The cost per dozen comes from five numbers: the cost of the dough, the raw weight of each piece, how many good pieces really come out (after the broken and the burnt), the oven per tray and the packaging for each format. That gives you the cost of one cookie, and a dozen is 12 cookies plus its box, not 12 times the price of a single. Each format has its own packaging, so each one has its own margin.
Start from the dough weight per piece
Do not go by "it makes about 40". Weigh it.
- Weigh the whole batch of dough. That weight and what the ingredients cost give you the cost per kilo of dough.
- Weigh ten raw pieces, scooped or cut the way you always do, and divide by ten. That is your weight per piece.
- Divide the total dough weight by the weight per piece. That is how many pieces you should get.
The baked weight does not matter for cost. You paid for the dough that went in.
Count what really comes out
Not every piece makes it. Some spread into each other, some catch on the edge of the tray, some break when you lift them. Count them over three or four batches and take the average: that is your waste, measured by you.
The batch cost is shared across the pieces you sell, not the pieces you scooped. It is the same principle as how to calculate the cost per unit of a recipe: batch cost divided by what the batch really yields.
Add the oven per tray
Small bakes go in by the tray. Count how many fit on a tray and how many trays the batch needs. If you know what each tray costs you in gas or electricity, multiply. If not, the guide on costing oven time per tray gets you that number from your meter or your gas bill.
Worked example: chocolate chip cookies
You make chocolate chip cookies. These are your numbers:
Dough: 2.4 kg of dough with $16.80 of butter, sugar, flour, eggs and chocolate chips.
Pieces: your scoops weigh 60 g raw. 2,400 ÷ 60 = 40 cookies.
Waste: in your last few batches, 2 cookies per batch come out broken or misshapen. You have 40 − 2 = 38 cookies to sell.
Oven: 8 cookies fit on a tray, so 40 ÷ 8 = 5 trays. At $0.20 a tray: $1.00.
Your time: 1.5 hours to mix, scoop, bake, cool and pack, at $15.00 an hour: $22.50.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Dough | $16.80 |
| Oven (5 trays) | $1.00 |
| Your time | $22.50 |
| Batch cost | $40.30 |
Cost per cookie, before packaging: 40.30 ÷ 38 = $1.06
If you had divided by 40, as if every cookie came out perfect, you would get $1.01. That five-cent gap is about 60 cents per dozen you would not be charging for.
Single, half dozen and box: each with its own packaging
Now add the packaging for each format:
- Single in a glassine bag: 1.06 + 0.10 = $1.16
- Box of 6: 6 × 1.06 = 6.36, plus box $0.70 and label $0.15 = $7.21
- Box of 12: 12 × 1.06 = 12.73, plus box $1.10 and label $0.15 = $13.98
(Using the unrounded $1.0605 per cookie.) With the prices you charge, the margins look like this:
| Format | Cost | Price | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $1.16 | $2.50 | 53.6% |
| Box of 6 | $7.21 | $13.50 | 46.6% |
| Box of 12 | $13.98 | $27.00 | 48.2% |
Margin is (price − cost) ÷ price. For the box of 12: (27.00 − 13.98) ÷ 27.00 = 48.2%.
Two things stand out. Twelve singles cost the customer 12 × 2.50 = $30.00, so the box saves them $3.00 and still leaves you 48.2%. And the box of 6 leaves you a lower margin than the dozen, because its box costs more than half of the big box and is shared across half the cookies.
If you also sell to cafés, remember they need their own margin on top; that price is worked out separately.
When the batch does not fill the boxes
Your 38 cookies make 3 boxes of 12 (36) with 2 left. If those 2 sell as singles, fine. If they sit, they carry cost without a sale. You have two options:
- Sell the extras as singles or in a box of 6 the same day.
- Adjust the batch so it makes full boxes. The guide on adjusting recipes to the pack sizes you actually buy has the method, and the recipe scaler takes a recipe to N portions.
To adjust, start from the good pieces you want at the end and add your measured waste. For 4 boxes of 12 you need 48 cookies. If you lose 2 in every 40, scoop about 51, which at 60 g is 3.06 kg of dough.
Do it with the calculator
In the food cost calculator, enter the dough with its ingredients, the weight per piece, the pieces you lose per batch and the packaging for each format; it gives you the cost per single, per half dozen and per box.
Frequently asked questions
How many cookies do I get from a kilo of dough?
Divide 1,000 g by the raw weight of each piece. With 60 g scoops you get 16. Weigh several scooped pieces to find your real weight, because scoops are rarely exact.
Do broken cookies count as a loss?
Yes, unless you sell them. If they go into something you charge for, like a cheesecake base, take them off the loss. If they are eaten, given away or thrown out, the cookies you sell carry their cost.
Should a dozen box cost less than 12 singles?
For the customer it usually does, but check your margin. The box has its own packaging, so its cost is not 12 times the single. Work out the margin for each format separately.