How much to charge for homemade bread?

[Shelly in IL]

I mentioned to a dear friend that I was wishing I had like 5 customers who would buy bread from me, as an excuse for me to play with more bread.

 

She asked me what I would sell them for - as she would be interested. She has a ton of kids - so I"m guessing as much as loaves per week for her.

 

I grind my own wheat, add flax, oats and 7 grain with natural honey. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Julie in CA]

Have you actually costed out the ingredients for the bread?

One way I've heard is to figure the price of the ingredients and then multiply that x3 for your price.

 

Another way is to add up the ingredients, then figure out how much time it takes you to make the item, and then set a $ amount per hour for your labor.

Ingredients + labor, divided between how many loaves you've made.

 

One more way is to just decide what the "going rate" would be in your area, in your case, probably by checking out a local bakery/bread store, and then comparing the quality of your product with the quality of the store-bought equivalent and going from there. You're going to want to make sure you're comparing equally sized loaves, though.

[Nicole M]

There is a specialty bread shop in our area that sells loaves for $5 - $7 each. I would look around to see what it's selling for in your area, then price out the cost to you, in terms of ingredients only (which will be significantly less), not your time, then ask for something somewhere in between.

 

I sold bread to friends for a summer to cover the cost of violin lessons. It was fun, but I had an end date in mind. It would have stopped being fun after a while, I think, otherwise. So I would recommend setting up a trial period or something, then see how it goes.

[Evergreen State Sue]

I guess one thing I would look at is how much someone is willing to pay. Homemade bread is the best! However, I couldn't afford to pay $5-$7 a loaf for multiple loaves every week. One or two loaves as a treat, maybe.

 

Find out what it would cost to break even, then adjust from there based on what good bread costs at your local stores.

 

Are you doing this to practice your skill primarily or to make a profit?

[Medieval Mom]

Based on the description of your homemade, natural bread, I think $7+ is very reasonable. I agree that you should calculate the cost of the ingredients, just so you know how much each loaf is costing YOU. (Not to mention the time, energy-costs, equipment, etc.)

[OrganicAnn]

Even if bread is going for $7 dollars in a specialty store, usually people won't pay that amount from an individual. I don't know why, but it is often true. You might try going to your local farmers market to see if anyone is selling bread and see what their prices are. They would be more comparable to what your price should be.

 

We make bread and just get flour from the store and don't add flax, but I figured it costs us about $1 for a biggish loaf. Not counting cost of electricity for the oven or my labor (but since we do the no knead method there isn't much work).

[kmacnchs]

I charge $5.00/1lb loaf...I used to charge 3.50 per because that I thought I would get more customers since it is about that at the grocery store and because that is about 4x how much it costs to make it (I do the same as you). However, I didn't take into account shipping costs to get the ingredients and the time to make it (making for others takes your precious time away from your family). A friend of mine sells 1/2 loaves (or mini loaves) for $5.00 and says my prices are too low. However, they are fine for me...it makes it worth it to me. It also depends on where you are...are you in a natural/conscious area? Go ahead and charge more! Are you in an area where no one cares about being healthy? Good luck selling anything! Send it to your hubby's work...you will probably get some bites. :)

[Tutor]

$5/loaf is what homemade, brick oven, organic ingredient bread is going for at our farmer's market.

[Georgia On My Mind]

Hi Shelly from IL,

 

I have been milling my own wheat from Montana and baking bread for over 5 years and use at least five to seven grains, flax seed I grind, olive oil and raw honey in my bread along with occasionally rolled oats, millet and quinoa and yeast of course. All my ingredients are certified organic or grown organically but not certified. I would sell my 1 1/2 to 2 lb loaves for $7 if they were picked up from my home. Standard sized muffins are $1 a piece and they contain fruit, nuts, or grain only. I also make whole grain pizza dough to sell raw which keeps in frig several days or can be frozen and unthawed when needed for $5 a pound.

 

In in a town about 4 hours south of mine, Albany, Ga, there is a business/ministry called The House of Bread that make loaves similar to mine and ship them all over. I have included a link for you to investigate. The bread is very good. I spend time in that town in the summer because my husband works there on the USMC Logistics Base and I don't take my mill. When we run out of bread I shop at The House of Bread.

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

http://www.thebreadhouse.com/

 

I would be interested in how you do selling your bread. I don't have a regular customer at present but would love to sell my bread, muffins, pizza dough (uncooked), etc. to a family who want healthier bread items. I haven't bought bread in the grocery in more than 5 years. We are spoiled to the very good stuff and believe we are healthier for it.

Carolyn

Georgia On My Mind