Notes from the kitchen table
Practical guides on costing, pricing, labelling and planning, written for small food businesses by someone who ran one.
How to cost sourdough bread (including the starter)
A worked example of costing a sourdough loaf: flour blends, starter, dough weight and bake loss, then turning the cost into a price that pays for your time.
- 7 min read
How much to charge for jam and chutney (per jar, wholesale and Christmas hampers)
Cost a jar of jam or chutney properly, set a market price, check whether wholesale still pays, and price a Christmas hamper without giving your own jars away.
- 6 min read
"May contain" labels: when small food businesses should use them
What precautionary allergen labelling is, when a "may contain" warning is the right call, when it isn't, and how to decide for your own kitchen.
- 8 min read
How to price your time as a small food business (and stop working for free)
Most small food makers price from ingredients plus a markup, and end up earning less than minimum wage without noticing. How to put your labour into your prices, check what each one really pays you, and work your way out of 70-hour weeks.
- 8 min read
Christmas production planning for small bakeries: a week-by-week guide
How to plan Christmas as a small bakery: set your menu and order deadline early, cap orders to your capacity, prep ahead, and keep allergens straight under pressure.
- 7 min read
How much should you bake for a market stall?
A practical way to decide how much to bake for a market day: start from your sales history, adjust for weather and season, and plan what happens to what's left.
- 8 min read
How to write an ingredients list for your food labels (UK)
A step-by-step guide to writing a correct ingredients list for homemade and small-batch food: order, names, compound ingredients and allergens, with a full example.
- 6 min read
How to cost a menu in the UK (without a spreadsheet meltdown)
A practical sequence for costing a small UK food menu, from listing every item to tiered retail, wholesale and catering prices.
- 6 min read
Bakery food cost percentage: what it means (and how labour fits the price)
What bakery food cost percentage actually means, why target-percentage advice disagrees so much, and how to put labour into your price honestly.
- 6 min read
How to cost a dish (batch cooks and small caterers)
How to work out true cost per portion for batch-cooked or catered dishes, including sauces, components and packaging.
- 7 min read
When flour goes up: how to update recipe costs without redoing everything
A repeatable way to re-cost recipes when supplier prices rise, without redoing every recipe by hand.
- 7 min read
How to cost a cake properly (ingredients first, then the hours)
Sponge, filling, covering, boards and boxes, waste, and a worked example: how to cost a celebration cake properly.
- 7 min read
How much should a micro-bakery charge? A simple pricing method
There's no single right number, but there is a right method. Cost, time, overheads and a margin, with a worked example for a sourdough loaf.
- 6 min read
Running out of ingredients mid-batch: why it happens and how to stop it
A founder's story about the jam that wasn't there, and a simple weekly routine for planning production and shopping from your actual orders.
- 6 min read
Retail vs wholesale vs catering pricing: why one price doesn't work for everyone
Why the same recipe needs three prices, and how to set retail, wholesale and catering prices from your costs, with a worked example.
- 7 min read
How to start a food business in the US: cottage food laws, licensing, and costing
Why there's no single national checklist, and the practical steps to take before your first sale, whichever state you're in.
- 7 min read
How to start a food business in the UK: the practical first steps
Council registration, sole trader setup, business banking, accounting software, and where costing and pricing actually fit in.
- 7 min read
US allergen labelling for small food businesses: the Big 9 explained
What FALCPA and the FASTER Act require, the 9 major allergens, the two ways to declare them, and how cottage food rules can add more.
- 8 min read
Natasha's Law explained: allergen labelling for small UK food businesses
What Natasha's Law requires on a PPDS label, the 14 allergens, how to emphasise them properly, and the mistakes small producers make most.
- 6 min read
Recipe costing spreadsheet vs software: what changes when you switch
Spreadsheets are fine for a few recipes. Here's exactly where they start to cost you time and money, and what changes when you move to software.
- 7 min read
How to price for wholesale without giving your margin away
How to set a wholesale price for cafés and shops that still pays you: start from cost, set a floor, and agree terms that protect your margin.
- 8 min read
How to cost a recipe: a step-by-step guide for small food businesses
Work out the true cost per portion of any recipe in five steps, with a worked example, the mistakes that skew the number, and how to keep it right when prices move.