Selling syrup by the barrel

My point was/is that I personally dont think that it's a good idea as a producer to sell to anyone that is not a producer at the Bulk price, it hamstrings you, you get a good customer buying 10 gallons a month and your selling it at the Bulk Price to them and then you run out and you have to buy syrup at the bulk price and handle it bottle/Transport/ insurance and all the things that come with it and your loosing money on that account until your making your own syrup again, or you tell the customer that your out of syrup and risk loosing them. Selling syrup to another producer is a different situation. The costs are much different and there is many more reasons that you might do it.

I was not suggesting you buy or sell to Bascom, just that their price be used as a guide.
I have bought bulk from other producers, in fact I bought 80 gal just after the season. I offered $.20/# more than Bascom was paying and bought it at the end of April. I also bought 130 gal last year, also at the end of the season, same deal, different producers. Both were local producers.
I sell retail more than I produce is why I buy it and I buy syrup that is real good quality. I bought less this year because I produced a lot more. Last year was a shorter season for me because of having cancer.

Thanks for everyone chiming in! Last season I was at 2000 taps and growing each year. I figured if syrup is being bought in barrel and the barrel is being returned when delivering a full barrel, I feel the syrup is worth between $40 and $45 a gallon, cheaper then what I sell retail but more then bulk pricing like a couple of you guys suggested. I typically have enough to make it till next season with syrup which I like because in my area there are maybe a couple producers that are I know of that are running 2000+ taps so I'd really have to do some looking if I need to buy from another maker to keep the costumers supplied.

Im going to bring this back to life for a moment. I may have another buyer, a local brewery one of my buddies works at. I contacted him earlier this summer to see if they would be interested in some syrup for any type of beer they make and he said his boss is really interested. My buddy just contacted me tonight to see how much syrup I have left and price per gallon. with this whole covid thing going on it has limited where I can sell my syrup, of the 550 gallons I made, I have about 400 gallons left. I made a list of my expenses and came up with a cost of around $16.00 per gallon for my 2,100 tap operation (not sure if its high, low, or medium). My buddy said they would be looking for 100 gallons of syrup depending on price. If I figured right on how much it cost me to make a gallon of syrup ($16.00 per gallon) and including I'm delivering the stainless steel barrels do you think $40 a gallon is a fair price?

That's more than what I've paid in the past 3 years, but only you can decide if it is a fair price to you.

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Originally Posted by maple flats

That's more than what I've paid in the past 3 years, but only you can decide if it is a fair price to you.

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Your a producer Dave I think that is the point that you are missing. You dont think Bruce bascom is wholesaling to restaurants at 2.10 lb.

The brewery is a consumer, even of its bulk consumption. They should pay more than us producers.

But I will agree with the sentiment that you should only sell at a price that you are comfortable with. If you think that you can make a Gallon of syrup all things considered like your time at 16.00$ per gallon I would say that you are doing a fine job at producing at 1.50lb.

Do these people already buy syrup from someone else?
I would go with your gut. But I personally think that 40 a gallon might leave room for another producer to sneak in under you if they are looking to get 400 gallons.

At $40 per gallon, that is $3.64 per pound. There probably is not anyone selling bulk at this price to an end user. If your buyer will pay it, great, but most likely they will start looking around after a while if they continue to use that quantity of syrup. They will have a pretty easy time finding someone to sell to them at $3 or less per pound.

Thank you guys for chiming in! This is the first time dealing with what I consider a large quantity order of syrup and wasn't quite sure how to go about pricing the 100 gallons the brewery is looking for. I honestly dont know if they have bought syrup locally due to there are not really any producers in the area that are in the 2,000+ tap operation so I can only assume they have ordered it from out of state supplier. When I talked to my buddy after he talked to his boss about it, my buddy said he was pretty excited about it. I think I will call a bulk buyer like someone suggested in the previous post and see what they say. Thanks again guys!

We sold some extra dark to a brewer that I'm friends with. It was just for one batch so only 5 gallons. We sold it for $40/gallon or $200. Would maybe drop it a little if it was a large volume but I think your price is fair. Sure- if they shop around, seems like someone will always under cut you. Bigger operations can usually produce for less, that's the way it works. But I still wouldn't give away our syrup. My $0.02.