Is Selling Smoothies Profitable? The Margins, Worked Out

Yes, with the staff time counted. Fruit, yogurt and juice for a 16-ounce smoothie cost about $1.45, and the cup, lid and straw 17 cents; at events, the staff behind the blenders cost more than the smoothie itself. Smoothies still keep about half their price at an event, more at the cart on a busy weekday, and frozen packs for gyms keep less but need no one at a blender. Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price. In the example below, a 16-ounce smoothie at an event costs $3.89 to make and sell and goes for $8.00, a 51.4% margin. A month of four ways of selling brings $18,800 of sales and about $9,390 of gross profit.

The short version

• Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price; markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost.
• Count your time as a cost, even if you don't pay yourself yet.
• A smoothie at an event: $3.89, $8.00, 51.4%.
• Event staffing costs more than the fruit.
• Bowls keep less: more fruit and toppings.
• Frozen gym packs keep less but sell without a blender.
• TaroStack costs each smoothie from what each batch used. More below.

A smoothie, costed

Key Lime Blends, the made-up smoothie business in Tampa, Florida, I use in these examples, blends at events and a weekday cart, and packs frozen smoothie packs for gyms:

The year is in smoothie business plan, and the cups and packs in how to package smoothies for sale.

Margins by channel

The bowl keeps 42.7%, with more than $3 of fruit and toppings; the gym pack keeps 45.5%; the weekday cart smoothie keeps 61.8%, with one person at the blender instead of three.

A month's numbers

A month for Key Lime Blends:

Events bring the most gross profit; the gym packs fill the days between and need no staff on site. Every cup goes straight to the person drinking it, which keeps the business outside FDA's juice HACCP rule; bottled smoothies sold through a gym would bring it, in juice haccp plan.

Get the calculator

Download the smoothie margin calculator. One sheet: one line for each product and channel, with its price, materials, packaging, labor and fee rate; the cost, gross profit, margin, markup and the price your target margin needs 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 holds one fruit price and one staffing share. Strawberries that double in price, an event that runs slow with three people on the clock, and a gym that cancels change the month.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack costs each smoothie from what each batch used, so margins sit on real cost.

True cost from the batch. Each batch takes fruit, yogurt and juice at the price of the deliveries they came from, so a price rise shows in the next batch's cost.

Labor on the batch. The minutes a batch took are recorded on it, so the hours behind each product are on record.

Margins by product. Margins are reported per product on that actual cost, and a price-creep report per supplier shows whose prices moved.

Recipes, batches, costing and margin reports 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.

Questions people also ask

Is selling smoothies profitable?

It can be: in the example, the main product keeps 51.4% after its full cost, and a month of $18,800 in sales leaves about $9,390 of gross profit before fixed costs and the owner's pay.

What is a good profit margin on smoothies?

In the example, 51.4% on the main product sold direct; wholesale and fundraiser prices keep less, so the mix matters.

How much does a smoothie cost to make?

In the example, about $1.62 in fruit, yogurt, juice, cup, lid and straw, and $3.89 with event staffing and the card fee.

Are smoothie bowls more profitable than smoothies?

In the example, no: a bowl keeps 42.7% against 51.4%, because it carries more fruit and toppings.