How do you figure the cost per bar?

[Guspuppy]

Note: I do not sell!!!

However, two people have asked me to mass produce soaps for separate occasions. One is a baby shower coming up in June, the other is setting up a 'filling station' of sorts at her church for 'operation Christmas child' (the shoeboxes) next fall. The baby shower person will pay for the soaps but wants small bars, possibly made in molds. The shoebox person asked me to donate my time and will pay for the material costs. (I am fine with that)

I just can't figure out how to figure the cost per bar! If I have a gallon of CO that cost $12, I can figure out how many bars I can get out of that gallon in my standard recipe. The same for the lard, SAO, etc. But different recipes use differing amounts of oils so the number of bars I can get from each quantity of oil would be different. I freely admit math is not my strong suit. Help??

 

[Angie Gail]

I have a spreadsheet where I keep all my pricing info so if a gallon (128 oz) tub of coconut oil is $14.99 then that works out to $0.12 per ounce. I do that with all my ingredients and then figure out how much I'm using and what the cost is then. So if I use 8oz of coconut oil in one batch then that is $0.96 for that ingredient. I do that for all ingredients to get my total price then I divide that total price by however many ounces my batch is. I usually make 52oz batches and with my specific ingredients it works out to a total ingredient cost of $11.74 per batch so that would be $0.23 per ounce of finished soap. Then I multiple that by however big the soaps are and for me that's 5oz so that's $1.13 per soap. Next I multiply that by 4 (retail pricing formula) so that gives me $4.52. Then I add in prices for any other materials like a soap box and labels to get a price of $4.86. That's a little cheap for retail so I then round up to $6.00 a bar.

 

[jcandleattic]

Note: I do not sell!!!

Even if not, it's good to have accurate costs.

The formulas that Angie gave are good, but you also have to figure in your cost of shipping, any handling fees, etc., as well as just the cost of raw materials. And then there is your time (sorry, I don't work for free, even for myself! and neither should anyone else), and then there's the insurance you should have in place (yes, even if you are only selling once, and even if it's only to friends!)
Sine this is most likely a one-off, you won't have to worry about factoring in the cost of molds, and other materials used, but if you ever decide to sell on a bigger scale, those also should be factored in eventually.
Don't sell yourself short. It's easy to undersell, and then as a business go out of business because of that. It's also easier to lower prices than it is to continually raise prices because you didn't calculate the total COG up front.

HTH

 

[lsg]

I use SoapMaker3 Pro. As long as you have all of your supplies listed in the inventory, then it automatically calculates cost per bar.

 

[cmzaha]

I also have a spreadsheet that I keep updated with the cost of my ingredients per oz for most ingredients. For micas I list by grams. I then figure how much my batch cost to make divide by 14 bars which are my batch size and add-in for my misc expenses such as market fees, transportation, etc.

 

[jcandleattic]

I use SoapMaker3 Pro. As long as you have all of your supplies listed in the inventory, then it automatically calculates cost per bar.

I use this in combination with a spreadsheet I have created with formulas and v-lookups. I find that SM3 doesn't necessarily capture all COG for every art I do, but with the combination I get a good sense of what it costs me to make soap, candles, resin art, etc., as well as my hourly salary that I pay myself, which SM3 just doesn't capture well. (or at least not well enough for me and my purposes)

 

[Guspuppy]

I have a spreadsheet where I keep all my pricing info so if a gallon (128 oz) tub of coconut oil is $14.99 then that works out to $0.12 per ounce. I do that with all my ingredients and then figure out how much I'm using and what the cost is then. So if I use 8oz of coconut oil in one batch then that is $0.96 for that ingredient. I do that for all ingredients to get my total price then I divide that total price by however many ounces my batch is. I usually make 52oz batches and with my specific ingredients it works out to a total ingredient cost of $11.74 per batch so that would be $0.23 per ounce of finished soap. Then I multiple that by however big the soaps are and for me that's 5oz so that's $1.13 per soap. Next I multiply that by 4 (retail pricing formula) so that gives me $4.52. Then I add in prices for any other materials like a soap box and labels to get a price of $4.86. That's a little cheap for retail so I then round up to $6.00 a bar.

THANK YOU Angie Gail!!!! This explained exactly what I needed to know. I didn't think of getting the cost per ounce of the ingredient and then just using how much I need per batch. It's so obvious.... now that you explained it! Much gratitude!!

 

[amd]

Just remember that gallon = fluid ounces, not weight ounces. Most suppliers will tell you the weight of the oil gallon you're buying.