Your time belongs in the price.
Calculate the cost of a batch, pay yourself for your work, and explore a selling price that meets your target margin. Free to use. No sign-up.
Calculate your bake ↓Your batch estimate
Use Calculate selling price to see your estimate.
Results are estimates from your inputs. Taxes, delivery and selling fees are excluded unless you include them in your costs. A calculated price does not guarantee customers will pay it.Know what goes into every price.
Ingredient cost is only the beginning. Count the portion of each ingredient used in the recipe, the time you spend working, your boxes and labels, and a fair share of running costs.
- Ingredients: package price × recipe quantity ÷ package quantity, using matching units. Add the ingredient totals.
- Labor: hands-on hours × hourly pay. Include preparation, decorating, packing and cleanup.
- Overhead: allocate costs such as energy and equipment across your batches.
- Contingency: multiply the total of ingredients, labor, packaging and overhead by 1 + contingency ÷ 100.
- Selling price: divide total batch cost by 1 − target margin ÷ 100, then divide by sellable items.
A worked example
With 12 in ingredients, 40 in labor, 3 in packaging and 2 in overhead, your base cost is 57. A 5% contingency makes it 59.85. At a 35% target margin, batch revenue is 92.08, or about 7.67 per item for 12 items. These are illustrative amounts, not market price recommendations.
Bakery pricing questions, answered.
Is margin the same as markup?
No. Margin is profit divided by revenue. Markup is profit divided by cost. A 35% margin requires approximately a 53.85% markup on cost. This calculator uses margin.
Should I charge for my own time?
Include a labor allowance even when you work alone. The calculator treats your hourly pay as a cost; estimated profit is what remains after that allowance and the other costs you enter.
Can I use this for cookies and cakes?
Yes. For cookies, enter the number you expect to sell. For one whole cake, use a batch yield of 1. For cupcakes or portions, use the number of sellable units.
How do I allow for waste?
Enter ingredient costs for the full batch and the number of items you actually expect to sell. Use the contingency for uncertain extra costs. Avoid counting the same waste twice.
Are my recipe costs saved?
This calculator runs in your browser and does not save your inputs. Keep your own record before closing the page.