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Your first recipe in 3 steps

PanProfit shows you what a recipe really costs and what to charge for it. Setting up your first one takes about 5 minutes, and you can change anything later.

Before you start

Have the recipe at hand, and roughly what you paid for each ingredient. A receipt or the store's website is enough. If you don't know a price yet, you can save the recipe and add it later.

1Start the recipe

  1. On the Recipes tab, tap Create your first recipe. Once you have recipes, the button says New recipe.
  2. At Do you sell this recipe?, leave Yes, I sell it. (Choose No, it is a preparation only for something you use inside other recipes, like a filling, a dough or a frosting.)
  3. At How do you sell it?, choose By the unit if you sell each piece (cookies, cupcakes, conchas), or Whole if you sell it as one item (a cake, a pie).
  4. Type the Recipe name.
  5. In Batch size (units), write how many pieces one batch makes: 24 if the recipe makes 24 cookies.
  6. In Actual selling price (per unit), write what you charge today. Not sure yet? Write your best guess: PanProfit will suggest prices, and you can change it anytime.

2Add the ingredients

  1. Tap Add ingredient. A list of your ingredients opens. PanProfit starts you with the common ones for your business, like flour, sugar, butter and eggs.
  2. Pick one, or type its name. If it's not on the list, tap New ingredient: … to create it.
  3. The first time you use an ingredient, it has no price yet. Tap Add price and fill in:
    • Package size and Unit: what the package you buy holds, in the unit you buy it in.
    • Package price: what you paid for that package.
    • Where you buy it is optional. It helps with your shopping list later.
    Tap Save. You only do this once: every recipe that uses this ingredient takes the price from there.
  4. In Used in recipe, write how much of it this recipe uses, and pick its unit next to the amount.
  5. Repeat for each ingredient. Leave Usable % at 100 unless part of what you buy goes in the trash (peels, cores, trimmings).
Buy in one unit, cook in another

Save each ingredient in the unit you buy it in, and use whatever unit your recipe says. PanProfit converts it for you.

  • Flour: a 5 lb bag is 5 and lb. In the recipe, use it in cups, oz or g.
  • Milk: a gallon is 1 and gal. In the recipe, use it in cups or tablespoons.
  • Butter: a pound is 1 and lb. In the recipe, use it in sticks, tablespoons or oz.
  • Things you count, like eggs: a dozen is 12 and ea (each).

Cups of something bought by weight need what a cup of it weighs. Common ingredients like flour, sugar and butter already know it; for anything else PanProfit asks once (the Nutrition Facts say it: “1/4 cup (30 g)” means a cup weighs 120 g). Amounts take fractions too: 1/2 or 2 1/4. On a phone, the buttons that show under the amount add ½, ¼ and the like.

3Save it and see what to charge

  1. Below the ingredients there are three more sections. You can skip them now and fill them in later:
    • Packaging: boxes, bags, labels, ribbon.
    • Your work: the time you spend on the recipe, and what an hour of your work is worth.
    • Other Costs: one-offs for this recipe, like a topper or a delivery.
  2. Tap Save recipe.
  3. Look at the totals: Total recipe cost, Cost per unit, and three Suggested prices. Compare them with what you charge today.

Back on Recipes, the recipe's card shows your profit per unit, colored by how healthy your margin is.

Example

A batch of 24 cookies costs you $9.60 in ingredients and packaging, so each cookie costs you $0.40. At 30% food cost, the most common target for baked goods, PanProfit suggests $1.33 per cookie. If you charge $1.00 today, you now know how much room you have.

Still stuck?

Write to us at hello@panprofit.com and tell us what you're trying to do. We usually answer within 2 business days.