Jar sizes, and the headspace argument

The range we hold

The qualifying shelf runs from about 89 ml to 946 ml, which covers a sampler at one end and a family jar at the other. Both ends are well covered, and the decision between them is not mainly about cost per ounce.

Headspace grows as the jar empties

Every use replaces product with air, and nut oil oxidizes. For a premium product used slowly, a large jar means months of oil sitting over a growing volume of air, which is how a customer ends up tasting a rancid note from a product that was fine when it left you.

Which makes the size part of the date

A best-before date on a 946 ml jar is a promise about product the buyer will still be eating months from now. The same product in a 240 ml jar is a much easier promise to keep. If you sell both, consider whether they honestly carry the same date.

The sampler size has a job

A small jar is how somebody tries a product that costs more than the one they usually buy, and nut butters compete directly with a cheap supermarket product. The small format is a trial mechanism rather than a gift format, which is a different reason to stock it from the one most makers have.

Cost a jar as a jar

A small jar and a large one cost nearly the same to fill, label and handle, so costing from a per-ounce figure makes the small one look more profitable than it is. Work out what each format has to earn separately.

Match the format to how fast it gets eaten

A household that finishes a jar in two weeks can take the large size; one that uses a spoonful a week cannot, and will taste the difference. If you sell direct, that is a conversation worth having at the stall, because recommending the smaller jar makes a better customer.

References