To cost doughnuts or any fried sweet, add four things per batch: the dough, the oil that batch uses, the glaze or sugar, and whatever is left at closing. Oil is usually the surprise: in the example below it costs almost as much as the dough. And a doughnut you do not sell cannot be saved for tomorrow, so the real cost is divided by the doughnuts you sold, not the ones you made.
The dough: how much goes into each piece
Cost the whole batch of dough: flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk, yeast. Weigh it, then divide by the weight of one cut doughnut. To find that weight, cut ten rings, weigh them together and divide by ten.
Then count what you lose. Scraps you reroll once still make doughnuts; the last scraps often do not. Count the rings that come out misshapen, overproofed or too dark to sell. That loss is yours too.
The oil: the fill and the top-up
Oil is costed in two parts:
- The fill. What you pay to fill the fryer, divided by the batches you fry before you change it. When you change it is your call, by colour, smell or smoke; write down how many batches a fill lasts and use that number.
- The top-up. Dough absorbs oil and the level drops. Note the level when you start and how many litres you add per batch to get back to it.
Add the two and divide by the doughnuts in the batch. The guide on frying oil cost per batch has the method in more detail.
Glaze, sugar and fillings
Make the glaze by the batch and count how many doughnuts it covers. Weigh the icing sugar and milk before and after, so what dries out in the bowl is in the cost. For filled doughnuts, weigh the jam or custard going into each one. For sugar-coated ones, the sugar left in the tray that gets thrown away is part of the cost.
What is left at closing
Fried sweets do not wait. A doughnut that did not sell today is not a full-price doughnut tomorrow. So the cost that matters is the cost of a normal day, leftovers included. Each day, write down how many you threw out or sold off cheaply, and divide the cost of the day by what you sold. The guide on measuring and costing food waste helps you keep that record.
Worked example: a batch of glazed ring doughnuts
You sell glazed doughnuts from a market stall. One batch of dough:
| Dough | Cost |
|---|---|
| Flour, 2 kg at $0.90 per kg | $1.80 |
| Sugar, 200 g at $1.10 per kg | $0.22 |
| Butter, 200 g at $10.00 per kg | $2.00 |
| Eggs, 6 at $0.30 | $1.80 |
| Milk, 1 litre | $1.20 |
| Yeast, 30 g | $0.60 |
| Salt and vanilla | $0.30 |
| Dough total | $7.92 |
Yield. The dough weighs 3,900 g. After cutting and one reroll you get 60 rings of 60 g (3,600 g). The last 300 g of scraps you fry as holes and give away as tasters, so they are cost. Four rings come out too misshapen to sell: 60 − 4 = 56 doughnuts to sell.
Oil. Your fryer takes 10 litres at $2.20 a litre: $22.00 per fill. You change it every 5 batches: 22.00 ÷ 5 = $4.40 per batch. You also top up 1.2 litres per batch: 1.2 × 2.20 = $2.64. Oil per batch: 4.40 + 2.64 = $7.04.
Everything else:
- Glaze (icing sugar, milk, vanilla) for the batch: $2.20.
- Fryer and proofer energy: $1.50.
- Paper bag per doughnut: $0.10. For 56: 56 × 0.10 = $5.60.
- Your time: 3 hours of mixing, proofing, frying and glazing at $15 an hour = $45.00.
Batch cost: 7.92 + 7.04 + 2.20 + 1.50 + 5.60 + 45.00 = $69.26.
Cost per doughnut if you sell all 56: 69.26 ÷ 56 = $1.24.
Look at the oil: 7.04 ÷ 56 = $0.13 per doughnut. The dough is 7.92 ÷ 56 = $0.14. Frying costs almost as much as everything in the mixing bowl.
A slow day. You sell 44 and have 12 left at closing that you cannot sell tomorrow. The dough, oil, glaze and time are already spent; you only save the 12 bags: 12 × 0.10 = $1.20. The cost of the day is 69.26 − 1.20 = $68.06, and per doughnut sold: 68.06 ÷ 44 = $1.55.
Price. At $3.00 a doughnut:
- Sold out: (3.00 − 1.24) ÷ 3.00 = 58.7% margin.
- Slow day: (3.00 − 1.55) ÷ 3.00 = 48.3% margin.
More than ten points gone because 12 doughnuts did not sell. If you set your price on sold-out days and half your days are slow, you are making far less than you think. The markup and margin tool lets you test what price you need for each cost.
Bringing the cost down without touching the recipe
- Size the batch to your sales. If you often have a dozen left, make a smaller batch or fry in two rounds. Planning dough by the day is the same as planning production in any kitchen.
- Look after the oil. Steady temperature, no burnt crumbs left in the fryer, strained at the end of the day. Every extra batch a fill lasts lowers the cost per doughnut.
- Fry in waves. Keep proofed rings ready and fry as the queue builds, so fewer sit unsold.
- Glaze and fill to demand. A plain doughnut that does not sell has lost dough and oil; a filled one has also lost the filling.
For the rest of your counter, the guide on how to price desserts and sweets has the full method, and the loaded cost per unit explains how to add stall fees and other fixed costs.
Do it with the calculator
Put the dough, oil per batch, glaze, bags and your time into the food cost calculator, along with what you sell on a normal day; it gives you the cost per doughnut and the price for the margin you want.
Frequently asked questions
How do I work out the oil cost per doughnut?
Add two things per batch: the share of the fresh oil (cost of filling the fryer ÷ batches before you change it) and the oil you top up because the dough absorbs it. Divide by the doughnuts in the batch.
How often should I change frying oil?
It depends on your fryer, temperature and dough, and on the point where you judge the oil spent by colour, smell or smoke. Write down how many batches you get from a fill and use that number in your cost.
Should I count the doughnuts I do not sell?
Yes. They used dough, oil, glaze and time. Divide the cost of the day by the doughnuts you sold, not the ones you made, and you have your real cost per doughnut.
Do doughnut holes from the scraps change the cost?
Only if you sell them. If you fry the scraps as holes and give them away as tasters, they are part of your cost. If you sell them, they bring money back against the batch.