Selling and marketing
How Much to Sell Sourdough Focaccia For: Cost per Pan
Work out one tray's full cost, then price it so the tray pays you and leaves a margin.
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What to remember
- Cost a whole tray, then divide by the pieces you sell.
- Your hours are a cost line, not a reward at the end.
- Overhead and card fees come out of every tray.
- Check the 30% food cost target, then check the tray still pays you.
Focaccia is one of the cheapest things on a sourdough table, and one of the easiest to undersell. You mix a wet dough, let it rise, oil a pan, and sell it by the square, so the work hides in plain sight. Working out how much to sell sourdough focaccia for starts with one honest number: what a single tray costs you to make and hand over. If you also bake loaves, the same logic is laid out in how much to sell a sourdough loaf for with a per loaf example.
Work out what one tray costs you
Start with the amounts you actually use for one tray, not a recipe written for a different pan size. Flour, water, salt, starter, and the olive oil in the dough are the base. Then count the oil you pour into the pan and every topping, because rosemary, tomatoes, and cheese each add a line.
Packaging belongs on the same sheet. A box, parchment, a bag, and a label are small costs that repeat with every order, so price them per tray rather than per pack. If you are also driving a delivery route or paying for a market table, hold those for the overhead line.
Cost the tray
Write down every ingredient in one tray at the amount you use, including the oil in the pan and the toppings.
Add packaging
Price the box, paper, bag, and label per tray rather than per pack.
Put a number on your hours
Count mixing, folding, shaping, baking, cooling, cutting, and wrapping, then multiply by what you want to be paid for an hour.
Spread your overhead
Add the share of rent, power, insurance, market fees, and card fees that belongs to this one tray.
Divide by what you sell
Divide the full cost by the number of pieces or trays you hand over, then add your margin.
Add your hours before you add profit
Focaccia looks like waiting, but the waiting is not free. You mix, fold, check the rise, oil the pan, bake, cool, cut, and wrap. The cooling and cutting are the steps people forget, and they are the reason a tray takes longer than the mixing bowl suggests.
The focaccia pricing calculator at bakeprofit.com builds a price per loaf from ingredient costs, hours worked, overhead, and complexity, then shows the profit margin and your effective hourly rate. That last number is the one to read twice. If your effective hourly rate lands below what you would earn anywhere else, the price is the problem, not the customer.
Cover overhead and the water you cannot see
Overhead is everything you pay whether or not a tray sells. Rent or a share of the household bills for the kitchen, power for an oven that runs an hour, insurance, market table fees, and the card fee on every payment. Add them up for a month and divide by the trays you expect to sell.
Card fees look tiny on one order and add up over a month, and they come out of the sale price. Write your own rate down once so you stop guessing at it. Small numbers repeated forty times are not small.
A sourdough cost calculator page notes that profitable pricing has to account for baking evaporation loss and the cost of maintaining your starter. Focaccia loses water in a hot oven, so the tray that comes out weighs less than the one that goes in. The flour and water you feed your starter every week are part of the tray cost too.
A cottage bakery pricing guide puts 30% food cost at the center of its pricing formula. Treat that number as a check rather than a finish line. A tray can pass the food cost test and still leave you working for very little once your hours are counted.
A worked example for one tray
The dollar amounts below are placeholders, so replace them with your own receipts. What matters is that every line is present and nothing is quietly left unpaid.
For example, one tray uses $9.60 of ingredients, $1.40 of packaging, and $2.00 of overhead. Your mixing, folding, baking, cooling, cutting, and wrapping come to 1.5 hours at $15 an hour, which is $22.50. That is a full cost of $35.50. You cut the tray into 12 pieces and sell it for $48, or $4 a piece. Take the full cost away and $12.50 is left as margin.
The food cost check is $9.60 out of $48, about 20%, so the tray sits inside the 30% target. Now push the price down to $32, which is what the food cost target alone suggests. The tray still costs $13.00 before your pay, so you would be paying yourself $19.00 for that tray instead of the $22.50 you decided your time is worth. Pan bakes behave the same way, which is why how much to sell sourdough cinnamon rolls for works from a full pan cost too.
Turn that cost into a price per piece
Cut the tray the same way every time so the piece count holds. A 12 piece cut at $4 each is a different business from 9 generous squares at $4 each, and the second one can lose money without anyone noticing. Write the count on your price sheet.
Give both a piece price and a tray price. Most people buying for a party want the whole tray, and a tray price slightly better than 12 single pieces makes that decision easy for them.
Check what your regulars already pay you and what other home bakers at your market charge for a tray. You are not trying to be the cheapest. You are trying to be the one still baking next year, and the full cost and margin method for sourdough applies to every tray you add.
Mistakes that cost you money
Every one of these shows up as a smaller number later, and none of them show up on the day. Keep a note of what each tray actually cost you, not what you meant it to cost. Rolls and small bakes have the same trap, and how much to sell sourdough dinner rolls for shows what per dozen math looks like when it is done properly.
When to change the price
Rebuild the tray cost whenever flour, oil, or packaging changes, and on a date you pick in the calendar. If a supplier raises a price on a bag of flour, the tray cost moves and the price should move with it.
Change the price for new orders first and hold existing orders for a short window. A short note to your regulars, sent before the change, costs less than losing them at the counter.
Try the free bake pricing calculator
Free, no signup.
- How much to sell sourdough bread for: $10 to $18 a loaf
- How much to sell sourdough biscuits for: cost per dozen
Common questions
Should I price focaccia by the piece or by the tray?
Cost the tray, then set both prices. Give a piece price for people buying lunch and a tray price for parties and offices. Keep the piece count on your price sheet so the tray price always matches what you cut, then check the tray still clears your full cost.
How many pieces should one tray make?
That is your call, but it has to be the same every time. Cost the whole tray, decide the cut, then divide. If you switch between 9 and 12 pieces at the same tray price, your margin changes depending on who is cutting that day.
Do I count my own time if I bake at home?
Yes, or the price tells you nothing. Baking at home does not make your hours free, it only changes where you spend them. Put an hourly rate on the mixing, folding, baking, cooling, cutting, and wrapping, and pay yourself that amount inside the price.
What if a customer says the grocery store sells focaccia for less?
You are not selling the same thing. Compare against other home bakers and small bakery counters near you rather than a supermarket aisle. Then be ready to say what is on your tray, when it was baked, and why your regulars keep ordering it.
Does a topping change the price?
It can. Cost the topping by the tray rather than by the jar, then run the full math again with your hours and overhead. A heavy topping can also add a step, and a step is time. Settle the number before you offer it on your menu.
How often should I recheck the price?
Every time a supplier price moves, and on a calendar date you choose. Rebuild the tray cost from current receipts, compare it with what you charge, and decide before the next market. A price that worked last spring is not automatically right now.
Sources
General information for pricing your own baking, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Check your state cottage food rules and talk to a tax professional about what you owe.