Candy Pricing 2012

[GeneralStark]

I'm wondering where others are at with candy pricing. I'm expanding to a couple wholesale accounts in addition to farmer's markets and some online sales and am reconsidering my pricing. My thinking right now is this:

Wholesale: $1.50/ounce + packaging

Retail: $1.75 - $2.00/ounce = packaging (typically 1-4 ounce packages at the higher rate and anything above at the lower rate).

Does this seem fair to you guys?

[RollinsOrchards]

Well candy making isn't something i have done yet, but I like to play with numbers. Here is how I see it:

That $1.50 per ounce comes to about $24 per pound.

A pound of candy started as a pint of syrup at say $8 value, leaving $16 to work with.

You have a bit of propane for the stove, and making hot water for cleanup, And you probably have an hour or more of time invested from prep to cleanup. So $16 should be fair for that.

We have not yet considered delivery though. For my personal reckoning at current prices of gas I figure that my product decreases in value by $1.00 for every mile that I deliver it. That is a funny way to look at it for sure, but it works for me. So I have a customer that wants products valued at $80 delivered 15 miles from my house, I figure that I can live with the $65 for the product. When the same customer only wants half that order, the same $15 piece taken out of $40 looks a lot different. That buck a mile doesn't really cover my time out delivering, but I usually run errands at the same time to make myself feel better about it. :)

[GeneralStark]

Well candy making isn't something i have done yet, but I like to play with numbers. Here is how I see it:

That $1.50 per ounce comes to about $24 per pound.

A pound of candy started as a pint of syrup at say $8 value, leaving $16 to work with.

You have a bit of propane for the stove, and making hot water for cleanup, And you probably have an hour or more of time invested from prep to cleanup. So $16 should be fair for that.

We have not yet considered delivery though. For my personal reckoning at current prices of gas I figure that my product decreases in value by $1.00 for every mile that I deliver it. That is a funny way to look at it for sure, but it works for me. So I have a customer that wants products valued at $80 delivered 15 miles from my house, I figure that I can live with the $65 for the product. When the same customer only wants half that order, the same $15 piece taken out of $40 looks a lot different. That buck a mile doesn't really cover my time out delivering, but I usually run errands at the same time to make myself feel better about it. :)

What if the USPS is doing the delivery work and the customer is paying for it?

There are many factors to consider when pricing maple products and everyone's situation is a bit different. I don't seem to have too much trouble selling products when I get them to the right market, but I do often wonder about the true value of the products we are making and selling.

Syrup seems to have more clear boundaries for acceptable pricing but value added products appear to have more leeway. I see a wide range of pricing when I look around at the stores and at other producer's websites. Prices you see here in VT are typically far lower than in NYC or Boston. Clever marketing and packaging certainly can bring more $ to the producer. The more I think about it the more I think I should raise my prices.

[GeneralStark]

[QUOTE=RollinsOrchards;187250]Well candy making isn't something i have done yet, but I like to play with numbers. Here is how I see it:

That $1.50 per ounce comes to about $24 per pound.

A pound of candy started as a pint of syrup at say $8 value, leaving $16 to work with.

You have a bit of propane for the stove, and making hot water for cleanup, And you probably have an hour or more of time invested from prep to cleanup. So $16 should be fair for that.

We have not yet considered delivery though. For my personal reckoning at current prices of gas I figure that my product decreases in value by $1.00 for every mile that I deliver it. That is a funny way to look at it for sure, but it works for me. So I have a customer that wants products valued at $80 delivered 15 miles from my house, I figure that I can live with the $65 for the product. When the same customer only wants half that order, the same $15 piece taken out of $40 looks a lot different. That buck a mile doesn't really cover my time out delivering, but I usually run errands at the same time to make myself feel better about it. :)[/QUOTE

Please Ignore this double post. The "database error" gremlin is messing with me and won't allow me to delete this post. Carry on.

[RollinsOrchards]

That should work ;) The customer should always pay for shipping/delivery, but most don't like to.

[maplwrks]

First off--you will be hard pressed to get a pound of candy out of a pint of syrup. The best I have done is about 8 pounds per gallon. At the Big E and other state fairs the going rate is around a dollar an ounce. You will need to factor in your packaging on top of that.

[RollinsOrchards]

First off--you will be hard pressed to get a pound of candy out of a pint of syrup. The best I have done is about 8 pounds per gallon.

I believe I stated that I don't make candy, so I used a recipe that I found here on the trader where a quart will make "about" two pounds.

So if we use your numbers: A gallon of syrup worth $60 will make 8 pounds of candy. 60 divided by 8 equals $7.50, so each pound of candy used $7.50 worth of syrup.

I appreciate the voice of experience.

[OneLegJohn]

A $1.00 or $1.50, with or without a soak? I think a $1.50/oz is fair with a soak.

[wiam]

First off--you will be hard pressed to get a pound of candy out of a pint of syrup. The best I have done is about 8 pounds per gallon. At the Big E and other state fairs the going rate is around a dollar an ounce. You will need to factor in your packaging on top of that.

Umm......there are 8 pints in a gallon.