A bird seed business plan sets out the blends and feeders' food you'll make and who buys them, what a bag costs and sells for, buying and storing seed, and the year month by month, which follows the birds: feeding peaks in late fall and winter and slows in summer. Seed is bought by the ton and blended, so the cost is mostly the seed and the margin comes from the blend: a no-filler mix of black oil sunflower, safflower and millet sells for more than the cheap blends padded with milo. Suet cakes and seed wreaths are made the same days, and garden centers buy big bags for their own shelves. In the example below, a bird seed maker near Cleveland sells blends, suet cakes, seed wreaths and garden center bags, makes money every month, and ends the year about $25,300 ahead on $65,300 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for the mixing and bagging. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the seed, the year, the startup budget, and a free template.
The short version
- Describe the business in a paragraph: the blends, the buyers, the space, the goals.
- Cost a bag from the seed: the blend's cost a pound, the bag, your minutes, the fees.
- Sell blends direct and big bags to garden centers; suet and wreaths add winter margin.
- Buy seed by the ton before fall, and store it cool, dry and sealed against moths and mice.
- Plan the year around winter, and buy for the peak in September.
- A tumble mixer, a scale and a bag sealer are most of the startup.
- TaroStack keeps seed by lot and every blend costed. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Cuyahoga Valley Bird Supply, a made-up bird seed blender in Peninsula, Ohio, I use in these examples, writes:
Cuyahoga Valley Bird Supply blends no-filler wild bird seed from sunflower, safflower and millet, makes suet cakes and seed wreaths, and sells them at markets, online, and in 20-pound bags to garden centers and hardware stores. Every bag carries a lot code and a packed-on date.
Part 2: what a bag costs
| Per unit | 5 lb blend | Suet cake, 11 oz | Seed wreath | 20 lb bag, to garden centers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed blend at 55 cents a pound | $2.75 | $1.50 | $11.00 | |
| Rendered suet and seed | $1.00 | |||
| Binder, twine and wrap | $0.90 | |||
| Bag or tray, with label | $0.60 | $0.25 | $1.20 | |
| Mixing, bagging, molding, at $20 an hour | 3 min, $1.00 | 2 min, $0.67 | 8 min, $2.67 | 5 min, $1.67 |
| Selling and card fees, 6%, or case share | $0.84 | $0.24 | $0.72 | $0.10 |
| Variable cost | $5.19 | $2.16 | $5.79 | $13.97 |
The blend averages 55 cents a pound: black oil sunflower is most of it, safflower costs more, millet less. Change the recipe and the cost a pound moves with it, which is why each blend is costed separately. How to cost the bag and label properly is in packaging cost per unit.
Part 3: customers and prices
| Product | Price | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | In November |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild bird seed blend, 5 lb bag | $14.00 | $5.19 | $8.81 | 62.9% | 250 |
| Suet cake, 11 oz | $4.00 | $2.16 | $1.84 | 46.0% | 300 |
| Seed wreath or ornament | $12.00 | $5.79 | $6.21 | 51.7% | 80 |
| Seed blend, 20 lb bag, to garden centers | $30.00 | $13.97 | $16.03 | 53.4% | 120 |
A garden center bag leaves $16.03, more than a 5-pound bag, because it carries four times the seed for one bag and one bagging; the garden center marks it up for its own shelf. Seed wreaths are the December gift. How to set a wholesale price that holds up is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.
Part 4: buying and storing seed
Seed is bought by the ton from a grain supplier before fall, when the peak is coming and prices are known, and stored in sealed bins or a cool, dry room: damp seed molds, and stored seed draws pantry moths and mice, so the storeroom is checked as carefully as any food plant's. Each delivery is its own lot, so a bag of moldy safflower can be traced to the blends it went into. Some states treat wild bird seed as commercial feed under their feed laws, and seed laws cover what's in a blend and its label; check your state's department of agriculture before selling. This is general information, not legal advice.
Part 5: the year, month by month
Fixed costs are $935 a month: warehouse space ($500), insurance ($60), market fees ($150), delivery ($150), the website and online shop ($40), and software and card fees ($35). Month 1 is September; November and December are full speed, and summer runs at a quarter of it:
| Month | 5 lb blends | Suet cakes | Seed wreaths | 20 lb bags | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep | 125 | 150 | 40 | 60 | $4,630 | $1,652 | $1,652 |
| Oct | 175 | 210 | 56 | 84 | $6,482 | $2,687 | $4,340 |
| Nov | 250 | 300 | 80 | 120 | $9,260 | $4,240 | $8,580 |
| Dec | 250 | 300 | 80 | 120 | $9,260 | $4,240 | $12,820 |
| Jan | 225 | 270 | 72 | 108 | $8,334 | $3,722 | $16,542 |
| Feb | 200 | 240 | 64 | 96 | $7,408 | $3,205 | $19,747 |
| Mar | 150 | 180 | 48 | 72 | $5,556 | $2,170 | $21,917 |
| Apr | 100 | 120 | 32 | 48 | $3,704 | $1,135 | $23,052 |
| May | 75 | 90 | 24 | 36 | $2,778 | $617 | $23,669 |
| Jun | 63 | 75 | 20 | 30 | $2,322 | $363 | $24,033 |
| Jul | 63 | 75 | 20 | 30 | $2,322 | $363 | $24,396 |
| Aug | 88 | 105 | 28 | 42 | $3,248 | $881 | $25,276 |
The year's sales are $65,304 and the profit $25,276, on top of $20 an hour for the work. Summer still covers its fixed costs, and it's the time to buy next season's seed. How to plan stock for a season like this is in seasonal inventory.
Part 6: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Tumble seed mixer | $1,500 |
| Bag sealer and platform scale | $600 |
| Suet melter and molds | $400 |
| Seed, first two tons | $2,000 |
| Bags and labels, first order | $500 |
| Label design | $300 |
| Market display | $450 |
| Website | $200 |
| Working cash | $2,000 |
| Total to start | $7,950 |
Get the template
Download the bird seed business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products with price, variable cost and volume at full speed; the year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash, and month 1 set to September; 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
Five seeds bought by the ton in lots, four blends with their own recipes, suet and wreaths made in batches, 15 garden centers reordering, and a December rush. A sheet can't say how much safflower is left for November's blending, what a bag costs now that sunflower went up, or which garden centers got a lot that turned out damp.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps seed by lot and every blend costed.
Seed by lot. Each seed is received by the ton as a lot, at what you paid, and units convert: seed bought by the ton, blended by the pound.
Blends as recipes. Each blend is a recipe of its seeds, so recording a batch takes them off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, notes the lots automatically, and gives the cost of a bag. Garden center orders are sales orders that show whether the bags are on the shelf while you're still typing, and one report walks a seed lot to every customer who got it.
And the season. The reorder list works in days of cover against each supplier's lead time, a price-creep report shows whose seed prices are rising, and margins are reported by product and by customer.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Safflower left for November | Look in the bins | Stock by item and lot |
| What a bag costs now | Last year's number | Each batch, at what it used |
| Which stores got the damp lot? | Read the invoices | One report, lot to customer |
| Seed ordered before the peak | Remembered, hopefully | The reorder list, in days |
Recipes, batches, lots, recalls and margins by product and customer 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.