Pierogi Business Plan, With a 12-Month Projection

A pierogi business plan sets out the fillings you'll make and who buys them, what a dozen costs and sells for, the kitchen and freezers, and the first year month by month. Pierogi are hand work: every one is cut, filled and pinched, so the folding time costs more than the dough and filling together, and the plan is really a plan for minutes. They freeze well, which turns a day of folding into a week of sales, and they sell hot at markets by the plate. In the example below, a maker in Chicago sells frozen dozens direct and to grocers, hot plates at markets and catering trays, makes a profit from month 3, and ends the year about $22,900 ahead on $66,600 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for the folding. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the meat question, the projection, the startup budget, and a free template.

The short version

• Describe the business in a paragraph: the fillings, where you sell, the kitchen, the goals.
• Cost a dozen with the folding in it: about 40 seconds a pierogi with a mold, more than the ingredients.
• Sell frozen dozens direct and to grocers, hot plates at markets, trays for parties.
• Meat fillings sold to stores generally bring USDA or state inspection; this plan sells meatless fillings.
• A dough sheeter and molds are what bring the minutes down.
• Holidays and Lent fill the freezer orders; plan for them.
• TaroStack keeps every batch with its lot and date, frozen dozens included. More below.

Part 1: the business description

Avondale Pierogi Co., a made-up pierogi maker in Chicago, Illinois, I use in these examples, writes:

Avondale Pierogi Co. makes potato and cheese, sauerkraut and mushroom, and sweet cheese pierogi by hand in a licensed commercial kitchen, sold frozen by the dozen at markets, online for pickup and to neighborhood grocers, hot by the plate at farmers markets, and by the tray for parties. Every bag carries a lot code and a best-by date.

Part 2: what a dozen costs

A dozen is $1.50 of dough and filling and $2.67 of folding. With a sheeter rolling the dough and a mold forming a dozen at once, a pierogi takes about 40 seconds; by hand it's well over a minute, which would add more than $1.30 to the dozen. How to put labor into a cost is in how to compute labor cost in baking.

Part 3: customers and prices

A grocer dozen leaves $4.23, less than half a direct one, but grocers sell every day of the week. The hot plate at a market is the sample that sells: a customer who likes the plate takes a frozen dozen home. How to set a wholesale price that holds up is in how to price baked goods for wholesale.

Part 4: the meat question

Meat-filled pierogi are a different business on paper. Meat products sold to stores and other businesses generally have to be made under USDA or state inspection, with a federal exemption for operations of the kind retail stores and restaurants carry out, selling in normal retail quantities to their own customers (9 CFR 303.1). A maker who wants meat pierogi in a grocer's freezer needs an inspected kitchen or a co-packer with one; how to find one is in how to find a co-packer. This plan keeps to potato and cheese, sauerkraut and mushroom, and sweet cheese, made in a licensed kitchen under state and local food rules, and declares wheat, milk and egg on the label. This is general information, not legal advice.

Part 5: the first year, month by month

Fixed costs are $1,285 a month: commercial kitchen time ($700), freezer storage ($150), market fees ($200), insurance ($60), the van ($100), the website and online shop ($40), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it by month 11:

The year's sales are $66,624 and the profit $22,910, on top of $20 an hour for the folding. Christmas Eve and Lent are traditional pierogi times in Polish and Ukrainian households, so orders can peak then; set those months higher in the template and fold ahead into the freezer.

Part 6: the startup budget

Get the template

Download the pierogi business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products with price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed; the year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Three fillings, frozen dozens dated by batch in two freezers, grocers reordering weekly, market plates on Saturdays, and a December rush of trays. A notebook can't say how many dozens of each filling are frozen, which batch a grocer got, or what a dozen costs now that farmer's cheese has gone up.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps every batch with its lot and date.

Batches with lots and dates. Each filling is a recipe of dough and filling, and the dough is a sub-recipe of its own, with units that convert: flour bought by the 50-pound bag, used by the pound. Recording a batch takes the ingredients and bags off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, and puts the dozens into a lot with their best-by date, so the oldest go first.

Grocer and catering orders. Orders are sales orders for their delivery day that show whether the dozens are in the freezer while you're still typing, and one report walks any lot to every customer who got it.

And what a dozen costs. Every batch is costed at what it used, and margins are reported by product and by customer, so the grocer price that's slipping shows up.

Recipes, batches, lots and margins by product and customer 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 a pierogi business profitable?

It can be. In the example, a maker selling frozen dozens direct and to grocers, market plates and catering trays ends the first year about $22,900 ahead on $66,600 of sales, with $20 an hour paid for the folding.

How much does it cost to make a dozen pierogi?

In the example, $1.50 of dough and filling and $2.67 of folding time for a dozen, $5.14 in all sold direct with the bag, freezing and card fees.

How much should I sell pierogi for?

Cost them with the folding time, then price each channel. In the example, a frozen dozen sells for $14 direct and $9 to grocers, a market plate of six for $10, and a tray of 50 for $75.

Can I sell meat pierogi to stores?

Meat products sold to stores generally have to be made under USDA or state inspection; a federal exemption covers retail stores and restaurants selling to their own customers. Check with your state before adding meat.