Cookie dough is packaged by where it's sold and how cold it stays. Edible dough, made with heat-treated flour and no raw eggs, sells best in a clear tub with a tamper-evident lid: shoppers can see it, and the seal shows nobody opened it, which a grocer may ask for. An 8-ounce tub is the everyday size, a 16-ounce tub the family one. Frozen bite-size pieces keep longer in a resealable stand-up pouch. Cafés that scoop dough into cups or onto sundaes buy it in a 5-pound pail. Whatever the package, the dough is kept cold, and the label says so, along with the name, net weight, ingredients and allergens, and your name and address. Raw dough meant for baking is a different product, and its label says to bake it. In the example below, a Richmond dough maker prices four packages: 52 cents to $1.28 a unit.
The short version
- Edible dough in a clear, tamper-evident tub: 8 oz everyday, 16 oz family size.
- Frozen bites in a resealable stand-up pouch, for the freezer aisle and online.
- Cafés in a 5 lb pail they scoop from.
- Keep it cold from kitchen to customer; the label says "keep refrigerated" or "keep frozen".
- Label the name, net weight, ingredients, allergens such as wheat, milk and soy, and your name and address.
- Count the package in the cost; on an 8 oz tub it's about a sixth of the cost.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and the tub in every batch's cost. More below.
The options
| Option | Keeps it | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 8 oz tamper-evident tub | Cold, sealed, visible | Markets, online, grocers |
| 16 oz tamper-evident tub | Cold, sealed | Regulars, family size |
| Frozen bites, zip pouch | Frozen, recloses | Freezer aisles, shipping |
| 5 lb pail | Cold, bulk | Cafés that scoop |
The label and the cold
Packaged dough carries the label your license requires: the name, such as "edible chocolate chip cookie dough", net weight, ingredients in order of weight, allergens such as wheat, milk and soy, and your name and place of business. Keep it refrigerated or frozen, and say which on the label, with a date. Edible dough relies on heat-treated flour and no raw eggs, which is in cookie dough business plan; the order of the ingredient list is in ingredient list order, and how to word the date in best by date format.
An example: four options for a dough maker
Riverbend Dough Co., the made-up edible cookie dough maker in Richmond, Virginia, I use in these examples, sells about 600 units a week, tubs online and at markets, scoops at events, and wholesale to cafés and a grocer that asked for sealed tubs:
| Option | Parts | Per unit | 600 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 oz tamper-evident tub | Tub and lid 38¢, label 17¢ | $0.56 | $336.60 |
| 16 oz tamper-evident tub | Tub and lid 48¢, label 17¢ | $0.66 | $397.80 |
| Frozen bites, zip pouch | Pouch 32¢, freezer label 19¢ | $0.52 | $314.04 |
| 5 lb pail for cafés | Pail and lid $1.10, label 17¢ | $1.28 | $770.64 |
Costs include a little waste. The grocer gets the 8 oz tub, which costs $3.33 all in and sells to the grocer at $5.50, so the 56-cent tub is about a sixth of the cost. A 5 lb pail holds ten tubs' worth of dough for $1.28 of packaging, 13 cents a tub, which is part of why the cafés get a better price. How tubs are priced for stores is in distributor margin.
Get the calculator
Download the cookie dough packaging calculator. Two sheets: components, each part of each option with its pack price, units, how many one unit uses and waste; and compare, each option's cost per unit 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
Four packages, five flavors, a walk-in and a freezer, and a grocer that wants a date on every tub. A cost sheet doesn't say which batch is in which tub, or how many cookies-and-cream tubs are left in the cooler.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and the tub in every batch's cost.
Each batch dated. A batch of chocolate chip dough records the flour, butter and chocolate lots it used, gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print for the tubs.
Packaging in the recipe. The tub, lid and label are part of the recipe, so a tub's true cost includes them.
Oldest first. First-expired-first-out is the default, so the oldest tubs go to the grocer first.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which batch is in a tub | Written on the lid | The lot on its label |
| Tubs left by flavor | Counted in the cooler | Stock by item and lot |
| What a tub costs | Worked out once | Each batch's true cost |
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.