Empanada Business Plan, With a 12-Month Projection

An empanada business plan sets out what you'll fill and fold and who buys it, what an empanada costs and sells for, the kitchen, freezer and rules it needs, and the first year month by month. Empanadas are hand work: every one is cut, filled and crimped, so the folding time costs as much as the filling, and the plan is really a plan for minutes. They freeze well, which turns a day's folding into a week of sales at markets, online and in grocers' freezers. And a filling with meat changes the rules for selling beyond your own counter, which is why this plan's line is cheese, vegetables and fruit. In the example below, a maker in Jersey City sells frozen six-packs direct and to grocers, baked singles at markets and catering trays, makes a profit from month 4, and ends the year about $14,600 ahead on $75,900 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for the folding. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the meat question, the projection, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the fillings, where you sell, the kitchen, the goals.
• Cost an empanada with the folding time in it: about two minutes each, as much as the filling.
• Sell frozen packs: a day of folding becomes a week of sales.
• Price market singles, frozen packs, grocer packs and catering separately; grocer packs leave the least.
• Meat fillings sold to stores generally bring USDA or state inspection; this plan sticks to cheese, vegetables and fruit.
• A dough sheeter is the equipment that changes the minutes.
• TaroStack keeps every batch with its lot and date, frozen packs included. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Palisades Empanada Co., a made-up empanada maker in Jersey City, New Jersey, I use in these examples, writes:

Palisades Empanada Co. makes cheese and spinach, black bean and corn, and guava and cheese empanadas in a commercial kitchen, sold baked at two farmers markets, frozen in six-packs online and to local grocers, and by the tray for catering. Every pack carries a lot code and a best-by date. In our first year we plan to supply 10 grocers.

Part 2: what an empanada costs

An empanada is 70 cents of dough and filling and two minutes of cutting, filling and crimping with a sheeter doing the rolling. The market single carries its share of the person at the stall: $120 for a six-hour market over about 150 empanadas. How to put labor into a cost is in how to compute labor cost in baking.

Part 3: customers and prices

Grocer packs are the biggest line and leave $2.73 a pack, because the folding time is the same 12 minutes whatever the price. A grocer price of $10 would leave 73 cents, so it's the price to defend, and the sheeter is what keeps the minutes down. How to set a wholesale price that holds up is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.

Part 4: the meat question

Beef, chicken and pork empanadas are the classics, and they're a different business on paper. Meat products sold to stores and other businesses generally have to be made under USDA or state inspection; a federal exemption covers operations of the kind retail stores and restaurants carry out, selling in normal retail quantities to their own customers (9 CFR 303.1). A maker who wants meat empanadas in grocers' freezers needs an inspected kitchen or a co-packer with one; how to find one is in how to find a co-packer. This plan keeps to cheese, vegetables and fruit, made in a licensed kitchen under state and local food rules. Wheat, milk and egg wash are the allergens to declare. This is general information, not legal advice.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $1,285 a month: commercial kitchen time ($700), freezer storage ($150), market fees ($200), insurance ($60), the vehicle ($100), the website and online shop ($40), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it by month 11, about 3,600 empanadas and 480 cocktail ones a month, some 130 hours of folding:

The year's sales are $75,888 and the profit $14,556, on top of $20 an hour for the folding.

Part 6: the startup budget

Get the template

Download the empanada business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products with price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed; the 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

Three fillings, frozen packs dated by batch in two freezers, baked singles at two markets, grocer orders and catering trays. A notebook can't say how many packs of each filling are frozen, which batch a grocer got, or what an empanada costs now that cheese has gone up.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps every batch with its lot and date.

Batches with lots and dates. Each filling is a recipe of dough and filling, and units convert: cheese bought by the case, weighed by the gram. Recording a batch takes the ingredients and packaging off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, and puts the packs into a lot with their best-by date, so the oldest go first and lots close to their date show in your alerts.

Grocer and catering orders. Grocer orders and catering trays are sales orders for their delivery day that show whether the packs to fill them are in the freezer while you're still typing, and one report walks any lot to every customer who got it.

And what each empanada costs. Every batch is costed at what it used, and margins are reported by product and by customer, so the grocer price that's slipping shows up.

Recipes, batches, lots 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.

Questions people also ask

Is an empanada business profitable?

It can be. In the example, a maker selling frozen packs, market singles, grocer packs and catering trays ends the first year about $14,600 ahead on $75,900 of sales, with $20 an hour paid for the folding.

How much does it cost to make an empanada?

In the example, 70 cents of dough and filling and 67 cents of folding time, about $1.42 with energy before packaging and fees.

How much should I sell empanadas for?

Cost them with the folding time, then price each channel. In the example, a baked single sells for $5 at a market, a frozen six-pack for $18 direct and $12 to grocers, and a tray of 24 cocktail empanadas for $48.

Can I sell meat empanadas to stores?

Meat products sold to stores generally have to be made under USDA or state inspection. A federal exemption covers retail stores and restaurants selling to their own customers. Check with your state before adding meat.