How much is your dough worth?

I like pizza.

It’s the perfect choice for when you can’t come up with anything else to eat that sounds good at the moment. If delivery is an option, it’s great for when you want someone to bring your food to you. The funny thing about a pizza with your favorite toppings is that the price is different wherever you get it.

Weird, huh?

Dough is dough. Unless of course, it’s gluten-free. In that case, the ingredients might tick the cost up a bit. Otherwise, the necessary items to craft the perfect pie are all of the same general nature.

Why then, can I order a pizza from one mom-and-pop shop for much less than another in the same town? Why are the prices for a pizza from some wood-fired establishments sometimes twice that of another?

Every pizza is different. People’s reasons for liking their pizza of choice can be anything from the texture of the crust, the shape of the meat or veggies, or how one place cuts the same 14-inch pie into more slices than the place down the road.

The fact is, people pay what they pay for the pizza they like because of what it costs.

Read that again, I’ll wait.

Obviously, large pizza chains can toss out five-dollar pizza deals that a local shop can’t compete with. Because of that, they don’t even try to. They do what they do, they do it well, and they charge what they charge.

They also still sell plenty of pizza.

Everyone’s cost of doing business is what it is. I’m not even going to go into what I found when taking a few minutes to research how much it costs to make a pizza or the potential profit margins. It’s literally all over the place. There’s no single number for any of it.

There’s no rhyme and only a small amount of reason.

How does this relate to you and your business? I’m getting to it.

I’ve never met a successful owner of a pizza place that wasn’t confident that their pizza was top-notch. Years ago when they were trying out different variations and having their family and friends taste-testing them all, they arrived at what they felt was perfect.

Did they do a little area research to see what other pizza shops were offering? Most likely, yes.

Aside from putting a round pie cut into triangles into a square box the way almost everyone else did, theirs was unique. Some squares have success, but let’s face it, there’s a generally accepted pizza shape around the world.

What was the next step after crafting the perfect one-stop, table-top, goes-great-with-soda-pop supper?

Determining how much to charge.

The price of a pie isn’t determined by how much the competition charges. It’s determined by the costs associated and how confident the owner is in what they’re offering.

That’s it.

Pizza is never the same from one place as it is from another. There’s a uniqueness to it, just as there is to what you have to offer to your clients and customers.

What you determine to be the cost of your goods or services depends on a number of factors. Only you know your cost of doing business. The question is, beyond that, how confident are you in what you’re offering?

If you know that you have a great product or service and can deliver, that’s the next factor in setting your rate.

You might be surprised at what the final piece of the pricing puzzle is.

It’s not what everyone else is charging. It’s not what the average is.

It’s what people are willing to pay for it.

The most expensive pizza in the world costs $12,000.

Twelve-thousand-dollars.

For a pizza.

Yes, of course, it includes delivery so you won’t feel ripped off when you realized that it’s only 8 inches in diameter.

I’m going to say it again.

The amount that you charge for what you offer is what people are willing to pay for it.

Everyone isn’t going to be your customer. Some will sneer, snarl, and sneak right by to a cheaper option. Is where they’re going a better option? Who cares?

People who like your product or service will pay what you charge for it.

Concern yourself with those who see the value in what you bring to the dinner table and kindly move on from those who want the five-dollar pizza.