Selling it

What to charge

Updated October 2026

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What goes into a container Refrigeration runs whether you are producing or not Chilled freight is its own number Wastage is the number that decides the business Wholesale is a separate calculation You cannot discount your way out of a short date Price the standing order, not the single sale References

The unusual line in this costing is wastage, and it belongs in from day one because a short-life product that does not sell is not inventory.

What goes into a container

Milk or plant material, a commodity input you do not price.
Culture, which is small per unit and matters for consistency.
Container, closure and label, lighter and cheaper here than elsewhere because they are plastic.
Energy for pasteurization, incubation and refrigeration, which runs continuously rather than per batch.
Labor, including cleaning, which is a larger share here than in most crafts.
Wastage, as a percentage, from the start.

Refrigeration runs whether you are producing or not

Unlike a kettle or a roaster, a cold room draws power every hour of every day. That makes it a fixed cost that has to be spread across whatever you actually produce, which punishes low utilization much harder than in a shelf-stable craft.

Chilled freight is its own number

More expensive than ambient, and your product moves constantly. If you deliver yourself, cost your own time and vehicle honestly rather than treating it as free because it is you.

Wastage is the number that decides the business

Measure it rather than hoping it is small. A few percent is normal and twenty percent is a business that does not work, and the difference is forecasting rather than production skill. Track it weekly from the start.

Wholesale is a separate calculation

Not retail with a discount. It has to leave the buyer a margin, cover the chilled delivery and absorb the returns that short-life products generate. Work it from the cost up, including an allowance for stock that comes back.

You cannot discount your way out of a short date

Marking down stock near its date recovers some cost and it also teaches regular customers to wait for the markdown, which permanently shifts demand toward the end of the week. For a weekly repeat purchase that is a harder habit to undo than it looks, so decide early whether you discount at all or donate instead.

The structural fix is making less, more often, which costs labor and saves product. Which of those is cheaper depends on your operation and the calculation is worth doing properly rather than assuming.

Price the standing order, not the single sale

A weekly customer is worth many times a one-off one and costs far less to reach, so a price that works on a predictable repeat volume is the one that matters. Building the business around standing orders also fixes the forecasting problem that drives the wastage line above.

References

21 CFR 1240.61, Mandatory pasteurization for all milk and milk products in final package form intended for direct human consumption, which prohibits delivering such a product into interstate commerce unless it has been pasteurized or is made from pasteurized dairy ingredients. law.cornell.edu

21 CFR 131.200, Yogurt: not less than 3.25 percent milkfat and not less than 8.25 percent milk solids not fat, with “a pH of 4.6 or lower measured on the finished product within 24 hours after filling.” law.cornell.edu

Written from federal regulation and FDA guidance, not from a laboratory. Pasteurization of milk and milk products in final package form for interstate commerce is a federal requirement, and what your state permits inside its own borders is a separate question. Anything here is a starting point for a conversation with your state department of agriculture, not a determination that you comply.