Help center › Recipes and pricing
Suggested prices and your profit
Below every recipe, PanProfit shows what it costs you and three suggested prices. On the Recipes tab, each card shows your profit and a color that tells you at a glance whether the price is healthy.
What the totals mean
- Total recipe cost: ingredients, packaging and other costs of the whole batch.
- Cost per unit: that total divided by the batch size. For a recipe sold whole (a cake), the whole item is the unit; if you say how many people it serves, you also see the cost and the price per person.
The three suggested prices
Each suggested price makes your cost a set share of what you charge. That share is called food cost: at 30%, something that costs you $3 sells for $10.
- 25%: a premium price, with the most room.
- 30%: the most common target for baked goods and small food products.
- 35%: for value items, or ones you sell in large numbers.
Most small food sellers aim between 25 and 35%. Compare these with your Actual selling price, the one you write in the recipe: that is the price everything else is worked out with.
The margin colors
The margin is the share of your price left after the cost. Each recipe card is colored by it:
- Green: 65% or more. A healthy price.
- Yellow: 50 to 65%. Worth reviewing.
- Red: under 50%. You are probably charging too little.
Your profit after paying yourself
The cost above is ingredients, packaging and other costs. Your time and your overhead (gas, electricity, fees) are not in it: they show on their own, once you set them up (see Your work and overhead).
With them, each recipe shows its Profit after overhead and labor: what is left of your price after paying everything, your hour included.
- Above zero: the recipe pays your hour and leaves something more for the business.
- Below zero: it does not even cover your time. PanProfit shows the lowest price that does: "Charge at least…".
A dozen cupcakes cost you $6.00 in ingredients and packaging: $0.50 each. At 30% food cost, the suggested price is $1.67 each. If you sell them at $2.50, your margin is 80% (green). With 1 hour of your work at $15 and 10% overhead, each cupcake leaves you $0.70 after paying yourself ($2.50 minus $0.50 of cost, $1.25 of your hour and $0.05 of overhead).
On the Recipes tab, switch the view from Cards to Table to see every recipe side by side: price, cost, margin and profit. You can print it too.
Write to us at hello@panprofit.com and tell us what you're trying to do. We usually answer within 2 business days.