A freeze-dried candy business plan sets out what you'll freeze-dry and where you'll sell it, what a bag costs and sells for, how many hours the machines can run, the rules for selling food you've processed, and the first year month by month. Freeze-dried candy is unusual among small food businesses: the ingredients are cheap and the work per bag is light, but the machine is expensive and slow, so the plan is mostly about machine hours. Candy runs short cycles; fruit runs long ones; every run uses power and the pump needs upkeep. In the example below, a maker in Utah with two freeze dryers sells 800 bags of candy, 150 bags of strawberries and 40 gift boxes a month by month 11, makes a profit from month 1, and ends the year about $25,200 ahead on $52,200 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for the work and earning back the $6,400 machines several times over. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, machine hours, the projection, the startup budget, and a free template.
The short version
- Describe the business in a paragraph: products, where you sell, the machines, the goals.
- Cost a bag with the machine's power and your time in it, not only the candy.
- Price direct, wholesale and gift boxes separately; wholesale leaves less than half a direct bag.
- Count machine hours: candy runs fast, fruit runs slow, and the machines are the ceiling.
- Check your state's rules for selling food you've freeze-dried, and the rules on reselling branded candy.
- Budget for the machines first; they're most of the startup cost.
- TaroStack keeps runs as batches with lots and dates, and costs every bag. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Frost Moon Treats, a made-up freeze-dried products maker in Utah I use in these examples, writes:
Frost Moon Treats freeze-dries candy and fruit in small batches, sold at markets and events, online, and wholesale to gift shops, with gift boxes for holidays and parties. Every bag carries a lot code and a best-by date. In our first year we plan to run two freeze dryers and sell to 10 shops.
Part 2: what a bag costs
| Per bag or box | Candy, direct | Candy, wholesale | Strawberries, 1 oz | Gift box, four flavors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candy or fruit | $1.20 | $1.20 | $1.40 | $4.80 |
| Bag or box, label | $0.45 | $0.45 | $0.45 | $2.50 |
| Machine power, a share of the run | $0.25 | $0.25 | $0.35 | $1.00 |
| Card fee, 3% | $0.24 | $0.21 | $0.90 | |
| Case share | $0.10 | |||
| Your time, at $20 an hour | $0.60 | $0.60 | $0.80 | $1.50 |
| Variable cost | $2.74 | $2.60 | $3.21 | $10.70 |
The strawberries cost more than the candy because fruit is mostly water: about 10 oz of fresh berries make a 1 oz bag, and the run takes far longer. How a yield like that turns into a cost per bag is in batch yield formula.
Part 3: customers and prices
| Product | Price | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | A month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried candy, 3 oz bag, direct | $8.00 | $2.74 | $5.26 | 65.8% | 500 |
| Freeze-dried candy, 3 oz bag, wholesale | $4.75 | $2.60 | $2.15 | 45.3% | 300 |
| Freeze-dried strawberries, 1 oz bag | $7.00 | $3.21 | $3.79 | 54.1% | 150 |
| Gift box, four flavors | $30.00 | $10.70 | $19.30 | 64.3% | 40 |
A wholesale bag leaves $2.15, less than half a direct one, but a shop takes cases and reorders between your events. Gift boxes leave the most per sale and use candy you've already run. How to work out a wholesale price that still pays is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.
Part 4: rules
Freeze-dried candy and fruit are food you've processed, so check your state's cottage food law: some states allow freeze-dried products made at home, some limit them, and selling to shops may need a licensed kitchen. Reselling candy under its original brand name can raise trademark questions; candy you make yourself, or describe without the brand, avoids them. Freeze-dried products keep well only if they stay dry, so the packaging, the seal and the best-by date matter; how to set a date from a test is in shelf life study template. Every bag needs the product name, ingredients, allergens, net weight, and your name and address. This is general information, not legal advice.
Part 5: the first year, month by month
Fixed costs are $515 a month: marketing and samples ($150), market and event fees ($200), insurance ($50), the website ($40), freeze dryer oil and upkeep ($40), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it by month 11:
| Month | Candy, direct | Candy, wholesale | Strawberries | Gift boxes | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 75 | 45 | 23 | 6 | $1,155 | $179 | $179 |
| 2 | 100 | 60 | 30 | 8 | $1,535 | $408 | $587 |
| 3 | 125 | 75 | 38 | 10 | $1,922 | $641 | $1,228 |
| 4 | 150 | 90 | 45 | 12 | $2,302 | $870 | $2,098 |
| 5 | 200 | 120 | 60 | 16 | $3,070 | $1,331 | $3,429 |
| 6 | 250 | 150 | 75 | 20 | $3,838 | $1,793 | $5,222 |
| 7 | 300 | 180 | 90 | 24 | $4,605 | $2,254 | $7,476 |
| 8 | 350 | 210 | 105 | 28 | $5,372 | $2,716 | $10,192 |
| 9 | 400 | 240 | 120 | 32 | $6,140 | $3,177 | $13,369 |
| 10 | 450 | 270 | 135 | 36 | $6,908 | $3,639 | $17,008 |
| 11 | 500 | 300 | 150 | 40 | $7,675 | $4,100 | $21,109 |
| 12 | 500 | 300 | 150 | 40 | $7,675 | $4,100 | $25,209 |
The year's sales are $52,197 and the profit $25,209, on top of $20 an hour for the work. The machines, $6,400 of the startup budget, are paid for by month 7.
Part 6: machine hours
In the example, a run of candy fills about 20 bags in about four hours, and a run of strawberries fills about 12 bags in about a day. At full speed:
| A month at full speed | Bags | Runs | Machine hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candy, including 160 bags' worth for gift boxes | 960 | 48 | 192 |
| Strawberries | 150 | 13 | 312 |
| Total | 61 | 504 |
Two machines have about 1,440 hours a month between them, but a candy run needs someone to load and unload it, so the real limit is how many candy runs fit into the days you're there. Fruit runs overnight; candy runs while you're packing. That's the plan's real shape: fruit fills the nights, candy fills the days, and a third machine is the next purchase only when the days are full. How to plan a week's hours against what you make is in how to calculate production capacity.
Part 7: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Two medium freeze dryers with vacuum pumps | $6,400 |
| Extra trays, lids and silicone mats | $300 |
| Mylar bags and a heat sealer | $400 |
| Label design and first labels | $300 |
| First candy stock | $300 |
| First fruit | $150 |
| Cottage food permit or license | $150 |
| Product liability insurance, first year | $500 |
| Market tent and table | $300 |
| Website | $200 |
| Working cash | $2,000 |
| Total to start | $11,000 |
Machine prices are examples; get current quotes.
Get the template
Download the freeze-dried candy 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
Sixty runs a month across two machines, a dozen candies, fruit by the case and gift boxes built from all of them is more than a notebook keeps straight. A shop asks about a bag that went soft and nobody knows which run it came from, the mylar bags run out mid-week, and the cost per bag is still the one worked out before the candy price went up.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps every run as a batch with its lot.
Runs as batches. Each product is a recipe, candy or fruit by weight, bags and labels by the unit. Recording a run takes the candy or fruit and packaging off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, divides by the bags that came out good, and puts them into a lot with its best-by date. Batch record forms carry your own fields, like the run's end time or a seal check, with limits.
Gift boxes from the bags you've made. A gift box can be a kit: when it ships, each bag inside is picked from its own lot, so a question about one flavor leads to every box it went into.
And the reorder list in days. Mylar bags, labels and candy are reordered from days of cover at the rate they really move, and margins are reported by product and by customer, so the shops that pay their way are visible.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which run did this bag come from? | Unknown | Its lot, from the run |
| What's in this gift box? | A list, maybe | Each bag's lot, picked when it ships |
| Mylar bags running low | Found mid-week | The reorder list, in days |
| What does a bag cost now? | Worked out once | Every run, at what you paid |
Recipes, batches, lots, kits, the reorder list 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.