Beeswax Wrap Business Plan, With a Projection

A beeswax wrap business plan is a plan built from three materials and a lot of cutting: cotton bought by the yard, a wax mix of beeswax, pine resin and jojoba melted by the ounce, and the minutes it takes to cut, coat and fold each set. A set of three wraps costs about $4 in materials and twelve minutes of work, sells for $22 at a market and $12 to a shop, and the plan comes down to how many of each. In the example below, a beeswax wrap maker in Delaware sells sets online and at markets, sets to shops, large bread wraps and refresh bars, and ends its first year about $18,400 ahead on $64,200 of sales, with every hour paid at $18. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the wraps, who buys them, the goals.
• Cost a set from the fabric up: yards of cotton, ounces of wax mix, packaging, minutes, fees.
• Make the wax mix as its own batch, so every set uses the same recipe.
• Shops buy at about half the market price; make their sets in bigger runs to keep the margin.
• Refresh bars sell to people who already own wraps, at the best margin in the line.
• Keep fabric counted by the yard and wax by the pound, so a big shop order doesn't stop for a print.
• TaroStack keeps fabric by the yard and wax by the ounce, makes the mix as a sub-recipe, and takes each run off stock. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Cape Bee Wrap Co., a made-up beeswax wrap maker in Lewes, Delaware, I use in these examples, writes:

Cape Bee Wrap Co. makes beeswax food wraps from cotton prints and a wax mix of local beeswax, pine resin and jojoba oil, and sells sets online, at Delaware beach markets, and to about 25 shops and grocers along the coast. In its first year it aims to reach 500 sets a month and earn back its startup costs.

Part 2: what a set costs

The wax mix is about 63% beeswax, 27% pine resin and 10% jojoba by weight, at about 62 cents an ounce.

The time is the biggest part of a set, then the fabric; the wax is the smallest of the three. How to cost anything bought in bulk and used in small amounts is in how to calculate cost per ounce.

Part 3: customers and prices

In a month at full speed the direct sets bring $2,362 of the $4,256 of contribution, the shops $1,161, the refresh bars $374 and the bread wraps $359. The shops take 300 sets and about 50 of the month's 100 hours for about a quarter of the contribution; they're worth it for reaching people who'll never see a market stall, and worth watching. Wholesale pricing for handmade goods is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.

Part 4: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $875 every month: studio space ($350), market fees ($200), the website ($40), insurance ($50), ads ($200), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed:

The year's sales are $64,204 and the profit $18,447, with every hour paid at $18. The first two months lose a little, $257 at the lowest. A full month uses about 140 yards of fabric and 110 pounds of wax mix. How to keep materials like these counted is in raw materials inventory example.

Part 5: the startup budget

The $3,600 spent before working cash is earned back in month 7, when the cash reaches $4,096.

Get the template

Download the beeswax wrap business plan workbook. Four sheets: your sets, wraps and bars with price, variable cost and a month at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Twenty cotton prints on bolts, each bought by the yard, a wax mix made a few pounds at a time, sets cut in three sizes, 25 shops reordering before the holidays. A notebook can't say whether there's enough of the lemon print for a shop's 60 sets, or how much beeswax to order before the market season.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps fabric by the yard and wax by the ounce, makes the mix as a sub-recipe, and takes each run off stock.

Materials in their units. Fabric bought by the bolt is stocked by the yard, and beeswax, resin and jojoba bought by the pound are used by the ounce, so the stock is in the units the wraps are made in.

The mix as a sub-recipe. The wax mix is a sub-recipe of beeswax, resin and jojoba, and a set is a recipe of fabric, mix, sleeve and label, so a run of sets takes everything off stock, with the labor minutes recorded, and "what could I make right now" says how many sets the lemon print and the wax on hand allow.

Shops and reorders. Each shop's order is a sales order, and fabric and wax come up on a reorder list in days of cover, worked out from how fast they're used, with each supplier's lead time.

Recipes, sub-recipes, units and reorder lists are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

Is a beeswax wrap business profitable?

It can be. In the example, a maker ends the first year about $18,400 ahead on $64,200 of sales, with every hour paid at $18 and the direct sets bringing more than half of what's earned.

How much do beeswax wraps cost to make?

In the example, a set of three uses a quarter yard of cotton and three ounces of wax mix, about $3.87 of materials, and twelve minutes of work; with packaging and fees, $10.19 to sell at a market.

How much should I charge for beeswax wraps?

In the example, $22 for a set of three direct and $12 to shops. Check that the shop price still covers the materials, the time and the delivery.

How much does it cost to start a beeswax wrap business?

In the example, $6,600, with the fabric, the wax, the market tent and $3,000 of working cash the biggest parts.