What you bake
Bread Distribution Business: Cost per Stop and Margin
A route by route way to price bread delivery so gas, boxes, and your hours are all covered.
On this page
What to remember
- A route pays by the stop, not by the loaf.
- Gas, boxes, and your hours are part of the cost.
- Price a standing order before you agree to it.
- One flat $20 a month with no cut of your sales keeps the math simple.
A bread distribution business often starts by accident. One neighbor wants a loaf every Friday, then her sister does, and soon you are driving a loop across town with a warm box in the back seat. That loop is a route, and a route carries costs a market table does not.
What a route costs that a market table does not
Every stop on your route carries four costs. Ingredients and starter feed come first, then the bag, label, and box the loaf travels in. Your hours are the third, and the drive is the fourth. A market table hides the drive inside one trip. A route repeats it every week.
Packaging is the cost that surprises people. A shop or cafe needs a box or crate that survives the trip, and that box has a price per loaf. Our guide to what it costs to ship bread covers box sizes and padding by loaf type, which is the same choice you make for a delivery crate.
Payment costs belong in the math too. Card payments through your own Stripe or Square account carry a fee, and a flat monthly shop cost is easier to plan around than a percentage of every loaf. Brevl charges one flat $20 a month and takes no cut of your sales.
Pay yourself inside the math, not at the end. If a route takes six hours of baking and driving, that time has a price even when the money feels like pocket change. Write the hours down before you agree to a weekly stop.
A worked example: 40 loaves a week
Say you bake 40 loaves a week for four stops. Ingredients run about $2.00 a loaf, so $80. Bags, labels, and a crate liner add $0.60 a loaf, so $24. Baking and driving take six hours, and you pay yourself $15 an hour, so $90. Gas for the loop is $30, the oven adds about $12 in power, and your shop costs $20 a month. That is $256 for the week, or $6.40 a loaf.
At $12 a loaf the week brings in $480. Take out the $256 and $224 is left, which is about a 47 percent margin after ingredients, labor, and overhead. Sell the same loaves at $10 and the margin drops to $144. Our guide on what people charge for homemade sourdough puts the range at $10 to $18 a loaf, so the price is yours to set.
How to set a minimum order size
A minimum order is the smallest order that still pays for the trip. Work it out from the drive, not from the loaf. If the loop costs you $30 in gas and an hour of your time, a two loaf stop loses money no matter what you charge for the bread.
Write the minimum down and say it out loud to every new customer. It is easier to hold a line you decided in advance than one you invent at the door.
Mistakes that cost you money on a route
The second mistake is treating a standing order as a favor. A shop that takes 10 loaves every Friday is a customer, and the price should cover the whole loop, not just their box. The third is forgetting that a route grows. Two stops become five, and the drive time grows faster than the loaf count.
Underpricing a wholesale stop is the mistake that hurts longest. A shop that buys 10 loaves a week at a price that only covers flour will keep buying at that price. Set the number you need before the first delivery, and raise it in writing if your costs move.
One more: never check the box cost once and forget it. A box that costs a dollar a loaf eats a tenth of a $10 loaf. Check packaging the same way you check flour, and recheck it when your supplier changes.
What to check before you take a standing order
Time the loop
Drive it once at the hour you would really deliver. Write down the minutes and the miles.
Cost one loaf fully
Ingredients, packaging, your hours, and a share of the drive.
Set a minimum order
Decide the smallest order that still pays for the trip, and hold to it.
Agree the schedule in writing
Day, delivery window, and what happens on a holiday week.
Decide how you get paid
Card, Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, or cash, and the day the money lands.
Check your state rules
Confirm what a home kitchen can sell in your state before you add a shop stop. See kitchen requirements for a home baking business.
Run one paid trial week before you commit to a schedule. Deliver to the real stops at the real time, then add up the hours. A trial week tells you more than any plan on paper, and the craft guides cover the baking side while you test the driving side.
Getting paid and keeping the paperwork straight
A route lives or dies on getting paid on time. Cash on delivery is simple, but it means carrying change and chasing people. Card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle, let a shop pay before you load the car.
Keep one page for the route. List each stop, the order, the price, and the day it was paid. When a shop asks for a bigger order, you can see in one look whether the last three weeks made money.
Brevl is one flat $20 a month with no cut of your sales. It works on a computer and on a phone, and there is a 14 day free trial. We set it up with you and move your old shop over, products, photos, reviews, and dates.
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- How to start a sourdough bread business from home
- Is a baking business profitable? Costs, margin, and pay
Common questions
How do I price a weekly bread delivery?
Cost one loaf fully first: ingredients, packaging, your hours, and a share of the drive. Multiply by the loaves in the order, then add the margin you want. A stop that only covers ingredients will lose money once you count the trip.
Do I need a license to run a bread distribution business?
Your state sets the rules for home baking, including what a home kitchen can sell and where. Check your own state's requirements before you add a shop or cafe stop. Rules differ from state to state, and a wholesale stop can fall under different rules than a farmers market table.
How many stops do I need to make a route worth driving?
Enough that the drive is paid for by the whole loop, not one stop. Work out your cost per hour on the road, then set a minimum order size. Two stops that each take 10 loaves usually beat five stops that each take two.
Should I charge for delivery?
You can fold the drive into the loaf price or list it as a separate line. Folding it in keeps the price simple for a shop. Listing it separately makes the cost visible, which helps when a customer asks why a delivered loaf costs more than a market loaf.
What is the easiest way to take payment on a route?
Card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, and cash, cover almost every customer. Taking payment before you load the car saves you from chasing a shop the following week. Brevl charges one flat $20 a month and takes no cut of your sales.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Check your state's home baking rules and talk to a tax professional about your own situation.