Selling and marketing
Little Home Bakery Wholesale Only: Price per Dozen (2026)
How to price and run a wholesale only home bakery so one big order still pays you.
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What to remember
- One buyer, one drop day, one price sheet.
- Price per case, then check the margin after labor and overhead.
- A wholesale price is not your market price cut in half.
- Get the count, the drop day, and the pay date in writing.
Running a little home bakery wholesale only changes how you plan a week. You are not baking for a Saturday table and hoping it sells. You are baking a known count for one buyer, so your cost per unit is the number that decides whether the week paid.
What wholesale only means when you bake alone
Wholesale means you sell in quantity to a business that resells. A cafe, a corner store, a gym counter. You set a per dozen or per case price, and the buyer sets their own shelf price.
Wholesale only means you skip the market table and the porch pickup. That is fewer customers to talk to and fewer small payments to chase. It also means one buyer can fill your whole week, so the terms matter as much as the baking.
The trade is simple. You get a bigger, repeatable order and a set bake day. You give up the higher price a walk up customer pays, and you take on a delivery and a buyer who expects the same count every week.
Build your price from a case, not a cookie
Start at the batch. Write down what the whole batch cost you in ingredients, then add the boxes, bags, and labels that leave with it. Those two numbers together are your materials.
Then add the two costs bakers skip. Your hours, and your share of overhead. Our low cost startup guide lists the costs to plan before you sell, including the ones that are easy to forget.
Cost the batch
Add up every ingredient in one full batch at the price you actually paid, not the price on an old receipt.
Add packaging and labels
Boxes, bags, tape, and printed labels. Count one per unit sold, plus a little for damage.
Put a real hourly rate on your time
Track the hours from shopping to washing up. Multiply by a rate you would pay someone else to do it.
Spread your overhead
Power, delivery fuel, and your monthly shop fee, divided across the units you bake in a month.
Set the price and check the margin
Price per unit minus all four costs is your margin. If it is thin, fix the count or the recipe, not your own pay.
For example, say a 12 loaf batch costs $14 in ingredients and $6 in bags and labels. Three hours of work at $15 an hour is $45, and your share of overhead for that bake is $7. That is $72 for 12 loaves, or $6 a loaf. At $8 a loaf wholesale you take $96 and keep $24, a 25 percent margin. At $7 a loaf you keep $12, and one missed delivery wipes it out.
Run that math again with your own numbers before you quote anyone. The exact figures are not the point. The point is that labor and overhead sit inside the price before the margin does.
The mistakes that cost a wholesale only bakery money
The first mistake is halving your market price and calling it wholesale. Your market price already carries your time at small volume. A wholesale order carries more units, more packaging, and a delivery, so it needs its own math.
The second is quoting before you cost. A buyer asks for a number at the counter and you give one on the spot. Write the price sheet after you run the numbers, and send it in writing.
The third is taking a big order without checking your oven. Two trays at a time is two trays at a time. If the count does not fit your real baking hours, the labor line in your price was wrong.
The fourth is never recosting. Butter, eggs, and chocolate move. Recost the recipe the week a price changes, and send the buyer a new sheet before the next order instead of absorbing it for months.
What to check before you say yes
Ask for the count, the drop day, the drop address, and the pay date before you bake. Put all four on one page and send it back for a yes. Our template free home bakery order form lists the fields that get you paid.
Before the first order, read your state’s cottage food rules and check whether they cover a sale to a business. Our selling guides walk through the paperwork side, state by state.
Set a minimum count too. Work out the smallest order where your margin after labor and overhead is still worth the day, and hold that line. A small order at a low count is the fastest way to bake all morning for nothing.
Set up so one buyer does not break your week
A wholesale only bakery lives on a calendar. Pick two bake days and one drop day, and offer every buyer those slots. When someone asks for a Tuesday, you can say the drop day is Thursday without losing the order.
Keep your price sheet and your order sheet where you can open them on your phone. Brevl keeps your recipes with real costing, your ingredient list, and your orders in one place. It is one flat $20 a month with no cut of your sales, and you can take card payments through your own Stripe or Square account, plus Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, and cash.
Try the free bake pricing calculator
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- Pastry Wholesale Price: Cost, Margin, and Your Price Sheet
- Home Bakery Kitchen Menu Price: Cost, Labor, and Margin
- Home Bakery Label Template: 7 Fields and State Rules
Common questions
Can I sell wholesale only and skip markets?
Yes. You can bake only for shops and cafes and never set up a table. You still need a price sheet, an order sheet, and a fixed drop day. Check your state rules for selling to a business before the first order.
How many units should a wholesale order be?
Enough that the delivery trip and the setup time are covered. Work out the smallest count where your margin after labor and overhead is still worth the day, and set that as your minimum.
Should wholesale prices be lower than my market prices?
Not automatically. A wholesale order carries more packaging, a delivery, and a set drop day. Cost the order on its own and let the margin decide the price, not a discount you picked in advance.
Do I need a contract for one buyer?
A one page order sheet is enough to start. Put the count, the price per unit, the drop day, the address, and the pay date on it, and get a written yes before you bake.
How do I handle a price rise on ingredients?
Recost the recipe the week it changes and tell the buyer in writing before the next order. A short note with the new price sheet is easier than absorbing the difference for months.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Check your state cottage food rules before you sell to a business.