Bottles and Jars

[Jim Schumacher]

Hey Guys. I am brand new to this website. I started sugaring in 2007 around my cabin in Michigan's upper peninsula. I started with a stainless kettle and 20 taps. Next year I will tap all 275 of my trees and run my ever-improving evaporator. I look foward discussing my experiences as well as everyone's here. My first question: Where are people buying their bottles or jars? Where can I find the cheapest bottles or jars? I've been buying regular mason jars, at about $9.00 for a case of quarts. Can I beat that? Thanks, jim

[3rdgen.maple]

Jim welcome aboard the trader. You are gonna love this place. As far as jars go. Well it is hard to beat the price of mason jars. The question is do you want to keep using them or do you want a better maple type jug or glass bottles. Looks sell and what I do is offest the cost in the sale of the syrup which is what I would have to guess everyone does atleast I hope they would. There are alot of bulk glass suppliers that are on the web. Just key in glass bottles. Or you can try Bascom's maple supplies has some nice stuff as do all the dealers. I am trying to buy a skid of glass bottles and have them either printed on or etched. The only way I can get the cost down per each is buying alot, but I will use them.

[Jim Schumacher]

Thanks for the reply 3rdgen. I would like to upgrade. I am still looking for the right price to sell my syrup for. The twenty gallons I had last year sold itself pretty quick at $12.00 per quart. I hope to be dealing with about sixty gallons in 2010 and try to get $15.00 per quart. Does that sound too high? Also, was last year a bumper-crop for most producers? It seemed like a great year, but it was only my second season, not much to compare to...

[KenWP]

You can buy 12 quart jars cheaper then 12 quart plastic jugs but the jugs are so much easyier to work with I find. Just pour 185 degree syrup in and turn on side and they are done. With the jars you have to serilize them and have them hot and the lids hot when you pour the syrup in and then put the tops on and wait for them to pop to know they are sealed. I used both this year plus a few fancy glass bottles I bought from D&G off their clearance counter for 50 cents each.

[3rdgen.maple]

Jim I sell my plastic quart jugs at 16 bucks and I sell out pretty darn quick. I was thinking I am to low for the area I am in.

[dschultz]

Jim,there's Adamski's in Antigo that sell's supplies.Here's the number you can call and ask for a catalog 715-623-6853
I tried plastic jugs and didn't sell much,switched to glass and sell alot.The reason for that was people want to see what there buying.
Most people around me sell for 10 a quart or less,I sell mine for 12.

[Jim Schumacher]

Thanks Schultz. I have noticed a lot of people along my trek from the fox valley to my cabin are selling for about $9.00 per quart, then in the valley there are people selling for $10.50 per pint. I guess, maybe the people selling that high only have to sell five pints and their out, who knows... I might try $14.00 per quart and $7.50 per pint. Schultz, and any of you Wisconsin guys, did you feel that last year was an exceptional year for production in any way?

[Jim Schumacher]

P.s. thanks for that phone number.

[dschultz]

Jim,Yes it was an exceptional year compare to the last few years,but a normal year.What I mean by normal is the syrup to tap ratio was where it was suppose to be.What was abnormal was it usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to get that much sap not 12 to 14 days.

[3rdgen.maple]

That kind of pricing amazes me. What does the syrup sell for in the grocery store's around you guys? If I had to take a guess on averages here the grocery stores are at 25 bucks a quart. Plastic sells the best for me here. At 9 bucks a quart I think I would be in the red really fast. I sell pints a 9 bucks. I sold somewheres around 130 quarts and 150 pints by the begining of the summer. I am working on pricing for some fancy jars with a salmon on them with some wording to cator to the thousands of fisherman who start to pour in here at the end of August. Looking at 12 oz jars. I feel I can price them higher that way to cover the cost of the jar and make a better profit off them.

[dschultz]

3rdgen around here syrup in the store's is 20 a quart.There's alot of Amish around here that sell for 5 to 8 a quart plus there's other producers that sell for 8 to 10 so it's hard to get 12 unless you go out of my area and sell.

[Jim Schumacher]

I have never seen pure maple syrup in a typical grocery store. I guess if you went to one that specializes in organics or something... I hear people say that they sell their late syrup, the stuff that doesn't taste good, to commercial buyers because they will buy anything. I wonder what they use it for. Why would they buy skunky syrup? What is the minimum amount a commercial buyer would be interested in?

[KenWP]

They use the skunky syrup for flavorings and such and who knows what else. If you go to any store around here they have syrup in plastic or glass or cans that says pure maple syrup. It goes for $6:99 for a 540ml can up to just about any price for fancy glass bottles and gold labels. The metal soup cans seems to be the cheapest way to buy it and to buy a gallon they sell you 8 of them. I have never seen the big gallon jugs for sale anywheres around here but they must exsit because they sold out of them at the store in town this spring and I used a few of them to hurry things up with bottleing as you can bottle a lot in a short time with them.

[Ahnohta]

Up in very Northern middle Wisconsin we are selling at following prices.

$6.50 1/2 pt
$10 pt
$16 qt

We do not know how anyone can sell a qt for less then $10. Sure is a lot of work. When we started out a few years ago we only sold 1/2 pts, then got asked for pts, then moved up in volume and did pts and was asked for qts, now as we expand we do qts and was now asked if we did gal (they skipped asking for 1/2 gal) We for next 5 years will stick w/ qts on down. We are only expanding in small increments until we retire.

When pricing be sure to look what others in your local area are doing and what is being done by the larger producers in your state. Remeber their is cost of living increases on everything, your productions costs go up each year. In turn it is best to raise your prices a bit each year then a lot every 4-5 years. Customers do understand costs going up, they feel it on most every product they buy.

Please note I am not mentioning that us small producers make a profit. I would not know what a profit was. We do enjoy maple syruping, and the $ we do make help cover some of the expenses.

[KenWP]

There is no hope of me makeing a profit on syrup. They sell syrup a lot cheaper here then in other places due to the way the big guys sell most of their syrup to the federation and the price is $2;71 a pound for this year and 2010. They say they do that to keep the price constant to the producer and the consumer. But they also sell syrup privately and with that they jack the price up a bit more. Some of them get some corner store to sell a few bottles in glass for high prices.

[dschultz]

The late season syrup that the commercial buyers buy goes to Aunt Jemima,Log Cabin and such that's the 2% maple syrup that's in them.
Two years ago I had a buyer call me looking for late or bitter syrup they needed 70 barrels to fill a semi

[KenWP]

Wonder if they will take a gallon of the stuff. It tastes not to bad but smells to much. I might try and cook with it that or have a pancake breakfast at lodge and serve it to them.

[dschultz]

ken, if you only have a gallon of bad syrup and the buyer is any distance from you it won't be worth the trip,it will cost you more in gas then the stuff is worth.I have 50 gallons I'm getting rid of this week that smell's like wine.