Selling and marketing
Brownie Wholesale Prices: What to Charge per Dozen (2026)
A clear way to set brownie wholesale prices so ingredients, labor, and overhead are paid before you profit.
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What to remember
- Cost one batch, then divide by the number of brownies.
- Labor and overhead belong in the price, not in your free time.
- A shop needs room to resell, so your margin comes from a tight cost, not a high price.
- Quote per dozen or per box, and put an end date on the quote.
Wholesale is a different sale from a market table. One buyer takes a set number every week, and you know the money before you bake. That steadiness is the reason brownie wholesale prices are worth working out properly instead of guessing at a discount.
What a wholesale price has to cover
Every brownie carries four costs: ingredients, packaging, your time, and the cost of running your kitchen. Add all four and you have your floor. Anything above that floor is your margin.
Packaging is the cost most home bakers forget. A box, a liner, a label, and a sticker add up fast when you buy them a few at a time. Buying by the case changes the math, which is why brownie packaging checks are worth doing before you quote a shop.
Your time is the second cost that goes missing. If a batch takes an hour and a half from mixing to boxing, that hour and a half is part of the price. Pick an hourly rate you are happy with and use it every single time.
Work out your cost per brownie
Cost the batch
Add up every ingredient in one full batch, not one brownie. Use what you actually paid, not a round number.
Add the packaging
Count the box, liner, label, and tape for each brownie or each dozen.
Pay yourself
Pick an hourly rate and multiply it by the time the batch takes, including cooling and packing.
Add overhead
Oven power, delivery miles, and any fee you pay to get paid. Divide a month of these by the batches you bake.
Divide by the count
Total cost divided by the number of brownies gives your cost per brownie.
Add your margin
Multiply the cost per brownie by your margin to reach the wholesale price.
Write the number down where you can find it again. A cost per brownie you can look up beats a number you remember from last spring.
A worked example: 24 brownies at $2.75 each
Say one batch makes 24 brownies. Ingredients come to $10.00. Boxes, liners, and labels come to $6.00. Your time is 1.5 hours at $15 an hour, which is $22.50. Oven power, delivery, and payment fees come to $3.50. Total cost is $42.00, or $1.75 a brownie.
At $2.75 a brownie the batch sells for $66.00. Take off the $42.00 and you keep $24.00, about 36 percent of the sale. If you had priced at $1.75, you would have worked for free.
Change any one number and the answer moves. If your box costs a dollar more per batch, your cost per brownie rises. If you bake two batches at once, your oven time per brownie falls. This is why brownie pricing is a number you recost, not a number you set once.
If you sell brownies cut into pieces rather than whole, brownie pieces wholesale works out the cost per unit the same way.
Wholesale price and retail price are not the same number
A shop buys from you to resell. Their shelf price has to cover their own rent, staff, and profit. That means your wholesale price sits below your market table price, and your margin has to come from a tight cost per brownie.
Some bakers sell both ways. If you do, keep the two prices in separate places so a market customer never sees the wholesale number. A shop that finds your retail price lower than what they paid will ask questions.
What to check before you quote a price
Ask how many brownies they want and how often. A weekly order of 200 is a different job from a one off order of 24, and the price should say so.
Ask who pays for delivery and who supplies the boxes. Both change your cost. If you are the one driving, count the miles and the time in your price.
Before you commit to a weekly order, check what your state allows you to sell and to whom. Rules for selling to a business can differ from the rules for selling at a market.
Ask for the order in writing, even if it is a text message. A written order protects both of you when the count changes.
Mistakes that cost you money
The first mistake is discounting to win the account. Cutting your price to beat another baker means you keep the work and lose the pay.
The second is forgetting the second bake. A wholesale order often means baking twice in a week, and that extra time belongs in the price.
The third is no minimum order. Without one, a 12 brownie order can eat an afternoon. The fourth is not writing down what each batch costs, which is the only way to know if the account is worth keeping. Our guide to the five costs of a small brownie delivery walks through the ones that hide.
The fifth is quoting a price you cannot repeat. If the price only works when chocolate is on sale, it is not a price, it is a hope.
If you want the whole picture of selling from home, the selling guides cover pricing, packaging, and getting paid.
Try the free bake pricing calculator
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- Brownie pricing: cost per dozen and what to charge
- Brownie pieces wholesale: cost per unit and your margin
- Average money made for a small brownie delivery: the 5 costs
Common questions
How do I set a brownie wholesale price per dozen?
Cost one batch, divide by the number of brownies, then multiply by 12 for a dozen. Add your margin on top of that cost. A dozen price is easier for a shop to compare against other suppliers than a single brownie price.
Should my wholesale price be lower than my retail price?
Yes, because the shop has to resell them and still make money. Your wholesale price has to leave room for their markup. That is why the margin has to come from a tight cost per brownie, not from charging the shop your market table price.
What is a minimum order and do I need one?
A minimum order is the smallest number of brownies you will bake for one buyer. It protects your time, because a small order takes the same setup as a large one. Pick a number that covers a full batch and stick to it.
How long should a wholesale quote last?
Put an end date on every quote, usually 30 days. Ingredient prices move, and a price you set in spring may not cover your costs in fall. When the date passes, recost the batch and send a new quote.
Do I charge for delivery on a wholesale order?
Decide before you quote. Either build the delivery cost into the price per brownie or list it as a separate line on the invoice. Free delivery you never counted is a cost you pay out of your own margin.
Sources
General information, not legal or tax advice. Check your state rules for selling food from home before you take a wholesale order.