two or three hours. That time is yours, and it has value.

When you ignore your time, it looks like you're profiting, but you're actually trading hours of your life for almost nothing. The price of the sweet needs to pay for your work too.

The 4 costs your sweet's price needs to cover

The same four as any recipe. The difference is calculating everything for the whole batch:

• Ingredients: condensed milk, heavy cream, chocolate, sprinkles, paper cups. Everything the recipe uses.
• Labor: the total time to make the batch, times the value of your hour.
• Fixed costs: stove gas, electricity, box packaging, delivery gas.
• Profit: the margin you want to earn on top of everything.

Example: the price for 100 brigadeiros

Let's price a batch of 100 gourmet brigadeiros, the kind you make for parties.

That batch of 100 comes out to $120.75, or about $1.21 per brigadeiro. Notice: ingredients alone came to $35. If you had charged "double the ingredients," you'd sell the batch for $70 and would have worked two hours practically for free.

What about the price per unit?

Just divide the batch price by the quantity. In the example, $120.75 ÷ 100 = $1.21 each. When a customer wants 50 sweets, you multiply by 50 and have the quote ready instantly, without redoing any math.

How much to charge for 50, 100 or 200 brigadeiros?

Once you know the price per unit, you can calculate any quantity. Using the example result and keeping $1.21 per unit:

We rounded the example value to make quoting easier. Before giving a discount for a larger quantity, confirm the order actually reduces your time or costs. Producing more may also require an assistant, bigger delivery and more packaging.

Tips to avoid pricing mistakes on sweets

1. Always calculate the whole recipe and divide by the yield. It's easier than trying to guess the cost of a single sweet.
2. Count the paper cup and packaging. They seem cheap, but across a hundred units they make a difference.
3. Charge more for a different flavor. A gourmet pistachio sweet costs more than a traditional brigadeiro. The price has to reflect that.
4. Have a minimum order price. Making 20 sweets takes almost the same work as making 100. A too-small order isn't worth it.

Summary to stick on the fridge

• Calculate the whole recipe and divide by what it yields. That's your price per sweet.
• Your time rolling sweets is a cost. Always charge for labor.
• Paper cups, packaging and gas count. Across a hundred units, it all adds up.
• Have a minimum order so a small order doesn't cost you money.