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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] cost of sales

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  • From: Willie McKemie <mf AT austinfarm.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] cost of sales
  • Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 07:17:00 -0600

On Thu, Feb 03, 2005 at 07:37:12AM -0500, Robert Farr - The Chile Man wrote:
> As a value-added producer, I'm going to have to weigh in here.
>
> No comment on the cost argument, but transforming my produce into salsas
> and sauces makes me about 20x more than simply selling produce!
>
> We have a 40-gallon kettle, fitted with valves and spouts for easy
> hand-fill, and can fill up to 75 bottles/hour, including prep, cooking,
> and clean-up time.

Perhaps you will comment further on processing costs?

This past season, I had some blackberry jelly made by a custom
processor. Extra ingredients, material, and processing cost was $2.50
per pint, value of berries was about $2 per pint. With an $.08 label
and some transportation and storage costs, I figure my cost is about
$5/pint. For $6 retail, I have $1.20 sales commission cost. So, a
retail of $6 is break-even or worse. The sole attractive point is
moving berries that otherwise would have been lost. $6 seems like a
pretty high price; I wonder if pints of jelly can be sold at $8 or $10?
$2.50 doesn't seem like too much for processing considering the
headaches and costs of maintaining a legal kitchen.

--
Willie, ONWARD! Through the fog!
http://counter.li.org Linux registered user #228836 since 1995
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