Fudge is packaged to keep it soft and separate: open to the air it dries and turns crumbly, and stacked bare it sticks. Let it set fully, cut it, and choose by where it sells. A kraft candy box with wax paper between layers is the classic half-pound package for markets and grocery shelves. Cello bags sealed with a tie hold smaller pieces at a lower price. A gift tin turns fudge into a holiday present, and its price has to say so. A shop that cuts fudge from its own case takes a slab, wrapped and boxed with a label. Every retail package carries the label your license requires and a date. In the example below, a Berkshires baker prices four options: 13 cents to $1.71 a half pound. Below are the options, the label, the example, and a free cost calculator.
The short version
- Let fudge set fully, cut it, and wrap it so air can't reach it.
- Markets and shelves: a kraft candy box with wax paper.
- Lower price points: quarter-pound cello bags with ties.
- Gifts: a tin, priced as a gift.
- Shops that cut their own: a wrapped slab in a box, with the label on the box.
- Label with the required lines and a date.
- Count the package in the cost; a tin can cost more than three candy boxes.
- TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and the packaging in every batch's cost. More below.
The options
| Option | Keeps air out | Looks like a gift | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candy box with wax paper | Mostly | Some | Markets, grocery shelves |
| Cello bags with ties | Yes | No | Smaller pieces, lower prices |
| Gift tin | Yes | Yes | Holidays, gift shops |
| Wrapped slab in a box | Yes | No | Shops that cut from their case |
The label and the date
Fudge sold packaged carries the label your license requires: the name, such as maple walnut fudge, net weight, ingredients, allergens such as milk and tree nuts, and the name and place of business, plus your state's cottage food statement if you sell under one. A shop cutting from a slab needs the same information from the slab's label for its own sign or label. 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 maple walnut fudge
Berkshire Hearth, the made-up home baker in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, I use in these examples, sells maple walnut fudge at a farmers market, online and to a grocery, about 60 half pounds a week in the fall:
| Option | Parts | Per half pound | 60 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candy box with wax paper | Box 45¢, wax paper, label | $0.53 | $31.60 |
| Two quarter-pound cello bags | 2 bags, 2 ties, 2 labels | $0.21 | $12.31 |
| Gift tin | Tin $1.60, wax paper, lid label | $1.71 | $102.49 |
| Slab for a shop to cut | Box $1.20, film, label, per half pound | $0.13 | $7.69 |
The market and the grocery get candy boxes, the online gift orders get tins at a gift price, and the cello bags are the small, cheaper option at the market. Before the grocery, the board of health asked for a water activity test on the fudge, which is how a candy shows it's shelf-stable; how that works is in water activity for food makers. Every packaging cost is in packaging cost per unit.
Get the calculator
Download the fudge packaging calculator. Two sheets: components, each part of each option with its pack price, units, how many a half pound uses and waste; and compare, each option's cost per half pound 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, three channels, and a holiday rush that empties the tin order in a week. A cost sheet doesn't say how many tins are left, or which batch went to the grocery.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and the packaging in every batch's cost.
Each batch dated. A batch of fudge gets a lot with its production and best-before dates, and lot labels print with it, so the date on the box comes from the batch.
Packaging in the recipe. The box, bag or tin is an item in each product's recipe, so every batch uses them up at the price you paid, and the tins left are counted by every batch, not when you run out.
Where it went. The grocery's orders record the lots they got, so one recall report shows which batch went where.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date on a box | Written by hand | From the batch's lot |
| Tins left before the holidays | Counted when you run out | Used by every batch |
| Which batch went to the grocery | Invoices | One recall report |
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.