A sugarhouse can sell syrup in bulk by the barrel or bottle it in jugs, and the margins differ a lot. Bulk takes no bottling; small jugs earn the most per gallon but cost the most in packaging and time. Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price, where cost is the syrup at what it costs to make, the jug, the bottling time and the card fees. In the example below, a quart costs $10.53 to make and sell direct and goes for $22.00, a 52.1% margin. A month of four ways of selling brings $5,070 of sales and about $2,020 of gross profit.
The short version
- Count syrup at what a gallon costs to make: sap, fuel, the sugarhouse.
- A quart direct: $10.53 to make and sell, $22.00, 52.1%.
- Small jugs earn more per gallon and cost more per ounce in packaging.
- Bulk syrup takes no bottling time.
- A co-op pays a wholesale price for quarts.
- Price each size on its own.
- TaroStack costs each jug from what each run cost. More below.
A quart, costed
Sugar Maple Ridge, the made-up sugarhouse in Vermont I use in these examples, makes syrup at about $28 a gallon:
| A quart, direct | Cost |
|---|---|
| Syrup, a quarter gallon at $28 | $7.00 |
| Jug and label | $1.20 |
| Bottling: 20 minutes a gallon at $20 an hour | $1.67 |
| Card fees, 3% of $22.00 | $0.66 |
| Cost | $10.53 |
How the quart's price was set is in how to price maple syrup, and the business year in maple syrup business plan.
Margins by channel
| Product | Sold where | Price | Cost | Gross profit | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quart | Direct, farm stand and online | $22.00 | $10.53 | $11.47 | 52.1% |
| Quart | Co-op, wholesale | $14.00 | $9.87 | $4.13 | 29.5% |
| Half pint | Gift shops and markets | $9.00 | $3.39 | $5.61 | 62.3% |
| Bulk, by the gallon | Packer, by the barrel | $32.00 | $28.00 | $4.00 | 12.5% |
Bulk earns a thin 12.5% but takes no bottling; the half pint earns the most per gallon of syrup.
A month's numbers
A month after the season at Sugar Maple Ridge:
| Product | Units | Sales | Gross profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quart, direct | 60 | $1,320 | $688 |
| Quart, co-op | 80 | $1,120 | $330 |
| Half pint, gift shops and markets | 150 | $1,350 | $841 |
| Bulk, by the gallon, packer | 40 | $1,280 | $160 |
| Month | $5,070 | $2,020 |
A gallon of syrup in half pints brings $144, in quarts direct $88, and in bulk $32; the half pints cost the most in jugs and time, and still earn the most per gallon. How a price becomes a margin is in what is a good profit margin for a food product.
Get the calculator
Download the maple syrup 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 gallon. A short season raises it, and the barrels of syrup left in the fall decide whether bottling more pays.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each run of syrup as a lot and costs each jug from it.
Runs as lots. Each run is a lot with its date and grade.
Bottling as a batch. Bottling takes syrup from a lot into jugs, with the minutes it took.
Margins by size. Margins are reported per product on that cost.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Syrup left by run | Barrels in the sugarhouse | Stock by lot |
| What a jug cost | One number for every size | Cost from the lot and the bottling |
| Margins by size | Re-worked by hand | Margins on real cost |
Lots, batches 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.