Cold-pressed juice is expensive to make because it takes a lot of produce: about two and a half pounds of fruit and vegetables for a 12-ounce bottle. Sold over a juice bar's counter it earns a solid margin; sold to grocers it has to be HPP-treated by a co-packer, which adds cost while the price drops. Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price. In the example below, a 12-ounce counter bottle costs $4.31 to make and sell and goes for $10.00, a 56.9% margin. A month of four ways of selling brings $38,070 of sales and about $19,110 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 12-ounce counter bottle: $4.31, $10.00, 56.9%.
- Produce is most of the cost: about 2.5 pounds a bottle.
- Grocer bottles need HPP, which a co-packer charges for.
- Three-day cleanses earn well per order.
- TaroStack costs each bottle from what each batch used. More below.
A bottle, costed
Sunset Cliffs Juice Co., the made-up juice bar in San Diego, California, I use in these examples, presses green juice and orange carrot ginger:
| A 12-ounce bottle, at the counter | Cost |
|---|---|
| Produce, about 2.5 pounds | $2.60 |
| Bottle, cap and label | $0.55 |
| Labor | $0.86 |
| Card fees, 3% of $10.00 | $0.30 |
| Cost | $4.31 |
When a co-packer pays is in juice co-packer, and the warning unpasteurized juice carries in juice warning label.
Margins by channel
| Product | Sold where | Price | Cost | Gross profit | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green juice, 12 oz | Counter | $10.00 | $4.31 | $5.69 | 56.9% |
| Green juice, 12 oz, HPP | Grocers, via co-packer | $6.00 | $4.20 | $1.80 | 30% |
| Three-day cleanse | Online, local delivery | $129.00 | $76.07 | $52.93 | 41% |
| Wellness shot, 2 oz | Counter | $4.00 | $1.12 | $2.88 | 72% |
The grocer bottle leaves $1.80, after the co-packer's HPP charge; the counter bottle $5.69.
A month's numbers
A month at Sunset Cliffs Juice Co.:
| Product | Units | Sales | Gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green juice, 12 oz, counter | 2,200 | $22,000 | $12,518 |
| Green juice, 12 oz, HPP, grocers | 1,500 | $9,000 | $2,700 |
| Three-day cleanse, online | 30 | $3,870 | $1,588 |
| Wellness shot, 2 oz, counter | 800 | $3,200 | $2,304 |
| Month | $38,070 | $19,110 |
The counter bottles bring most of the gross profit; grocer bottles add volume at a thin margin. The juice HACCP plan the grocer bottles need is in juice HACCP plan.
Get the calculator
Download the juice 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 cost a bottle. Produce prices swing week to week, and the pulp and the bottles that go unsold by their date change the real margin.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack costs each bottle from what each batch used, so margins sit on real cost.
True cost from the batch. Each batch takes produce 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.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What a bottle cost | One price from last season | Cost from the batch's deliveries |
| The hours behind a batch | Remembered | Labor minutes on the batch |
| An ingredient creeping up | Noticed late | A price-creep report |
| Margins by product | Re-worked by hand | Margins on real cost |
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.