Food Product Cost Calculator
Know your margins before you sell. Get bulk ingredient costs, packaging estimates, unit economics, and revenue projections for farmers market and wholesale channels.
Calculate Your CostsFirst recipe free. No credit card required.
What's in the cost breakdown
Ingredient Costing
Every ingredient priced at bulk wholesale rates (Restaurant Depot, WebstaurantStore) with cost per batch calculated automatically.
Packaging Costs
Bag, jar, bottle, box, or tub — packaging costs included in your unit economics based on your package type and size.
Unit Economics
Cost per unit, suggested retail price, wholesale price (50% of retail), and margins at both farmers market and wholesale.
Revenue Projections
Revenue per batch at retail and wholesale, profit per batch, and break-even analysis for your production run.
Editable Spreadsheet
All prices are editable in the XLSX file — update any ingredient price and everything recalculates via Excel formulas.
Multiple Package Sizes
See cost-per-unit at different package sizes (4oz, 8oz, 12oz, 16oz) to find your most profitable format.
Why margins matter
You also get two more documents
Every recipe generates all three production documents.
Production Sheet
Scaled batch recipe with process steps and QC checklist (XLSX)
Nutrition Facts Label
FDA-compliant panel with allergen declaration (PDF)
Cost Calculator FAQ
Where do the bulk prices come from?
Prices are estimated based on typical wholesale rates from Restaurant Depot, WebstaurantStore, and similar bulk suppliers. All prices are editable in the spreadsheet — update them with your actual supplier quotes.
Does it include labor costs?
The current version focuses on ingredient and packaging costs (COGS). Labor, overhead, and equipment costs vary too much by operation to estimate accurately. We recommend adding 20-30% on top of COGS for labor.
How do I know if my margins are healthy?
For farmers market sales, aim for 60%+ gross margin. For wholesale, you need at least 40% margin after the 50% wholesale discount. If your margins are below these thresholds, consider adjusting your recipe, package size, or pricing.
Can I compare different package sizes?
The spreadsheet includes unit economics for your selected package size. Pro users can regenerate with different sizes to compare. The XLSX formulas also let you manually adjust.