Horse Treat Business Plan, With a 12-Month Projection

A horse treat business plan sets out the treats you'll bake and who buys them, what a bag costs and sells for, the feed rules and labels, and the first year month by month. Horse treats are simple to make, oats, flour, molasses, carrots and apples, baked and dried, about a dollar of ingredients in a pound, and horse people buy them steadily: a barn goes through treats every week. The selling is where the plan is: tack shops and feed stores take the volume, horse shows and online take the margin. And treats are animal food, so they're registered and labeled under state feed laws before the first bag is sold. In the example below, a maker in Middleburg, Virginia, sells bags direct and to tack shops, barn buckets and gift boxes, makes a profit from month 3, and ends the year about $14,800 ahead on $44,400 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for the baking. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the rules, the projection, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the treats, the buyers, the kitchen, the goals.
• Cost a bag: oats, flour, molasses, fruit and vegetables, the bag and label, your minutes, the fees.
• Sell to tack shops and feed stores for volume; shows, buckets and gift boxes for margin.
• Horse treats are animal food: state registration or licensing before you sell, in every state you sell into.
• Labels need the guaranteed analysis, ingredients and feeding directions; avoid health claims.
• Barn buckets suit regular buyers; gift boxes sell at shows and holidays.
• TaroStack keeps every batch with its ingredient lots and its date. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Bull Run Horse Treats, a made-up horse treat maker in Middleburg, Virginia, I use in these examples, writes:

Bull Run Horse Treats bakes oat, molasses, apple and carrot treats in a licensed kitchen, sold in one-pound bags and five-pound barn buckets at horse shows and online, and wholesale to tack shops and feed stores. Every bag carries a lot code. In our first year we plan to supply 15 tack shops.

Part 2: what a bag costs

A batch of treats is mixed, rolled, cut, baked low and dried so they keep, then bagged. The minutes are the batch's hours divided by the bags. A treat that isn't dried enough molds in the bag, so drying time is part of the recipe, not a guess. How to cost the bags and buckets properly is in packaging cost per unit.

Part 3: customers and prices

Tack shops are the biggest line and leave $2.42 a bag; they reorder steadily and put the treats where horse owners shop every week. The barn bucket is for boarding barns and riders with several horses, and the gift box sells at shows and in December. How the same arithmetic works for dog treats is in how to price homemade dog treats.

Part 4: the feed rules and labels

Horse treats are animal food, which must be safe, made under sanitary conditions and truthfully labeled, and many states' labeling rules are based on a model from the Association of American Feed Control Officials (FDA). Many states also require animal food to be registered, or the maker licensed, before it's distributed, and selling at a show or shipping an online order into another state counts as distribution (AAFCO), so the plan budgets for registrations in each state it sells into. The label carries the product name, the guaranteed analysis from a lab test, the ingredients in order, feeding directions and the maker's name and address. Claims like "calming" or "supports joints" go beyond a treat and can bring drug rules, so labels and listings stick to ingredients and taste. This is general information, not legal or veterinary advice.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $850 a month: commercial kitchen time ($400), state feed registration and fees ($25), insurance ($50), horse show booth fees ($200), marketing ($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:

The year's sales are $44,413 and the profit $14,824, on top of $20 an hour for the baking. Show season shapes the direct sales; set the template's monthly shares to your region's show calendar. A plan for the canine version is in dog treat business plan.

Part 6: the startup budget

Get the template

Download the horse treat 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

Oats and molasses bought by the bag and the pail, three flavors, bags and buckets dated by batch, 15 tack shops reordering, and a show every other weekend. A notebook can't say which oat lot went into a batch, which shops got bags from it, or how many buckets to bake before the big show.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps every batch with its ingredient lots and its date.

Batches from their lots. Each flavor is a recipe, and units convert: oats bought by the 50-pound bag, used by the pound. Recording a batch takes the ingredients, bags and labels off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, notes the lots automatically, and puts the bags into a lot with their date.

Lots to customers. One report walks an ingredient lot to every batch and every tack shop that got bags from it, and the oldest bags are picked first.

And the shops' orders. Tack shop orders are sales orders that show whether the bags are on the shelf while you're still typing, and margins are reported by product and by customer.

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.

Questions people also ask

Is a horse treat business profitable?

It can be. In the example, a maker selling bags direct and to tack shops, barn buckets and gift boxes ends the first year about $14,800 ahead on $44,400 of sales, with $20 an hour paid for the baking.

Do I need a license to sell homemade horse treats?

Many states require animal food to be registered, or the maker licensed, before it's sold, including at shows and by shipping into the state. Check each state you'll sell in.

What goes on a horse treat label?

The product name, the guaranteed analysis, the ingredients in order, feeding directions, and the maker's name and address, under your state's feed labeling rules.

How much does it cost to make horse treats?

In the example, $1.10 of oats, flour, molasses, carrot and apple in a one-pound bag, and $3.32 in all sold direct with the bag, 4 minutes of baking time and fees.