To price a 10-ounce tub of hummus you add up its full cost first: the chickpeas, tahini and lemon by the batch, your time at an hourly rate, the tub, lid and label, and a share of overhead like rent and power. That's what one tub costs you. Then set the price so that, after card and selling fees, it leaves the margin you want: price = full cost ÷ (1 − margin − fee rate). For a 10-ounce tub that costs $2.41 to make, a 60% margin after 3% fees means $6.51, rounded up to $7.00. Tahini costs nearly four times what the chickpeas do in a tub, so its price moves the whole cost. A grocer pays less and marks it up to about $5.99. In the example below, a Dearborn hummus maker prices its tubs for the market and a grocer.
The short version
- Full cost = chickpeas, tahini and lemon a tub + your time + tub, lid and label + overhead.
- Price = full cost ÷ (1 − margin − fee rate).
- Count your time at a real hourly rate, even if you don't pay yourself yet.
- Price from the tahini: it's most of the ingredient cost.
- Hummus keeps days: count what comes back past its date.
- Check what wholesale leaves after full cost before saying yes.
- TaroStack costs each tub of hummus from its recipe and what each batch used. More below.
What goes into a tub's cost
| Part | How to count it |
|---|---|
| Chickpeas, tahini and lemon | The batch's cost ÷ tubs a batch |
| Your time | Hands-on minutes for the batch ÷ tubs × your hourly rate |
| Tub, lid and label | Per tub |
| Overhead | Rent, power, tools, spread over the tubs you make |
| Fees | Card and market fees as a share of the price |
The business's year is in hummus business plan, and the 10-day date in hummus shelf life.
An example: a tub of hummus
Cedar and Lemon Hummus, the made-up hummus maker in Dearborn, Michigan, I use in these examples, makes 120 10-ounce tubs at a time in a shared kitchen:
| A batch of 120 tubs | Amount | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Dried chickpeas | 15 lb | $18.00 |
| Tahini | 11.25 lb | $67.50 |
| Lemon, garlic, olive oil and salt | $23.70 | |
| A batch | $109.20 |
| A tub | Cost |
|---|---|
| Chickpeas, tahini and lemon, $109.20 ÷ 120 | $0.91 |
| Time, 180 minutes for the batch at $20 an hour ÷ 120 | $0.50 |
| Tub, lid and label | $0.40 |
| Overhead | $0.60 |
| Full cost | $2.41 |
At a 60% margin after 3% card fees, the price is $2.41 ÷ 0.37 = $6.51, so $7.00. At $7.00 a tub, each leaves $4.38. The market table had said $6.00, which leaves $3.41. The grocers' $3.75 leaves $1.23 a tub, and they take 24 tubs twice a week. Which hummus can say "low fat" is in low fat claim.
Get the calculator
Download the hummus price calculator. One sheet: type the batch's ingredients, amounts and costs, the tubs it makes, the hands-on minutes, the tub and overhead, your hourly rate, card fees and the margin you want; the full cost, the price for your margin rounded up, and what a wholesale price and a test price leave fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The calculator prices one recipe. Tahini prices move, roasted red pepper and spicy hummus cost differently, and tubs that come back past their date change what each one sold really cost.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack costs each tub of hummus from its recipe and from what each batch used.
Recipes by weight. Each tub of hummus is a recipe, with unit conversion from the case or sack to the gram.
True cost from the batch. Each batch takes ingredients at their real cost, from the deliveries they came from, so a price rise shows up in the next batch.
Price creep. A price-creep report per supplier shows which ingredient is quietly costing more.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What a tub of hummus costs this week | Last season's sheet | True cost from the batch |
| Tubs by batch date | Marker on the lid | Lots with dates, oldest first |
| An ingredient creeping up | Noticed at tax time | A price-creep report |
| Whether wholesale still pays | A guess | Margins on real cost |
Recipes, batches and true cost 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.