I owned a mall-based cookie/cafe store and also a pretzel store. Margins on meal normally run 3x-4x the cost of ingredients to account for labor, electricity, waste, etc. that the poster stated above. But the margin on bakery goods depends on the holding time of the good. The longer the item lasts, the lower the margin needed. On the cookies we sold, the holding time was 3-4 hours and the margin was around 6x-7x. For pretzels, the holding time was 30 minutes and the margins are around 30x-40x. That pretzel you buy at the mall is SERIOUSLY cheap to make, but you throw them out ALL the time because they get stale so quickly. My favorite item to sell was bottled water. Lasted basically forever and and I made 10x margin on it; even better than my fountain drinks. And believe me, it's true when they say most of the profits a store makes is between Thanksgiving and Christmas. the busy season at the mall really helps because you crank out goods and your not throwing stale items away like you do during a normal period.