Selling and marketing
Wholesale Macaron Boxes: How Many to Order and Your Margin
How many macaron boxes to order, what the quote covers, and the four lines that set your margin.
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What to remember
- The box is one line of your cost, not the whole cost.
- Ask for the price at two counts before you order.
- A free mockup shows you the box before you pay for a run.
- Price the box so ingredients, labor, and overhead are all covered.
If you sell macarons to cafes, gift shops, or party planners, the box is the part you buy before you know the order is coming. Getting wholesale macaron boxes right means knowing the price at the count you can store, and knowing what the box does to your margin. The rest of the selling guides cover the other costs.
What you are buying when you order boxes in bulk
A wholesale order is a print run. You pick a size, a material, and a design, and the supplier prints a set number of boxes. Alpha Global Packaging prints custom macaron boxes to your design and gives you a free 3D mockup when you ask for a quote, according to its product page.
That mockup is the part worth slowing down for. You see the shape and the print before you pay for a run you cannot send back. Ask for it with the quote, and check the inside size against the macarons you actually make.
The price per box usually falls as the count goes up. The trade is storage and cash. A large run is money out today for flat cardboard that sits in your house until the orders come.
Ask for the price at your count, not the price at the count in the advert. The number that matters is the one for the run you can store and pay for.
How many boxes should you order the first time
Order to your slowest month, not your best one. If you sell 40 boxes in a quiet month, a 500 box run is more than a year of stock in your hallway.
Ask for the price at two counts, your low count and double it. That tells you what the drop is worth and whether the bigger run pays for the space it takes.
Cash is the other cost. A big run is money out today for boxes you use over many months. If that money is needed for ingredients this week, order smaller.
Count what you sold last month
Look at your last three months of orders and take the lowest number.
Ask for two quotes
Ask the supplier for the price at your low count and at double it, so you can see the drop.
Request the mockup
Ask for the free 3D mockup with the quote and check the inside size against your macarons.
Check the storage
Measure the shelf or bin before you order, and only order what fits.
The math: box, macarons, labor, overhead
A box price on its own tells you nothing about profit. You need four lines: the box, the ingredients, your labor, and your overhead. Overhead is what you pay to run the business whether you bake that week or not. On Brevl that line is $20 a month flat, with 0% commission on your sales, so nothing comes off the top of each order.
For example, take a shop that orders 12 dozen macarons a month. Write your four lines down. The box line is your quote divided by the number of boxes in the run. The ingredient line is what one dozen costs you in almond flour, sugar, eggs, and filling. The labor line is the hours you spend piping, filling, and packing, times the rate you pay yourself. The overhead line is $20 a month spread across the dozens you sell. Add the four, subtract the total from what the shop pays, and what is left is your margin. If that margin is thin, the box is the easiest line to change, because a larger run lowers the price per box.
Does the box change what you charge the shop
Yes, and it belongs in the price from the start. A shop that orders every month is a repeat customer, so a price that leaves no room for the box hurts every month, not once.
Work out your price per dozen first, then add the box. If the shop will not pay the total, change the box before you change your pay. A plainer box at a lower count can keep the order alive. Keep the quote and the price in one place so you can see them together.
What to check before you commit
Ask what the quote includes. Printing, a window, a food safe coating, and delivery can each be a separate line, and a quote that looks low can grow. The same checks apply to any box you buy, and these five checks work for macaron boxes too.
Ask how long the price holds and what the lead time is. Ask what happens if you reorder a smaller count later, because your second order is often smaller than your first. If the run is large, ask for a sample box in your hand before you pay.
Ask whether the price is per box or per pack, and whether the count is the number of boxes or the number of packs. That one line changes the whole quote.
Mistakes that cost you money
The first mistake is ordering the biggest run to chase the lowest unit price. The second is pricing the box into your macaron price and forgetting your own time. The third is skipping the mockup and finding out the box is too shallow for a filled macaron.
The fourth is treating the box as a one time cost. It is a cost on every order, so it belongs in your price, not in your head. Cost the macarons first, then check what you keep on a dozen macarons.
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Common questions
How many macaron boxes should I order at once?
Order to your slowest month, not your best. Ask the supplier for the price at that count and at double it, then decide whether the saving is worth the storage and the cash tied up. A run you cannot store is not a saving.
Do I need a custom printed box to sell wholesale?
No. A plain box in the right size does the same job of protecting the macarons. Custom printing is a marketing choice, and it usually raises the price per box and the minimum count. Start plain, and move to printed boxes when a shop asks for them.
What should the quote from a box supplier include?
Ask for the price per box at your count, the setup or print fee, the delivery cost, and the lead time. Ask how long the price holds. Printing, a window, a food safe coating, and delivery can each be a separate line, so compare the total, not the headline.
How do I price a box of macarons for a shop?
Add four lines: the box, the ingredients in the macarons, your labor, and your overhead. Subtract the total from what the shop pays. What is left is your margin. If it is thin, change the box or the count before you cut what you pay yourself.
Does the box count as overhead?
No. The box is a direct cost of the order, like the ingredients, because you buy one for every box you sell. Overhead is what you pay whether you bake or not, such as a flat monthly fee for your shop software. Keep the two apart so your margin is honest.
Sources
General information, not legal or tax advice. Check your own state rules and your own numbers before you set a price.