How Much Do Pies Cost at Village Inn? Price Your Pie

On this page

1. What to ask when you call your local Village Inn
2. Turn that number into a benchmark for your pies
3. Cost one pie: ingredients, your time, and overhead
4. Set a whole pie price that leaves a margin
5. Price slices, holiday orders, and bulk orders on purpose
6. Mistakes that cost you money on pie orders
7. Before you quote your first pie order

Search how much do pies cost at village inn and you will find a lot of guesses. This page takes a different route: get one real number, then build your own pie price from your own costs. That second part is what actually pays you.

What to ask when you call your local Village Inn

Have a pen ready and ask about the whole pie, not the slice. You want the size, the price, and whether a box comes with it. Two minutes on the phone gives you a benchmark you can actually use.

1. 1

   Ask for the whole pie price

   Ask what a whole pie costs today, not what a slice costs. Ask if the box is included in that price.

2. 2

   Ask for the size in inches

   Get the size in inches for each pie you ask about, so you compare like with like later.

3. 3

   Ask about holiday weeks

   Ask what the price is during Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks, and whether they take orders ahead.

4. 4

   Write it down with the date

   Put the date next to the number, so you know how old your benchmark is before you rely on it.

Turn that number into a benchmark for your pies

A benchmark is a test, not a target. Put the restaurant price next to your own cost per pie and ask one question: can I make a margin below that number and still be paid for my time? If yes, you have room to sell. If no, you need a smaller pie, a simpler filling, or a customer who is not shopping on price.

If you have not costed a pie yet, start with how much a pie costs to make and what to charge. Compare like with like too. A 9 inch pie is not the same product as a 6 inch pie, and a lattice top takes longer than a single crust. Match the size and the work before you match the price. The Marie Callender’s pie prices page gives you a second counter to hold your number against.

Recheck the local number once a season and write the new date beside it. One phone call keeps your benchmark honest.

Cost one pie: ingredients, your time, and overhead

Three costs go into every pie, and leaving one out is how a price goes wrong. Ingredients are the easy part. Your time is the one most home bakers skip. Overhead is everything else you pay to keep baking, from the oven gas to the boxes and the tape.

Do not guess overhead. Add up a month of oven gas, boxes, labels, tape, and any rent you pay, then divide by the number of pies you baked that month. If you baked 20 pies, that is your overhead per pie. Write it on the recipe card so you stop redoing it.

For example, say a 9 inch apple pie uses $6.50 of ingredients and $1.25 of box and label. You spend 1.5 hours on it and pay yourself $15 an hour, which is $22.50. Overhead for that bake, meaning oven gas and your share of the kitchen costs, comes to $1.75. Total cost is $32.00. Price the pie at $40.00 and you keep $8.00, a 20 percent margin on the price. Change any one number and the margin moves with it.

Set a whole pie price that leaves a margin

Start from your total cost and add the margin you want. If one pie costs $32.00 and you want a 20 percent margin on the price, divide $32.00 by 0.8 and you get $40.00. A fifth of that price is yours. Work from the price you can sell at, not from the ingredients alone.

Then protect the price. Take a deposit on holiday orders, quote delivery as a separate line, and put the pickup window in writing. A price that quietly includes three trips to the store and an hour of texts is not the price you thought you set.

Price slices, holiday orders, and bulk orders on purpose

Slices and whole pies are different jobs. A slice needs a plate, a napkin, and someone standing there, so it carries more packaging and more of your time. Price slices from their own cost and keep them for events where you are already on site.

Holiday weeks and bulk orders push your labor hours up, not your ingredient cost. More trips, more boxes, less oven space. Add a rush charge to the same base cost, set a cutoff date, and say no to orders that land after it.

Mistakes that cost you money on pie orders

The costly mistakes are quiet ones. They do not show up until the order is paid for and you count what is left.

The fix for all three is the same. Cost the pie before you speak, then read the price off your own sheet.

Before you quote your first pie order

Run the same four checks on every order until the habit sticks. Two minutes now saves a week of resentful baking.

Keep a written quote for each order with the date on it. When a customer asks for the same pie next season, you have a starting point instead of a guess.

• McDonald’s pie prices, another counter to check
• How much a dozen cupcakes cost, if you widen your menu

Common questions

Can I use a Village Inn price to set my own pie price?

Use it as a ceiling to test, not a price to copy. A restaurant buys flour and butter in bulk and bakes in volume, so its cost per pie is not your cost per pie. Price from your own ingredients, your time, and your overhead, then compare the two numbers.

Should I sell pies whole or by the slice?

Whole pies are easier to plan and easier to hand over. A slice needs a plate, a fork, and someone standing there, which is a different business. Start with whole pies, get the cost and the pickup routine right, then add slices at events if customers ask for them.

What counts as overhead on a pie?

Anything you pay to keep the kitchen running that is not an ingredient or your own pay. That includes oven gas or power, boxes, tape, printed labels, the cost of your phone, and a share of the rent if you pay it. Divide a month of it by the pies you baked.

How do I price a holiday pie order?

Add a rush charge to the same base cost, and set a cutoff date in writing. Holiday weeks mean more trips to the store, more boxes, and less oven space, so your labor hours climb. Charge for those extra hours instead of quietly absorbing them.

Do I charge less per pie for a bulk order?

Only if your cost per pie actually falls. Ten pies take less oven time each, but they do not use less butter. Work out the new total cost, add your margin, then divide by ten before you quote any per pie number to the customer.

Sources

1. Village Inn official site: find your local restaurant

General information about pricing your own bakes, not legal or tax advice.