Selling and marketing
Sourdough Wholesale Price: Cost per Loaf and Margin (2026)
How to build a sourdough wholesale price from cost per loaf, your hours, and overhead, then hold your margin.
On this page
- What goes into a sourdough wholesale price
- A worked example: one loaf, all three costs
- Wholesale price versus your market price
- Mistakes that cost you money on wholesale
- What to check before you commit
- How to quote a shop without guessing
- Why order size changes your cost per loaf
- When to review a wholesale price
Wholesale is a different sale from a market table because you quote one buyer only. That number has to hold for every loaf in the order you send to them. Getting the sourdough wholesale price right before you quote keeps a weekly account from unpaid work.
Try the free bake pricing calculator
Free, no signup.
What to remember
- Cost the loaf, not the whole batch of dough.
- Your hands-on time is a cost, even when nobody pays it.
- Overhead is real: bags, labels, power, and the drive.
- A wholesale price has to leave a margin at the volume you can actually bake.
- Write the order down: count, price, day, and who pays for boxes.
What goes into a sourdough wholesale price
Three things go into every loaf: ingredients, your hands-on time, and overhead costs. According to Bake Profit, a sourdough loaf takes 24 to 48 hours and costs $3 to $5. Artisan markets charge $10 to $18 for sourdough bread, so wholesale sits below that retail number. A bread pricing guide covers wholesale versus retail pricing, daily production math, and margin benchmarks, and how to price sourdough loaves walks through the same math at retail.
Cost one loaf
Add up the flour, starter, salt, and everything else that goes into a single loaf. Divide your last supply run by the number of loaves it makes.
Put a number on your time
Count only the hands-on minutes: mixing, shaping, scoring, and packing. Multiply those minutes by the hourly rate you want to pay yourself.
Add overhead per loaf
Bags, labels, power, and the drive to the shop. Add up a week of those costs and divide by the loaves you bake that week.
Add your margin
Add a margin on top of the full cost. That margin covers the next bag of flour and the weeks when an order does not come in.
A worked example: one loaf, all three costs
Say your ingredients run $4 a loaf, inside the $3 to $5 range. You spend 20 hands-on minutes at $15 an hour, so your labor is $5. Overhead is $1 a loaf for a bag, a label, power, and your share of the drive. Total cost is $10, and a $13 quote leaves a $3 margin after all three costs.
That $3 margin is about 23 percent of the quote. Twenty loaves a week is $60 in margin. Forty loaves a week is $120, but that is a second bake day. Decide the volume you can hold before you agree to it.
Wholesale price versus your market price
Your market price and your wholesale price are two different numbers. A shop buys in volume and needs room to make its own money on the loaf. That is fine as long as your cost per loaf is low enough to leave a margin. If it is not, the account is not worth taking, and the average price of sourdough shows what buyers already pay at retail.
Mistakes that cost you money on wholesale
The most common mistake is pricing from ingredients alone and ignoring your hours. One pricing guide reports that most home bakers underprice sourdough by 30 percent or more. A wholesale account also locks the price in for weeks, so a thin margin does not fix itself. When your supply costs move, the locked price can turn a paying account into unpaid work.
Delivery is the quiet cost that many wholesale quotes leave out. If you drive the order across town twice a week, that time and gas belong in overhead. Add the delivery cost to your overhead per loaf before you agree to the route.
A free sourdough bread pricing calculator works out price per loaf from ingredient costs, hours, overhead, and complexity, plus profit margin and effective hourly rate. Run your numbers through it before you send a quote, then check the answer against what you can bake in a week.
What to check before you commit
Ask three questions before you say yes to a wholesale account. You need to know how often they order, how many loaves at a time, and who pays for delivery. A weekly standing order at a low margin can work if the drop sits on your normal route. A one-off order at the same price usually does not work at all.
Check your state rules before you promise a delivery day to a shop. Ask whether selling to a shop needs anything different from selling to a person. Get the answer in writing before you quote a wholesale price. The guides on selling from home cover the rest of the setup.
Ask for the order in writing, even if it is a text message. You want the count, the price, the delivery day, and who pays for the boxes. A written order is what you point to when the count changes at the last minute.
How to quote a shop without guessing
Start with your full cost per loaf, then add the margin you need. Send the quote as a price per loaf, not as a batch total. Say what the price includes, such as the bag, the label, and the delivery. If the shop wants a lower number, change the order size or the delivery day.
A quote is easier to hold when the order details are clear from the start. Write down the count, the price, the delivery day, and who pays for boxes. If the shop asks for a trial order, price that trial at the same per loaf rate. A trial order is not a reason to drop your margin for the shop.
Why order size changes your cost per loaf
Overhead per loaf falls when you bake more loaves in one run. The drive, the power, and the setup spread across the whole order. Your hands-on time does not fall at the same rate, because every loaf still needs shaping and packing. That is why a 20 loaf order and a 40 loaf order can have different costs per loaf.
Set a minimum order that leaves a margin after all three costs. If a shop wants 10 loaves and your overhead per loaf doubles, the price has to reflect that. You can offer a higher per loaf price for small orders. You can also ask them to take a larger order on your normal bake day.
When to review a wholesale price
A wholesale price often locks in for weeks, so a thin margin does not fix itself. Set a review date before you agree to the account. Put that date in the written order, along with the price. If flour or packaging costs move, you have a clear time to adjust.
Do not wait until the margin is gone to raise the subject. Give the shop notice before the review date. Offer the new price with the same order details. If they cannot take it, you can change the order size or end the account.
- How to sell bread wholesale and land your first account
- Sourdough price sheet: the columns that show your real margin
- Sourdough supplies wholesale: cost per loaf at bulk prices
Common questions
How do I set a sourdough wholesale price for a shop?
Cost one loaf first: ingredients, your hands-on time, and overhead per loaf. Add the margin you want on top of that total. Then check the number against the volume the shop wants, because a thin margin only works if you can bake the order every week.
Should wholesale be cheaper than my market price?
A shop buys in volume and needs room to make its own money on the loaf, so it will not pay your table price. That is fine as long as your cost per loaf is low enough to leave a margin at the lower number. If it is not, the account is not worth taking.
What is the biggest mistake in sourdough wholesale pricing?
Leaving out your own time. Ingredients are the easy part to count and the smallest part of the total. If a wholesale quote only covers flour, salt, and starter, every hour you spend mixing and packing comes out of your own pocket.
How many loaves do I need to sell to make wholesale worth it?
That depends on your margin per loaf and how many you can bake in a week. Work out the margin first, then multiply by the weekly order size. If the weekly total does not cover the hours it adds, ask for a bigger order or a better price before you say yes.
What if the shop asks for a lower price?
Do not cut the price without cutting something else. You can offer a smaller loaf, a simpler shape, or a longer order window. What you cannot do is drop the number and keep the same hours, because that turns a paying account into a hobby you fund yourself.
Sources
This is general pricing information, not legal or tax advice. Check your own state rules before you sell to a shop.