Should We Sell Cookie Dough or Frozen Food?

Learn which fundraiser is best for your group.

Should your group sell cookie dough or frozen food? This is a question that many groups are asking. Before deciding, it may help to consider the pros and cons of each.

Fundraising with food has enjoyed an upward trend in popularity for many years. And it tends to sell better during more challenging economic times. Since consuming food is not an option, selling it is even more helpful.

At one time, items that required refrigeration weren't prepacked. So schools had to pack and distribute their items. Sorting a single product type like cookie dough was difficult enough.

Having to organize items from a large frozen food shopper was near impossible. Selling frozen food was even more difficult because of the short distribution window. Getting products to the customer's freezer as quickly as possible was essential.

Like everything else, technology has since improved. School fundraising companies can now prepack all frozen items by seller. Although sending orders out is more accessible, you must deliver them before thawing. Here are some things to consider:

Cookie Dough Fundraisers

Sometimes, offering a single type of product can be an advantage. This allows you to focus on the major selling points of fewer items. For example, if you're selling Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough, you can talk about the brand's quality.

If you're a high school sponsor, keeping your product line simple may be an advantage to your students. Many older students prefer simplicity, and cookie dough can fill that niche.

Pros:

• Cookie dough is popular and well-known.
• Single product type makes it easy to sell.
• Larger delivery time window.

Cons:

• A limited selection may turn away some buyers.
• Familiar with many groups, market saturation may be a concern.
• It tends to be at the higher end of the price spectrum.

See our cookie dough fundraiser options.

Frozen Food Fundraisers

Variety sells. Some people may not want cookie dough, or they may want cookie dough and pizza, for example. Most frozen food shoppers already offer cookie dough and a whole lot more.

Tell your group to show their brochure when people are most hungry. This includes teachers before lunch and family and friends before dinner.

Pros:

• Buyers have a broad product selection to choose from.
• Offers a variety of price options making it more affordable.
• A more extensive product selection means a broader customer base.
• Most frozen food brochures also contain cookie dough.

Cons:

• It cannot be left unrefrigerated for very long.
• Narrow delivery time window.

Learn about our frozen food shoppers.

You may not have prior experience selling either product. If this is the case, make these advantages and disadvantages an even larger priority. They both can be great sellers, so picking the best fundraiser for your organization may be a simple coin flip.

Author Bio

Clay Boggess has been designing fundraising programs for schools and various nonprofit organizations throughout the US since 1999. He’s helped administrators, teachers, and outside support entities such as PTAs and PTOs raise millions of dollars. Clay is an owner and partner at Big Fundraising Ideas.