— Shavanta Fowler

So this is a, this is a great question. And, uh, I think that pricing of foods, you know, cookies in this case will be, uh, dependent on the particular market, right? That you're in. And, you know, as an example, I, I'm in the Portland, Oregon metro area. I'm on the west side of town just a few days ago. Um, I was in the, the city of Hillsborough, which is farther west from me, but still in the metro area. I was at a market and there was a cookie stand, uh, and the, the, the woman there who was the baker had, um, you know, these cookies about that big that were, uh, and they were black sesame seed. And, um, that was sort of the kicker. And, uh, they were $5 a piece. And, um, you know, $5 for a cookie generally is about the maximum that I might see around here. There, there might be a little, some exceptions, of course, but that's at the high end. Uh, you know, you can find a $5 cookie that's nearly as big as your face, and that'll, you know, feed certainly two or three people, if not more. Um, or you might come across a very small black sesame seed, sort of a specialty cookie as this one was being, uh, positioned as, uh, that'll be priced for $5. Um, and then the prices go down, right? You will commonly find cookies in the, say, three to $5 range around here. I recommend that you go out and do some of your market research, which, uh, is visiting specialty bakeries, and then also go into farmer's markets and other, um, you know, um, uh, other such venues, or you might have kiosks or popups or, you know, stands where folks, uh, in this case, bakers are pedaling their goods. And take a clipboard, take notes with you, uh, you know, take a photograph, right? And, um, link that information so you have a catalog of what is going on in your metro area or your, your area. And, uh, and then you'll figure out where it's priced. Um, when you take notes, of course, look at the, sort of the, the easy physical characteristics, you know, size and thickness and the flavor, but also try to start recognizing the quality of the ingredients used. You know, is it, is it real butter? Is it something else? You know, is it real vanilla? Is it something else? And even have a conversation with the baker and ask those, those questions, ask very pointedly, you know, what do you use? And, um, then you can start to understand how to place your item, you know, within that spectrum of quality versus price, right? Which is a value question, right? From the standpoint of the consumer. Um, I also recommend, um, getting your product in front of some consumers, um, and even doing some taste tests, you know, with other flavors or, or, uh, other, uh, cookies from even other places to get a better idea of how the consumer will react to the value proposition that you're proposing.