Bagels are packaged for how soon they'll be eaten. A fresh boiled-and-baked bagel has a crust worth keeping, and paper keeps it: a kraft bag for a single, a large bag for a baker's dozen, the counter's two packages. Paper lets the bagels dry out by the next day, though, so a grocer's shelf takes them in a plastic bag of six with a label and a date, which keeps them soft a day or two longer at the cost of the crust. Cafés that toast them the same morning take boxes of four dozen with a liner. Every package sold off your counter carries the label your license requires. In the example below, a New Jersey bagel bakery prices four options: about 1 cent to 5 cents a bagel. Below are the options, the label, the example, and a free cost calculator.
The short version
- Cool bagels before bagging, or the steam softens them.
- Counter singles: a kraft paper bag, which keeps the crust.
- Baker's dozens: a large paper bag, thirteen bagels.
- Grocery shelves: a plastic six-pack with a label and a date.
- Cafés: a four-dozen box with a liner, delivered that morning.
- Label packaged bagels with the required lines; sesame and wheat are the allergens.
- At a penny or two a bagel, the package matters less than the date.
- TaroStack keeps each bake's lot and date, and sells the oldest first. More below.
The options
| Option | Keeps the crust | Keeps them soft | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper bag, one bagel | Yes | For a day | Counter singles |
| Paper bag, baker's dozen | Yes | For a day | Counter dozens |
| Plastic six-pack with a label | No | A day or two longer | Grocery shelves |
| Café box with liner | Mostly | For the morning | Cafés |
The label and the date
Bagels sold packaged in a store carry the label your license requires: the name, net weight, ingredients, allergens such as wheat, sesame, milk and egg, and the name and place of business. A best-by date tells the grocer when to pull them. Sesame became a major food allergen in 2023, which matters for everything bagels and seeded bagels. How to word the date is in best by date format, and the label in food labeling requirements for small business.
An example: four options for a bagel bakery
Passaic Street Bagels, the made-up bagel bakery in Clifton, New Jersey, I use in these examples, boils and bakes about 1,500 bagels a week for its counter, baker's dozens and cafés:
| Option | Parts | Per bagel | 1,500 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper bag, one bagel | Bag 4¢, sticker | $0.05 | $74.97 |
| Paper bag, baker's dozen, per bagel | Bag 14¢, sticker | $0.01 | $18.01 |
| Plastic six-pack with label, per bagel | Bag, tie, label | $0.02 | $24.47 |
| Café box with liner, per bagel | Box $1.00, label | $0.02 | $32.16 |
Counter singles and dozens go in paper; cafés get boxes. On a café bagel at $1.50 that costs 93 cents, 2 cents of box is small next to a bagel that comes back stale. How the bagels are priced is in how to price bagels, and the business in bagel business plan.
Get the calculator
Download the bagel packaging calculator. Two sheets: components, each part of each option with its pack price, units, how many a bagel uses and waste; and compare, each option's cost per bagel and per week at your volume, with notes. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Bagels are good for a day; a café's order, the counter and a grocer's shelf all draw on the same bakes, and yesterday's bagels have to go somewhere first. A cost sheet doesn't say which bake went to which café.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each bake's lot and date, and sells the oldest first.
Each bake dated. A bake of bagels gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print for the grocer's bags.
Oldest first. First-expired-first-out is the default, so yesterday's bagels go out first, and a forecast shows what will expire unsold.
Orders on one list. Each café's order is a sales order, with one picking list for the morning's deliveries.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date on a grocer's bag | Written by hand | From the bake's lot |
| Which bagels go out first | Remembered | First-expired-first-out |
| The morning's café deliveries | Add up the messages | One picking list |
Lots, expiry, recipes and batches 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.