Working out what to charge

Price in this category is compared per serving, so that is the number to build toward and the number to sanity-check.

Cost per serving, not per tub

Divide everything by servings rather than by units. It is how customers compare, how retailers think, and how a larger tub justifies a higher absolute price.

It also exposes the trap in going large: a 60-serving tub looks better per serving and spends five months open in a kitchen, which is a shelf-life and dosing cost that does not appear in the arithmetic.

Build the unit cost

Ingredients at yield-adjusted rates, which for a supplement can be the dominant line. All packaging: tub, lid, liner, induction foil, scoop, label, outer. Fill and pack labor at a rate you would actually pay. And shipping, because a tub is mostly air and dimensional weight sets the carriage.

Amortize the testing

The line specific to this category. Identity testing per material, potency assay per formula and periodically per batch, heavy metals and microbial panels where warranted, blend uniformity work, and the time to maintain specifications and records.

Divide by the units you realistically expect that formula to sell over its life, not over the first batch. Across three years it is small; across one launch it can exceed the cost of goods.

That arithmetic is the argument for a narrow range, and it is worth doing before launching six products rather than after.

Checking it

Compare cost per serving against comparable independent brands rather than against the cheapest marketplace listing, which is frequently a product that has not done the testing you have.

And check viability at the wholesale number, because that is where growth takes you and a product that only works at retail cannot take a stockist.

References