To price chocolate covered strawberries, cost one berry: its share of the strawberries you bought, with an allowance for the soft and bruised ones you can't use, the chocolate it takes, the drizzle and toppings, and the minute or two to wash, dry, dip, decorate and box it. Multiply by the berries in the box, add the box, and price for the margin you want after card fees. In the example below, a dozen costs $17.41 and sells for $34, a half dozen costs $9.21 and sells for $18, and a decorated dozen costs $24.21 and sells for $47. In Valentine's week, when berries cost more, the same dozen needs $38. Below is what a berry costs, prices by box, Valentine's week, keeping them fresh, the rules, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Cost a berry: strawberries by the pound with 10% for the ones you can't use, plus chocolate and toppings.
- Add the box and your minutes: about 1.5 minutes a berry for a plain dip.
- Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin − card fees), rounded up to a dollar.
- A half dozen costs more than half a dozen's price, because the box and handling don't halve.
- Decorated boxes take longer and cost more in toppings; price them on their own.
- Berries cost more in February; reprice for Valentine's week and take preorders.
- TaroStack costs every batch from what the berries and chocolate cost that week. More below.
What a berry costs
Pajaro Valley Sweets, a made-up dessert maker in Watsonville, California, I use in these examples, buys large strawberries at $5 a pound, about 14 to the pound, and semisweet chocolate at $8 a pound:
| A dozen | Plain | Decorated |
|---|---|---|
| Strawberries, 12 at about 36 cents, plus 10% unusable | $4.71 | $4.71 |
| Chocolate, half an ounce a berry | $3.00 | $3.00 |
| Drizzle and toppings | $1.20 | $3.00 |
| Box, liners and ribbon | $2.50 | $3.50 |
| Time, at $20 an hour | 18 min, $6.00 | 30 min, $10.00 |
| Cost | $17.41 | $24.21 |
The unusable berries are the soft ones, the cracked ones and the ones that won't dry; buy a few extra and count what's left over to set your own number. The chocolate is weighed once: melt a known weight, dip a dozen, weigh what's left. A decorated box adds white and colored drizzle, sprinkles or gold leaf, and a minute more a berry. How to cost the box properly is in packaging cost per unit.
Prices by box
| A box | Cost | Price, 45% margin after 3% fees | Left after fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half dozen | $9.21 | $18 | $8.25 |
| Dozen | $17.41 | $34 | $15.57 |
| Decorated dozen | $24.21 | $47 | $21.38 |
Each price is the cost divided by (1 − 0.45 − 0.03), rounded up to a dollar. The half dozen is $18, not $17, because its box costs $1.75, not half of $2.50, and the setup to melt chocolate and dry berries is the same for six as for twelve. How the same pricing works for other candy is in candy business profit margin.
Valentine's week
Valentine's Day can be more boxes in a few days than the rest of a month, and the berries cost more in February. At $7 a pound, the dozen's berries are $6.60 and the box costs $19.30, so the price for the same margin is $38. Take preorders with a pickup day, so you buy the berries you need and dip them the day before or the morning of, and say on the preorder form what the Valentine's price is. How to plan stock around a short peak is in seasonal inventory.
Keeping them fresh, and the rules
Dipped strawberries are best the day they're made, and they're kept cool, not frozen; customers should be told to refrigerate them and eat them within a day or two. That shelf life is why preorders matter: there's no selling yesterday's box. Whether chocolate-dipped fresh fruit can be made at home and sold under your state's cottage food law varies, and some states don't allow it, so check before you sell from your kitchen; how cottage food rules work is in how to start a cottage food business. This is general information, not legal advice.
Get the calculator
Download the chocolate covered strawberry pricing calculator. Type the berries in the box, what strawberries cost a pound and how many a pound gives, your allowance for berries you can't use, the chocolate a berry and its price, drizzle and toppings, the box, the minutes a berry takes, your hourly rate, card fees and the margin you want. It works out the cost of the box, its price rounded up to a dollar, and what's left. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Three box sizes, two chocolates, berries bought every other day at prices that change with the season, 200 Valentine's preorders for two pickup days, and boxes and ribbon by the case. A sheet can't say how many flats of berries to buy for the preorders, what a dozen cost this week, or which box sizes pay best.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack costs every batch from what the berries and chocolate cost that week.
Boxes as recipes. Each box is a recipe of its berries, chocolate, toppings and box, and units convert: berries bought by the flat, used by the berry; chocolate by the 10-pound case, used by the ounce. Recording a day's dipping takes them off stock at what you paid, so the cost of a dozen moves with the berry price.
Preorders. Valentine's preorders are sales orders for their pickup day, so the list of boxes owed by size is current, and TaroStack's planning turns it into what to buy and when, as drafts you approve.
And what each box earns. A price-creep report per supplier shows whose prices are rising, and margins are reported by product and by customer.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Flats of berries for the preorders | Count the forms | Planning: what to buy, when |
| What a dozen cost this week | Last month's number | Each day's dipping, at what it used |
| Boxes owed for Saturday | A stack of forms | Sales orders by pickup day |
| Which box sizes pay best? | A feeling | Margins by product |
Recipes, batches and sales orders are on every plan, from $49 a month, and planning is on Standard at $99. 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.