How much should a micro-bakery charge? A founder's honest answer

I get asked this more than almost anything else, and the honest answer is: I don't know your costs, but I know most people underprice for the same reasons.

You're pricing the flour, not the flour and the Tuesday

Ingredient cost is the easy part to calculate and the easy part to undercharge for, because it feels like the whole cost. It isn't. Your time, your energy bill, the packaging, the four failed batches it took to get the recipe right, all of that is real cost, even when it doesn't show up on a receipt.

"What feels right" is usually too low

Most bakers set a first price based on gut feel, then never revisit it once it's out in the world, even as ingredient costs rise around it. A price that felt fair eighteen months ago is quietly unfair to you now. Cocoa prices doubled in 3 years, your triple layer chocolate cake might be the best seller, but is it making you any money today?

Charge for the version of you that isn't tired

If a price only works when everything goes perfectly, no waste, no reorders, no rush jobs, it's not a real price. Build in the version of the week where something goes wrong, because that week happens more often than the good one.

The number I'd actually give you

There isn't one. What I'd tell you instead: cost the recipe honestly, decide your minimum acceptable margin before you look at what competitors charge, and revisit both every time a supplier price moves. That process is the answer, not a figure. But MakrPrep gives suggested minimum prices for all your items, so you can be sure you're always making money.