I just ran into the owner of a small (prob home-based) raw food company - he was giving samples of his raw brownies, which he sells for $6.29 - and I mean, these are small brownies, not what one normally thinks of as a "normal" sized brownie.

I asked him why it was so much - his answer "It's a legal narcotic" didn't satisfy me so I explained that I would be willing to pay $3.00 but not $6 - he replied "Well that's raw food. You're buying conscience, you're eating with a conscience."

The proper response, what I was looking for, was an explanation as to why it costs him $2 to make each brownie - since, after all, if you're running a business you should at least know that the appropriate mark-up on a product is 300% over what it actually costs to make.

He seemed sort of arrogant and clueless.

I mean, he lives in Brooklyn, selling to NYC health food stores. The brownies aren't imported from France or anything. I know raw food costs more, but not THAT much more. $6 for a little brownie is just being greedy, in my opinion.

What he obviously doesn't realize is that if he sold them for $3.OO apiece, he'd sell many, many more brownies IMO and make a heck of a lot more money in the end.

Just my opinion though!

Hi,

I find that buying prepared raw foods is expensive in general. Larabars seem to be the best buy, have good consistance and keep for a long time.

Does the $2 it costs to make them cover labour as well?

Another thing I take in to account, is how many people are buying them. If they can sell a lot, then $3-$4 is probably a good price point. But, since there isn't a great deal of people shopping for pre-made raw food items, they have to charge more to get to the break even point (covering delivery, rent, equipment, returns of what doesn't sell, and a whole host of cost I'm probably not aware of). If they want to make money, a higher price is needed.

Did they taste good? Great? Fantastic?

If they cost $3 each, how many would you be buying per week?

I agree that the person you talked to could have been a little more knowledgible about there business model and why they have to charge so much.

Cheers,
Ian.

Personally, I would be glad that he charges $6 per brownie. I don't even wanna think about how many brownies I'd "want" to buy if they were $3 each, and the taste was fantastic.

Larabars seem to be the best buy because they aren't organic. Anyway, I wouldn't buy a raw brownie for six dollars, if I was interested in eating them I would prefer to make my own.

for $6 i can get two whole watermelons.
so definately not.

I think rawbakery even charges less than that shipping included! what does he mean by "a legal narcotic"? were they hash brownies? I think I agree with you on the greedy part.

for 6 bucks I`d buy
organic greens
or mangoes
jackfruit
figs
a whole bunch of lychees!
or simply make my own brownie!

sodoffsocks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
If they can sell a lot,
> then $3-$4 is probably a good price point. But,
> since there isn't a great deal of people shopping
> for pre-made raw food items, they have to charge
> more to get to the break even point (covering
> delivery, rent, equipment, returns of what doesn't
> sell, and a whole host of cost I'm probably not
> aware of). If they want to make money, a higher
> price is needed.

Well, if these raw foods had a good price point and tasted good they would not be limited to "raw foodist" customers. What % of raw foodist customers who actually care about the item being raw are willing to pay $6 for 1-2 bites of something? Maybe 5-10% at the most, and even they would only do it to try them or on a special occasion. He is missing out on the entire market of raw foodists looking for those items. Not only that but like I said, if they were priced right it would open him up to the entire natural food organic customer market. Everyone who likes brownies would want a tasty and healthy organic brownie as an alternative, if they are raw or not. I'll bet the majority of people who buy Larabars are NOT raw foodists and probably never even heard of eating all raw or know that the bars are raw. They should be organic. That's why I buy raw Think Organic bars instead because they are the same price, taste better and are organic. Lara did come out with some organic ones though - chocolate ones.

Like for instance, in CA at least there is this organic vegan cookie company, Uncle Eddies and whole foods cannot keep them in stock. They had to build them their very own shelf and corner full of just those cookies. They are no longer on the shelf with all the others. Everyone I know, vegan or not who has tried them are addicted and they are their favorite cookies to buy. Also the 3-4 closet liquor/connivence stores within a few blocks from me all carry these cookies as well. I mean it's like the only organic item in the store, everything else is the standard junk. And they are always running out, that's how popular they are.

So, no I disagree that the market is limited because of the number or raw foodists. Yes when your stuff is priced at $6 for a bite then it is limited even from the majority of the raw foodists. There are tons of pre-packaged raw food items in whole foods and other stores where I live and I wouldn't buy any of them. I'm not going to pay $8-12 for a tiny slice of "pizza" or $8-9 for a tiny slice of "cheesecake". Who is buying that stuff? Are they crazy?

Heck I wouldn't even pay $3 for a organic raw brownie. Not unless it was really big and tasted amazing. Not the size of a tiny cookie.

As much as I am all for helping out the small business person, $6 seems a bit much for a brownie, unless of course it's hashy. hahahhahahahahhahahahha

Wheatgrass, it does a body good!!!