Body Scrub Business Plan: Costs, the Rules, a Projection

A body scrub business plan sets out the scrubs you'll make and who buys them, what a jar costs, the rules, and the year month by month. Scrubs are among the cheapest body care products to make, sugar or salt with oils and fragrance, so the jar and your time are most of the cost, and the margin is wide. They're also cosmetics, so the label follows FDA's cosmetic rules and, since MoCRA, carries a contact for adverse event reports; a maker under $1,000,000 a year in cosmetic sales is exempt from FDA facility registration and product listing, but still reports serious adverse events and keeps safety records. In the example below, a maker in Biloxi, Mississippi, sells jars at markets and online, to boutiques and as gift sets, makes a profit from the first month, and ends the year about $19,100 ahead on $40,500 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for the making. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the rules, the year, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the scrubs, where you sell, the workspace, the goals.
• Cost a jar with your time in it: sugar, oils, fragrance, the jar, the label, card fees.
• Price direct, wholesale and gift sets separately; boutiques pay about half of retail.
• A scrub is a cosmetic: the cosmetic label, with ingredients in descending order.
• MoCRA: a label contact for adverse event reports; small businesses exempt from registration and listing.
• Scrubs without water are simpler to keep safe; anything with water needs a preservative and testing.
• TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, recipe version and cost. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Gulf Shore Scrubs, a made-up body care maker in Biloxi, Mississippi, I use in these examples, writes:

Gulf Shore Scrubs makes sugar and sea salt body scrubs with coconut and sweet almond oils in a rented workspace, sold at two markets, online, wholesale to coastal boutiques, and as holiday gift trios. Every jar carries a batch code.

Part 2: what a jar costs

Boutiques pay by invoice, so there's no card fee on wholesale. How a cosmetic is costed and priced is in skincare business plan.

Part 3: customers and prices

The boutique jar leaves a third of what a direct jar does, but 150 jars a month go out without a market day.

Part 4: the cosmetic rules

A body scrub is a cosmetic. Its label gives the product's identity, net quantity, the ingredients in descending order, and the name and place of business, as in cosmetic labeling requirements. Under MoCRA, every cosmetic label also carries a domestic address, phone number or electronic contact, such as a website, for adverse event reports (21 U.S.C. 364e). A maker averaging under $1,000,000 a year in US cosmetic sales, and making none of the higher-risk products, is exempt from FDA facility registration and product listing (21 U.S.C. 364h), but still reports serious adverse events to FDA within 15 business days and keeps the records (21 U.S.C. 364a), and keeps records supporting each product's safety. What MoCRA asks of a small maker is in MoCRA small business. Claims that a scrub treats a skin condition make it a drug. This is general information, not legal advice.

Part 5: the year, month by month

Fixed costs are $660 a month: workspace rent ($250), insurance ($50), market fees ($120), the website and online store ($40), software and card fees ($30), marketing ($120), and shipping supplies ($50). Sales start at 35% of full speed:

The year's sales are $40,459 and the profit $19,146, on top of $20 an hour for the making. Gift trios are spread evenly here; move them toward November and December.

Part 6: the startup budget

Get the template

Download the body scrub business plan template. Four sheets: products with price, variable cost and units at full speed; the year month by month with a ramp you can change; fixed costs; and the startup budget. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

An adverse event report needs the product's label and its batch, and a safety record needs the recipe that was used. Once there are four scents in two sizes, a notebook can't say which batch of oil went into which jar.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, recipe version and cost.

Each batch a lot. A batch of scrub gets a lot with its date, lot labels print with it, and the batch notes which oil and fragrance lots it used.

Recipes by version. Each scrub is a versioned recipe, so a change of fragrance supplier is a new version on a date, and the safety record follows the right one.

What each channel earns. Each batch carries its true cost, and margins show by product and by customer.

Lots, batches, recipes and true cost 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 body scrub business profitable?

It can be: in the example, $19,146 on $40,459 of sales in the first year, after paying $20 an hour for the making.

Do I need FDA approval to sell body scrubs?

No. Cosmetics don't need FDA approval before sale, but they must be safe and properly labeled, with a contact for adverse event reports; small makers are exempt from facility registration and product listing.

What should a body scrub label include?

The product's identity, net quantity, ingredients in descending order, your business name and place, and a domestic address, phone number or website for adverse event reports.

How much does it cost to start a body scrub business?

In the example, $4,150, including tools, jars and labels, first stock, a market setup, a website and $1,500 of working cash.