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  • Candybar funraisers in leu of popcorn

    #1
    Been talking about something with my CC for a little while now.

    We are thinking of selling candybars instead of popcorn. Now, we could all rehash the popcorn arguements about price, what you get for what you pay and about conveinence of price, but it's the same old arguements.

    So we were thinking about candy bars. Every now and then, a local highschool club sells them. They totally rake in the cash!

    And the simplicity of it is just astounding:

    1)
    They are the same size as store bought candybars, yet only cost a $1 as compared to the stors that sell the same size for around $1.60.

    2)
    IT's A DOLLAR...most people have at least one dollar in their pocket and do not mind handing over ONE DOLLAR long before they will habd over $25 for some popcorn.

    3)
    Take them to work and co-workers will easily pay you a dollar to get out of their face instead of the usual " Oh..I just bought new socks for my cat last week..sorry!" line to avoid paying $25 for a small box of not so great popcorn that you can buy in a 5 gallon size at Wal-Mart for $4.00

    4)
    Each company may be different, but you average between a 50% to 65% profit from the candybars.


    5)
    Things is, no disrespect to Trails End but................
    PEOPLE LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!!!!


    So...now it comes down to who has used which of the many fundraiser companies and how friendly were they?
    Tags: None
  • #2
    I don't know about the fundraiser companies.. But I saw the exact same bars some in the carry box the fundraisers used, at SAM's about a month ago..

    Seemed like the prices were good to make a good profit on them. I would imagine a place like Sam's would not blink if you needed to ask for several cases of them (if you like have 25 scouts & needed to start with at least 25 boxes..)

    It hit me because I remember way back our Pack selling both the Popcorn and the candybars in the Fall.. I am unsure if when we started it was candy bars and a few years later it moved to popcorn.. But I was young, new and naive.. Didn't think twice about what we were selling and if we were hurting popcorn sales by selling candy at the same time.. Didn't know anything about what boy scout product was, or when it was to be sold.. But, there was definatel some sort of rebellion back even when they had the $5 box of popcorn, from our pack..

    Don't know if we changed to popcorn because our council called us out on it.. But, I do thing the candy bars were in the first few years, and stopped, then all we had to sell was the popcorn.

    Good luck. But I advise you not to try to sell them in the Fall, while the popcorn fundraiser is going on.

    Comment

    • #3
      "But I advise you not to try to sell them in the Fall, while the popcorn fundraiser is going on."

      or mid-summer when they'll melt.

      Comment

      • #4
        Keep in mind, that for product selling fundraisers, you must first purchase the product from the company upfront. Your Pack does not get any profit (or their money back) until the product has been sold.

        Once purchased, it is yours. No returns.

        In most cases, the way to make the best profit is to purchase in volume. The more you buy upfront, the higher the profit. But, if you don't sell it all, you are stuck with it.

        Yes, candy bars DO get stale, and the taste is not very nice.



        Comment

        • #5
          Also, for any unit forgoing a council fundraiser in lieu of their own, please take a portion of your profits and give to your council FOS.

          After all, helping to fund your council is part of the reason for participating in council fundraisers like popcorn.

          Comment

          • #6
            Our troop does both; we support council with popcorn in the fall and start candy bars after the holidays.

            We do much better with the candy bars (and bottle drives) than the popcorn, but we do need to support council.

            Comment

            • #7
              Yeah..If we sell the candy bars instead of popcorn...we'd split the profit 50/50.

              My bad, I assumed everybody would get that it was just changing one product for the other to suprort the council. But see where I did not give you a reason to think I meant that.



              Our pack uses our spring/summer BBQ chicken dinnre to raise money for the pack.

              Comment

              • #8
                One of the units I serve as UC does the council popcorn, but they also do the candy bars, christmas trees, restaurant nights, fun center nights and pancake breakfasts, as well as a dinner in which proceeds go to the CO's endowment fund for scouting.

                The other unit does not participate in the council popcorn sale, but does christmas wreaths and spaghetti dinners.

                The city they are in also donates to volunteer groups who provide trash duty during the city's annual "pow wow" celebration. Several scouting units take advantage.

                Most council's are in desperate need of fundraisers. It makes sense to find something that will work. Popcorn may be expensive, but how many candy bars do you have to sell to equal one bag of popcorn?

                Comment

                • #9
                  "Popcorn may be expensive, but how many candy bars do you have to sell to equal one bag of popcorn? "

                  sell the candy bars (& the soda pop)(& the hot dogs) in conjunction with your carwash in front of the big box

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    "Popcorn may be expensive, but how many candy bars do you have to sell to equal one bag of popcorn? "

                    Basically, youi can't use a standard comparison between the two. Why? Well, as a true life example...

                    We used to have bozes of 10 individually wrapped microwave popcon bags. They sold for $10.00

                    We'd break open a few boxes and sell the individual packs for $1.oo each.

                    At the ned of blitz week, we'd sell maybe 7 boxes ( whole pack) for a total of $70.00

                    Meanwhile, we would sell over 180 individual packs for a total of $180.00

                    THing is...people will spend a single dollar or even two without any hard thought or reservation. Right now our cheapest popcorn runs $15.00 a box.

                    Take 200 people and ask them which they would rather do: fork over $15.00 or $1.00


                    See, we could sell less popcorn if we sold it at $400.00 a case, but how many people will actually buy a case?

                    IT's not just about price compared to price...but also ease of sale and consumer friendly pricing.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      We have a Scout troop that has sold tickets to their famous salmon dinner for years.

                      Scouts and Scouters do the cooking, greeting and serving.

                      I believe this usually goes a long way towards sending Scouts to camp.

                      Local individuals and busineses are solicited to donate goods and services, which are auctioned off in a silent auction during the dinner.

                      They do quite well.

                      (This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Sounds good, and if you are offering to split profit with council, they are unlikely to get too upset.

                        Just be clear about where the donations are going. If people are donating because they think the donation will be used to send Johnny to camp, but in reality, half the donation is going to council, they might be upset if they find that out. So something like "all proceeds used to support local scouting" may be better than "send our pack to summer camp!"

                        Alternately - let the profits all go to the pack. Don't specify to council that you plan to split the profits 50/50 (or at all) and instead, have the pack write a check to council (for whatever you feel is appropriate, within your pack's means) at the end of the budget year or during FOS. Same outcome, arguably makes your fundraising pitch simpler though because all proceeds from that fundraiser really do go to the pack.

                        Might want to check around with parents who have older kids, too - what other kid groups do they know of who sell candy bars, and when? For example, around here the little league baseball kids have a lock on early spring candy sales, starting just about the time when girl scout cookie sales end. To the extent that it can be avoided, you don't want to have kids selling the exact same thing for both scouts & baseball, at the same time!

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Since your using the Trail's End Popcorn model, it was split three ways between Unit, Council and Trail's End. If you went to a Kickoff meeting your unit got 35%. So, model the sharing that way. However, give yourself the larger % than the council since they did nothing to help. It's a donation to them.

                          70 to the Unit and 30 to Council.

                          I believe that the Council needs support since none of the registration fees/Boys Life money goes to the local council. It all goes to National. If you coordinate it with your FOS donation, that would great.

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            "70 to the Unit and 30 to Council."
                            that sounds about right - $70 to the unit, and 30 cents to council

                            Comment

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