Eggs are a thin-margin food unless the chores are counted honestly and the channel is chosen well. Feed is the biggest cash cost, but the daily chores, collecting, washing, candling, cartoning, are as much again. Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price. In the example below, a dozen pastured eggs costs $4.84 to produce and sell at market and goes for $7.00, a 30.9% margin. A month of four ways of selling brings $4,710 of sales and about $1,150 of gross profit.
The short version
- Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price; markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost.
- Count your time as a cost, even if you don't pay yourself yet.
- A dozen at market: $4.84, $7.00, 30.9%.
- Feed is the biggest cash cost; chores are as much again.
- Egg shares pay ahead and smooth the winter dip.
- Stores pay less; check the dozen against full cost.
- TaroStack keeps each week's eggs as a lot and every sale with its customer. More below.
A dozen, costed
Clover Hollow Farm, the made-up egg farm in Franklin, Tennessee, I use in these examples, keeps 400 pastured hens and collects about 175 dozen a week:
| A dozen, at market | Cost |
|---|---|
| Feed, pullet replacement, bedding and shell | $2.48 |
| Carton | $0.35 |
| Chores: 945 minutes a week for 175 dozen at $20 an hour | $1.80 |
| Card fees, 3% of $7.00 | $0.21 |
| Cost | $4.84 |
How the dozen's price was set is in how to price eggs, and the business year in egg business plan.
Margins by channel
| Product | Sold where | Price | Cost | Gross profit | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dozen eggs | Farmers market | $7.00 | $4.84 | $2.16 | 30.9% |
| Dozen eggs | Egg share, paid ahead | $6.50 | $4.83 | $1.67 | 25.8% |
| Dozen eggs | Grocery store | $5.25 | $4.63 | $0.62 | 11.8% |
| Flat of 30 | Restaurants | $13.00 | $11.00 | $2.00 | 15.4% |
The store dozen leaves $0.62; the market dozen $2.16.
A month's numbers
A month at Clover Hollow Farm:
| Product | Units | Sales | Gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dozen eggs, farmers market | 300 | $2,100 | $648 |
| Dozen eggs, egg share | 200 | $1,300 | $335 |
| Dozen eggs, grocery store | 200 | $1,050 | $124 |
| Flat of 30, restaurants | 20 | $260 | $40 |
| Month | $4,710 | $1,147 |
The store dozens are a third of the eggs and a small share of the gross profit. In winter, when the hens lay about 120 dozen a week, the market and egg share customers come first. Selling from the farm is in how to start a farm stand.
Get the calculator
Download the egg margin calculator. One sheet: one line for each product and channel, with its price, materials, packaging, labor and fee rate; the cost, gross profit, margin, markup and the price your target margin needs fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The calculator holds one cost a dozen. Feed prices move, the hens lay less in winter, and the same chores spread over fewer dozen raise the cost of each.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each week's eggs as a lot and every sale with its customer.
Eggs as lots. Each week's collection is received as a lot with its pack date.
Feed received. Feed by the bag is received with its supplier and price.
Sales by customer. Market, share, store and restaurant sales each carry their lot.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Dozens on hand by pack date | Counted in the cooler | Stock by lot |
| Feed bought this month | Receipts | Receiving by supplier |
| Which store got which week's eggs | Invoices | Lots on each order |
Lots, receiving and orders 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.