I work with several manufacturing companies (Machine Shops). They all use a "shop rate" when calculating an estimate. This includes labor, building rent or mortgage, utilities, machinery (based on life expectancy), etc. Gather all that info and divide on your expected run time and you’d have an hourly rate.
If you're in Idaho, why don't you mention Blue Alpine freeze dryers. They are made in Idaho. If you have problems with your Harvest Right, good luck with customer service. They have so many machines out there with problems and very little help. Support local businesses
I hope people get how much you just showed them. And... I don't mean making freeze-dried candy. Marketing and selling the product should be their next focus. Thanks for the video.
Candy is delicious but I’ve found if you freeze dry enough fruit, it’s a delicious alternative to chips and candy 😋😋😋 Mind you, not that freeze dried candy isn’t awesome, just wanted to say freeze drying makes everything 100% better imo.
What's missing here is out of that profit you need to subtract kitchen rent...electric cost run the freeze drier and your other equipment, lights, alarm service bill if you have one...etc to get a proper profit vs costs.
@@freezedriedbusiness - also, cost should be put away for the repair of the freeze dryer, which can be pretty expensive if it ends up being the evaporation system.
That would be called overhead and although it definitely needs to be considered it shouldn’t be necessarily factored in to the per unit cost because the more units you sell the cost per unit goes down. What I would do is figure out how many units I would need to sell to cover my overhead then I could project what my overall profits would be based on units sold above this minimum threshold
OMG …. He left out everything but a simple (very simple) analysis of adding incremental revenue to an already successful organization with overhead already fully addressed. It doesn’t even include any labor or retail fees associated with the sales. These candies don’t/won’t sell themselves.
After reading some of the comments below I just wanted to express the SIGNIFICANCE of this FREE content to people. Yes, it should be understood that this isn't a bottom line total expenditure sheet, but he verbalizes that. The beauty of it is that you can customize it to your specific needs. I dont' know how to use Google docs, I know I could learn, but it's the basic process of figuring out your costs here. This is a gift, people.....don't look a gift horse in the mouth! I used to do a lot of sewing machine projects for craft shows, etc. I knew to the penny what each item cost me. I did not include my sewing room overhead because it was negligible....and I lived here for goodness sake. Take what you are gifted and run with it!
I've seen you mention it in replies to other comments, but I am very anxiously awaiting the ROI spreadsheet :) Great videos. Never thought I'd be into this!
Thank you for the support. It’s trendy but so are other industries at various times, it matters more what you set as goals and whether you work to achieve them.
What about the cost of energy to run the freeze dryer and the rental of the commercial kitchen. Can you do another video factoring these expenses into the mix?
Excellent resource! thank you for this video which I actually watched completely because it was very informative. Great pace, great information! KUDOS!
Could I ask you where you got your bags. My window bags are either mylar silver or black. I assume your avery labels are transparent? Also in Idaho!! ** Sorry found answers to these questions in your pinned video. Thank you for all the information you are willingly sharing.
You can save time when writing formulas in your spreadsheet. You don't need to use =sum() in the examples you're giving here. You can just do =CELL1*CELL2 for multiplying two cells together. The sum function is supposed to be used to create totals by summing up a range of cells. For example: =SUM(C3:C5) in your example would give you the total cost of purchasing the taffy, bags and label.
At the begging of the video you mentioned how to avoid getting a commercial kitchen license. Is using someone's kitchen free? How about driving there (Gas, insuramce, car usage) ? How are you calculting shipping?
Thanks for the video. Curious that i don't see the commercial kitchen cost in the calculation. About how much do they charge you per cycle? Appreciate the info
Thank you for watching, this was just a cost of goods sold calculation but you would want to put those other expenses into your breakeven analysis if you truly wanted to keep going. I have a fixed monthly rent rate and then a hourly rent rate.
I didn’t include this since it’s so variable, I just wanted to show the cost of goods but I have plans to make a follow up video with more calculations
You need to figure in the 24 hours of processing time. The freeze drier cost $3,200 and how many batches can you do before the FD fails or needs replacing.
Love the videos and all the valuable info and links are sooooo appreciated!! Pretty new & just barely started with Etsy.. Really wasn't sure how to price things, can you share your Excel template. That was AWESOME!
Ty for your videos, I’m in Indiana and just purchased a freeze dryer. I’m committed even though I know a lot of people are doing this. Ty for the education.
Lots of people do similar businesses and still make money, you just need to set goals for yourself and execute them. Congratulations on getting started!
@@freezedriedbusiness Tysm this means a lot! I’ll be watching all of your videos to educate myself. I have some idea as a plan but defin need more info. 😁
Hi, I'm looking to start an energy ball business in California, what about getting the nutritional facts & some kind of brand or logo design on my kraft bags?
Great video! I'm curious about how much the electricity costs to make a batch of freeze dried taffy? I think I read somewhere that a Harvest Right home freeze dryer (not sure if it's the small, medium, large, or extra large) uses 500W of power for about 30 hours to process a typical batch of food. I realize electricity costs vary by geography and time of day, but can you tell us how much it costs you for electrical power to freeze dry a batch of taffy, just to give us a general idea? Thanks!
The concept behind air freezing your food is brilliant but myHarvest Right machine has been broken down more than it works. It takes a couple weeks for the company to schedule an appointment when there is an issue. It’s been frustrating
It’s a common complaint right now but I’ve had five machines at one time and only one gave me trouble. I’d say Harvest Right continues to be the leader in home freeze dryers and until we see another manufacturer able to keep up with the demand, it’s what we have to go with for now.
@@freezedriedbusiness So, having a Harvest Right for two years and mainly doing candy I change the oil every other week. Harvest right will sell you a filter system that you pour the used oil from your pump into the filter system and it takes a couple of days for the oil to go thru the filter. So, for the first time drain your oil then use new oil that way when it is time to change the oil again you can use the filtered oil. I use the filtered oil three times. After that the viscosity is not as good. But, by doing this it will save you money buying the oil.
True, there are a lot of other expenses not mentioned in this video but kitchen rent and electricity can be fairly minimal if you can find the right rental. At home you can write off the electricity bills on your business taxes as well so there are benefits to that.
@@freezedriedbusinessThat’s surprisingly good to know. I was so worried when I did the math on the electricity it would cost (it would be like $9 a day at minimum for me) but I was pushing through, figuring the total profit each run through would make would balance it out to be a non issue.
Check out the 13:48 mark in the video, electricity and other costs were not included for simplicity of this video but I have those calculations for my own business in a different spreadsheet
Thanks, Ive contemplating gwtting one for other reason, but you just sold me and opened my eyes! Thise totals are great, and that was just from 1 bag!🎉❤
Here's a video about the food nutrition: ruclips.net/video/wr4SWv0FkvA/видео.html. Times and temps is pretty consistent at 140 degrees for candy for about 3 hours.
I have a freeze dryer and have yet to figure out how you can do a run of only 3 hours of freeze drying time. I'm doing the fruit from my juicer and it's been running since yesterday. And it's still not done. Would love to learn how your able to do it in such a short period of time.
@victorialw1 are you prefreezing the candy? Another freeze dryer said to run a regular run with your food. And once done add drying time but switch out the trays with the candies. Sort of bypassing the whole freezing party
@victorialw1 i haven't either but with the amount of time freeze drying is taking even with frozen anything. It's taking like days to get it to complete. That's why I was asking. Because I'm seeing videos and articles of people only running their dryer for 3 to 6 hours abs I can't get it to run like that
I had an insane amount of issues with my Freeze Drier when i first got it. I received error codes for a variety of reasons and now have PTSD from the beeps whenever there's an error and am wondering, how do you trust to leave these machines going for 24-48 hrs straight in a commercial kitchen? Seems like a hassle to have to keep the machines out of your home to use it for business
That could be chalked up to the fact that we’re using “Freeze Dryers” to make Candy. These machines were never manufactured to be Candy Making machines exclusively. They were manufactured to be freeze dryers that you can also make some candy in.
@kimmididwhat lmao no i dont freeze dry candy i bought my machine for fruits veggies and meat, real foods lol. And it was a defective machine. Absolutely garbage. Glad my new one isn't giving me issues
I have 3 Harvest right dryers and 2 of them are not working properly. Have been spoiling sooooo much good already. Really don’t know what to do at this point as we live out of country and it’s difficult to ship parts back and forth.. 😮
Here's what I don't understand about the freeze drying in a commercial kitchen business model..........I don't expect that many commercial kitchens provide a freeze dryer. so....if you buy your own freeze dryer..... you have to take it there. these are large and heavy machines that are not easy to just move back and forth. also, they need special dedicated outlets. So do you get that all set up with the commercial kitchen and then just leave your freeze dryer there all the time? and if so, how do you keep from other people trying to use it or even just messing with it. and, you're renting a kitchen, but unlike most other processes, you need more than a couple of hours....(although candy can freeze dry pretty quickly) but if you have something that takes longer, you would need a special agreement for how long you are using the kitchen and how much that's going to cost being you may be leaving product there to finish maybe say over night but you're not using the rest of the kitchen for all that time. and if you leave your product there to dry for say 12 hours ... how do you know other people won't mess with it...both the product and machine? maybe this only works for candy that takes no more than 3 hours? that said there's still the issue that it's not practical to move the machine back and forth all the time.
I do have that calculated but not in the spreadsheet I showed in the video. I purely just wanted to show the COGS (cost of goods sold) calculation as other expenses can vary based on what you have setup in your business.
Hi David do you need any insurance to protect yourself? If so did you get it right away when you started and what type? Thank you so much for any helpful advice.
You left out at least two of the most expensive costs in your calculations. Rent and all utilities (not just electricity) you pay every single month, and the biggest being the $5000 per machine equipment cost that has to be replaced when it inevitably fails. Using your own $5/bag margin figures would require 1702 bags sold just to have the available funds to replace a single freeze dryer machine when needed. Then depending on your rent/utility costs would require you to sell around 1000 bags per month just to pay for those. Which means you would have to run about 50 batches (based on a comment you made were you said this took 10 trays to do), generously saying you might do 2 batches per day, means it takes about 20+ days of batches EACH MONTH JUST to pay for rent and utilities.
Electricity would be the only real utility cost in this business (I can’t imagine doing much more. Maybe washing some produce?) but yes those machines cost a lot, so there are a massive investment each time you buy one. There is also oil you have to change out every 20 or so times of doing this (oil free cost 1k+ more, varies per machine but the XL harvest cost like 1.7k more for the oil free pump to be instead) Also, all machines fail in time. Not a proverb, it’s a literal thing. All businesses’ machinery fail and need to be replaced in time, that is an expense any successful company will save and prepare for (hence that profit margin that he’s not technically directly paying for. He would save the amount from that. If he saved that at a minimum of 70 bags, he would have the money saved in case of needing to replace the freeze dryer, then he could keep making more because that heavy duty freeze dryer is not going to break by it’s 4th time being used.)
@@Norinia Electricity will be the highest cost, but not the only "real" cost UNLESS you don't plan on having heat during winter months. He does not calculate "savings" as you describe, therefore that "savings" expense you state would have to come from that profit amount he has listed.
Cost of the capital investment of the dryer needs figured into this... how long till you "actually" make true profit above the investment. Even if you paid $100 a month towards paying off the equipment, it would take you 40 months to break even on a $4k unit. Granted your example is only one batch! ❤
Did you do your taffy whole? If you cut it, there would be that added labor time. Also added labor time to load up the trays for 2 runs, and the spacing out of the taffy. Labor is your biggest costs. I could never do those 3 lbs in one hour, including cutting, loading and bagging. So you'd would have to cut your hourly rate to keep a good profit. Otherwise, love this educational video!
Decent for a side hustle but you would have to be moving a lot of candy to make even $500 a month in profit. I still want to try this out though and see how it would go locally in our rural area.
Correct, that's why I scaled back in my business to make it work better for my lifestyle. If you are planning on doing this full-time, you need to have a lot of volume and probably focus on products you can scale more quickly.
@The Freeze Dried Business No problem. I'm just looking to start a business that can bringing some extra income from my 9 to 5 job without incuring any debt. I'm thinking that fresh meats and veggies(especially those that can't normally grow in our area) may be a better route since I have the land and space.
@@freezedriedbusiness Is it feasible to FD "stuff" at a Farmer's Market ("FD While you wait") ? I don't know how long it takes to FD stuff. They provide the item & you've got the VERY EXPENSIVE machine.
Not worth the time in my opinion for a farmer's market. I'd look more into renting out your machine and generate customers through that versus your initial idea. Thank you for watching the video!
Can you share your spreadsheet. We are brand new to this business. Something like this would be extremely helpful. I am not very good at making spreadsheets from scratch.
Is it possible to still get this spreadsheet? I clicked on the link and submitted my email several times but have never received anything. Would love to receive this. I appreciate all your videos and have found them very helpful. Thanks in advance.
When you say you are paying yourself $30/ hour is that based solely on time you spent making the product? What about when you are marketing? Do you also include that time? How many hours does it take to make one batch? How many is in one batch?
Appreciate the video, wife and I have been considering starting a business like this. One question though, maybe i missed it in your spreadsheet, but where is the cost for renting the commercial kitchen? Is it a flat rate? Is the electric included in that? These machines pull a lot of amps. I just didnt see the cast of the kitchen/electricity in the spreadsheet. Also what was the initial cost of the machine from Harvest right? What size model? Im trying to figure out timeline for ROI here :).
Kitchen rate and other variable expenses were not included in this video, I tried to make it bare-bones to understand a good starting point. You can get the spreadsheet and make a copy if you'd like by going to www.freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet
My state (NV) says in my county, i am not allowed to sell Cottage food products online. That's a big negative. Are many states like that? Will working from a commercial kitchen avoid that limitation?
You omitted the fixed cost of renting the commercial kitchen. Do you rent per day, perhaps per hour. You mentioned that your electricity to run the freeze drier was minimal but don't you also pay for those hours where you are prepping and packaging and cleaning up? It just seems like renting a kitchen is a large expense. Please tell me that I am mistaken. Thank you for your help.
This video was meant to show a simple calculation of the cost of goods sold and how much is leftover which is a pretty good margin but yes then you'll need to determine all the variable costs that include kitchen costs, insurance etc. Renting a kitchen is just a stepping stone, if you can find a leased space that can make all the numbers work then I'd go with that because then you don't have to worry about hourly rent costs. I couldn't find anything within a reasonable drivable distance from my home to get a 500 sq ft leased space so the smallest available was 900 sq ft and that was $1500/month. Then you have to calculate all the equipment like freezers, security, sinks, etc. So for me the kitchen rental even with bagging, prep and clean-up made more sense than leasing.
I'm just showing what it costs for the candy, labor and materials. I didn't want to show all my expenses in this video as it's variable and is also more information than I would prefer to share about my business.
Overhead cost like rent? Machine usage? How much space and time in the harvest right did that absorb since those resources are limited like your labor and those machines are not cheap, etc ...
That's a variable cost that you would need to figure into your costs but for the purposes of my video I just wanted to show the hard costs for the product. Thank you for watching!
Freeze dryers range from $2000-$5000 if you are looking for one similar to what you see in my videos. Kitchen costs vary based on how much you use it, usually it’s an hourly rental rate
Hard to say, freeze drying candy hasn’t been around 20 years so I haven’t seen anyone do it. I’m not sure candy is meant to have that long of a shelf life but it would be interesting to try and open at one year, two, and so on.
Hi! Is there anyway I can get an excel spreadsheet like that? Do you share this spreadsheet? Like I wonder how would you even plug in all the formulas to make it work like that??
If you want the spreadsheet, I'm working on a shareable file to be downloaded. More to come! If you are looking for a freeze dryer, Harvest Right is a good start affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html. I also just purchased a Stay Fresh Freeze Dryer, you could look at that machine as well here: stayfreshfreezedry.com?sca_ref=3292008.4uBi4MIG3W
@@freezedriedbusiness oh wow. I thought you only had the HR products and made a purchase earlier today. I negotiated what I think was a really good deal direct (but who knows if it actually was). I will, however, use any of your affiliate links listed here for all my other products because I have watched several videos now and find your insight super helpful. I know that every little bit can help and will likely set up as an affiliate once I am up and going with this part of my business. With that said, have I missed where you might have shared 'must haves' for getting started? I plan to cram info and buy what I need to hopefully start right away once my machine arrives and my husband gets her hooked up. I already have a license that will cover this. Thanks so much.
Correct, this video was just for simple cost of product and packaging. Since other expenses are variable based on where you live I didn't put that into the calculation. I am looking at doing a Part 2 to this video to expand the calculations.
Could I buy your spreadsheet? I have long covid and I am struggling with simple math and other ways of analyzing. I am also a disabled vet so my other issues make it hard as well.
Harvest Right Large Freeze Dryer, had it for three years and it's served my business well. If you're interested in buying, use my referral link: affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
Yes, I use Zazzle now. Here's a link to a stamp you can customize with your logo and they usually run specials. www.zazzle.com/personalized_business_logo_large_stationery_rubber_stamp-256538145050104365?rf=238301965164297647
Have electricity costs and machine depreciation been included in the calculation? These cost components must be included in the calculation because they are important components in manufacturing and these costs are quite large in producing this product.
@@freezedriedbusiness The definition of cost of goods sold (COGS) is all the costs incurred by a company to produce a product or service starting from the product manufacturing process until the product is ready to be distributed to the market. In your case, COGS is raw material + manufacturing cost (direct labor + overhead). I assume that you have calculated raw materials and direct labor, but overhead costs have not been included in this calculation as these costs are significant. What I mean by overhead costs here are costs that are directly related to the production process, such as electricity costs used by machines, machine depreciation costs due to producing goods, machine maintenance costs, etc.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Download the FREE Spreadsheet Template: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
Just the most important (and expensive) part of any businesses' expenses.
You didn't calculat the cost to rent the commercial kitchen or shipping costs to the customer either. How much per month is that?
I work with several manufacturing companies (Machine Shops). They all use a "shop rate" when calculating an estimate. This includes labor, building rent or mortgage, utilities, machinery (based on life expectancy), etc. Gather all that info and divide on your expected run time and you’d have an hourly rate.
If you're in Idaho, why don't you mention Blue Alpine freeze dryers. They are made in Idaho. If you have problems with your Harvest Right, good luck with customer service. They have so many machines out there with problems and very little help. Support local businesses
@@skynuts7792Or he can use whatever machines he likes. Tada.
I hope people get how much you just showed them. And... I don't mean making freeze-dried candy. Marketing and selling the product should be their next focus. Thanks for the video.
Numbers are numbers, the difference is whether someone puts in the effort to do it. Like you said sales and marketing. Thank you for watching!
Candy is delicious but I’ve found if you freeze dry enough fruit, it’s a delicious alternative to chips and candy 😋😋😋
Mind you, not that freeze dried candy isn’t awesome, just wanted to say freeze drying makes everything 100% better imo.
What's missing here is out of that profit you need to subtract kitchen rent...electric cost run the freeze drier and your other equipment, lights, alarm service bill if you have one...etc to get a proper profit vs costs.
Correct, I kept this video fairly simply. I'm working on a Part 2 with more expenses added in.
@@freezedriedbusiness - also, cost should be put away for the repair of the freeze dryer, which can be pretty expensive if it ends up being the evaporation system.
That would be called overhead and although it definitely needs to be considered it shouldn’t be necessarily factored in to the per unit cost because the more units you sell the cost per unit goes down. What I would do is figure out how many units I would need to sell to cover my overhead then I could project what my overall profits would be based on units sold above this minimum threshold
OMG …. He left out everything but a simple (very simple) analysis of adding incremental revenue to an already successful organization with overhead already fully addressed. It doesn’t even include any labor or retail fees associated with the sales. These candies don’t/won’t sell themselves.
After reading some of the comments below I just wanted to express the SIGNIFICANCE of this FREE content to people. Yes, it should be understood that this isn't a bottom line total expenditure sheet, but he verbalizes that. The beauty of it is that you can customize it to your specific needs. I dont' know how to use Google docs, I know I could learn, but it's the basic process of figuring out your costs here. This is a gift, people.....don't look a gift horse in the mouth! I used to do a lot of sewing machine projects for craft shows, etc. I knew to the penny what each item cost me. I did not include my sewing room overhead because it was negligible....and I lived here for goodness sake. Take what you are gifted and run with it!
Thank you 🙏
Thanks for being a positive supporter of people and their dreams of starting a business!!!
Love!! 💜
Thank you for watching and supporting the channel.
Great information! I just got approved for the Cottage Kitchen Permit! Let the fun begin!
Awesome, and congratulations!
I've seen you mention it in replies to other comments, but I am very anxiously awaiting the ROI spreadsheet :)
Great videos. Never thought I'd be into this!
Coming soon!
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
Great concluding statement on competition. Cheers.
Thank you for the support. It’s trendy but so are other industries at various times, it matters more what you set as goals and whether you work to achieve them.
What about the cost of energy to run the freeze dryer and the rental of the commercial kitchen. Can you do another video factoring these expenses into the mix?
Excellent resource! thank you for this video which I actually watched completely because it was very informative. Great pace, great information! KUDOS!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much for sharing this information. I’m still in the process of figuring it all out.
Glad it was helpful!
Could I ask you where you got your bags. My window bags are either mylar silver or black. I assume your avery labels are transparent? Also in Idaho!! ** Sorry found answers to these questions in your pinned video. Thank you for all the information you are willingly sharing.
You can save time when writing formulas in your spreadsheet. You don't need to use =sum() in the examples you're giving here. You can just do =CELL1*CELL2 for multiplying two cells together. The sum function is supposed to be used to create totals by summing up a range of cells. For example: =SUM(C3:C5) in your example would give you the total cost of purchasing the taffy, bags and label.
Heya David, been watching a lot of your videos. Great stuff. Thanks for making these types of videos.
Thanks for watching!
At the begging of the video you mentioned how to avoid getting a commercial kitchen license.
Is using someone's kitchen free? How about driving there (Gas, insuramce, car usage) ?
How are you calculting shipping?
Very interesting..from UK and researching the options of which freeze dryer is best here etc..your videos are fantastic 😊 Thank you
My pleasure 😊. Harvest Right and StayFresh are my recommendations. There are some German manufacturers if you do a google search.
Thank you soooooo much I have been stuck this was the most informative and smooth video I’ve ever seen 😂
Glad it helped!
Thank you for sharing. It matters ❤
Thank you watching, i appreciate everyone supporting what I put out there.
The last part of your video.... bro. Much love.
Thanks so much. Appreciate all of your videos/help 😊
You’re welcome, thank you for watching and following the videos!
Thanks for the video. Curious that i don't see the commercial kitchen cost in the calculation. About how much do they charge you per cycle? Appreciate the info
Thank you for watching, this was just a cost of goods sold calculation but you would want to put those other expenses into your breakeven analysis if you truly wanted to keep going. I have a fixed monthly rent rate and then a hourly rent rate.
Love the spreadsheet. What I don't see on there is input for electric use and if you are paying for a commercial kitchen the cost for that
I didn’t include this since it’s so variable, I just wanted to show the cost of goods but I have plans to make a follow up video with more calculations
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
You need to figure in the 24 hours of processing time. The freeze drier cost $3,200 and how many batches can you do before the FD fails or needs replacing.
They’re on a big sale right now.
#Respect for being Transparent this is very interesting #Greatings From #Germany ...
I appreciate that! Never been to Germany but I've always wanted to visit.
Love the videos and all the valuable info and links are sooooo appreciated!! Pretty new & just barely started with Etsy.. Really wasn't sure how to price things, can you share your Excel template. That was AWESOME!
You are so welcome!
Here's the template: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
Ty for your videos, I’m in Indiana and just purchased a freeze dryer. I’m committed even though I know a lot of people are doing this. Ty for the education.
Lots of people do similar businesses and still make money, you just need to set goals for yourself and execute them. Congratulations on getting started!
@@freezedriedbusiness Tysm this means a lot! I’ll be watching all of your videos to educate myself. I have some idea as a plan but defin need more info. 😁
Thank you so much!
Hi, I'm looking to start an energy ball business in California, what about getting the nutritional facts & some kind of brand or logo design on my kraft bags?
Here's a video to answer those questions: ruclips.net/video/wr4SWv0FkvA/видео.html
Where do you get your bags? Love them. Thank you.
Kraft Food Bags (100 counts) - amzn.to/3iGpi8n
What are the dimensions of the bags you are using to bag up the taffy? Thanks!!
Did you have to get your serve safe certification to rent a space in the commercial kitchen?
TY for the advice and videos
You are welcome. I hope it helps. Thank you for supporting the channel!
Great video! I'm curious about how much the electricity costs to make a batch of freeze dried taffy? I think I read somewhere that a Harvest Right home freeze dryer (not sure if it's the small, medium, large, or extra large) uses 500W of power for about 30 hours to process a typical batch of food. I realize electricity costs vary by geography and time of day, but can you tell us how much it costs you for electrical power to freeze dry a batch of taffy, just to give us a general idea? Thanks!
500w * 30h at 12c/kWh = $1.8
@@amtracktrack4963 Wow, that's not bad. I thought it would be more than that. Thanks!
I can verify 30 hours or more, depending on pump, if the seal and door are working properly, density, moisture content all play into time and costs
The concept behind air freezing your food is brilliant but myHarvest Right machine has been broken down more than it works. It takes a couple weeks for the company to schedule an appointment when there is an issue. It’s been frustrating
It’s a common complaint right now but I’ve had five machines at one time and only one gave me trouble. I’d say Harvest Right continues to be the leader in home freeze dryers and until we see another manufacturer able to keep up with the demand, it’s what we have to go with for now.
Can you show a video of changing the oil and other maintenance for the freezers and pumps etc. Thanks
Yes! Changing the oil is actually on my content calendar for June so be on the lookout for that video.
@@freezedriedbusiness So, having a Harvest Right for two years and mainly doing candy I change the oil every other week. Harvest right will sell you a filter system that you pour the used oil from your pump into the filter system and it takes a couple of days for the oil to go thru the filter. So, for the first time drain your oil then use new oil that way when it is time to change the oil again you can use the filtered oil. I use the filtered oil three times. After that the viscosity is not as good. But, by doing this it will save you money buying the oil.
@@getreal9799i have the premier pump so i only have to change oil about every 25-30 loads.
the numbers look good until you factor in kitchen rent and cost of electricity [whether doing freeze drying at home or commercial kitchen]
True, there are a lot of other expenses not mentioned in this video but kitchen rent and electricity can be fairly minimal if you can find the right rental. At home you can write off the electricity bills on your business taxes as well so there are benefits to that.
@@freezedriedbusinessThat’s surprisingly good to know. I was so worried when I did the math on the electricity it would cost (it would be like $9 a day at minimum for me) but I was pushing through, figuring the total profit each run through would make would balance it out to be a non issue.
Can you mix a fruit in freeze dryer or mix a vegetable and candy to boost nutrition. Just a thought. I wish you the best.
Did I miss something , but where is your electrical cost/ consumption (kWh) used to run the freeze dryer cycle?
Check out the 13:48 mark in the video, electricity and other costs were not included for simplicity of this video but I have those calculations for my own business in a different spreadsheet
Great info, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks, Ive contemplating gwtting one for other reason, but you just sold me and opened my eyes! Thise totals are great, and that was just from 1 bag!🎉❤
Glad I could help!
how do you know your info for food safety? do you monitor times and temps? woukdnt that be required to sell commercially?
Here's a video about the food nutrition: ruclips.net/video/wr4SWv0FkvA/видео.html. Times and temps is pretty consistent at 140 degrees for candy for about 3 hours.
What about the building you’re renting, utility costs and cost of the freeze dryer.
Yes you need to calculate that for a true ROI but this video was just product and labor related
What is the shelf life on freeze dried taffy? My Harvest Right freeze dryer is being delivered tomorrow. Can't wait to try this.
2-3 months, heat is your enemy with taffy. Keep at room temperature or cooler.
Can you share your spreadsheet? The column offset and makes it slightly hard to follow the formulas. But thanks for the video.
I am working on a spreadsheet to download
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
I have a freeze dryer and have yet to figure out how you can do a run of only 3 hours of freeze drying time. I'm doing the fruit from my juicer and it's been running since yesterday. And it's still not done. Would love to learn how your able to do it in such a short period of time.
Not sure, but I know that if you prefreeze everything, it doesn't take as long.
@victorialw1 are you prefreezing the candy? Another freeze dryer said to run a regular run with your food. And once done add drying time but switch out the trays with the candies. Sort of bypassing the whole freezing party
I'm sorry dear. I have never freeze dried candy before, so I'm not sure if prefreezing would work with candy.
@victorialw1 i haven't either but with the amount of time freeze drying is taking even with frozen anything. It's taking like days to get it to complete. That's why I was asking. Because I'm seeing videos and articles of people only running their dryer for 3 to 6 hours abs I can't get it to run like that
@@maryc7243 Wow! I wonder what freeze drier they're using. I have a harvest right.
I had an insane amount of issues with my Freeze Drier when i first got it.
I received error codes for a variety of reasons and now have PTSD from the beeps whenever there's an error and am wondering, how do you trust to leave these machines going for 24-48 hrs straight in a commercial kitchen? Seems like a hassle to have to keep the machines out of your home to use it for business
Some people reported a lot of problems
I have 2 freeze dryers since 2015 and never had a problem
Could be defective machines
That could be chalked up to the fact that we’re using “Freeze Dryers” to make Candy. These machines were never manufactured to be Candy Making machines exclusively. They were manufactured to be freeze dryers that you can also make some candy in.
@kimmididwhat lmao no i dont freeze dry candy i bought my machine for fruits veggies and meat, real foods lol.
And it was a defective machine. Absolutely garbage. Glad my new one isn't giving me issues
@@kimmididwhatthat’s a ridiculous answer
I have 3 Harvest right dryers and 2 of them are not working properly. Have been spoiling sooooo much good already. Really don’t know what to do at this point as we live out of country and it’s difficult to ship parts back and forth.. 😮
Anyway you could share that spreadsheet out?
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
Thanks this was awsome
You’re welcome!
Excellent video. I was wondering, where do you get your bags from? Do you purchase them with the label pre-printed on it or do you stamp it yourself?
Thank you 😊
Here's what I don't understand about the freeze drying in a commercial kitchen business model..........I don't expect that many commercial kitchens provide a freeze dryer.
so....if you buy your own freeze dryer..... you have to take it there. these are large and heavy machines that are not easy to just move back and forth. also, they need special dedicated outlets. So do you get that all set up with the commercial kitchen and then just leave your freeze dryer there all the time? and if so, how do you keep from other people trying to use it or even just messing with it.
and, you're renting a kitchen, but unlike most other processes, you need more than a couple of hours....(although candy can freeze dry pretty quickly) but if you have something that takes longer, you would need a special agreement for how long you are using the kitchen and how much that's going to cost being you may be leaving product there to finish maybe say over night but you're not using the rest of the kitchen for all that time.
and if you leave your product there to dry for say 12 hours ... how do you know other people won't mess with it...both the product and machine?
maybe this only works for candy that takes no more than 3 hours?
that said there's still the issue that it's not practical to move the machine back and forth all the time.
Would love the formulas for the spreadsheet.
I'm working on a downloadable spreadsheet.
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
What about the cost of the freeze drier and the cost of the commercial kitchen. Where do those costs get incorporated?
You can add those variable costs yourself, this was just a very basic calculation: Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
Hello. Have you added the cost of your kitchen rental and your freeze dryer, or do you add that in a different spot?
I do have that calculated but not in the spreadsheet I showed in the video. I purely just wanted to show the COGS (cost of goods sold) calculation as other expenses can vary based on what you have setup in your business.
Hi David do you need any insurance to protect yourself? If so did you get it right away when you started and what type? Thank you so much for any helpful advice.
Yes just get a simple $1million policy for your business liability, usually covers people getting sick or something happening to your equipment
Thank you think is so cool!
You left out at least two of the most expensive costs in your calculations. Rent and all utilities (not just electricity) you pay every single month, and the biggest being the $5000 per machine equipment cost that has to be replaced when it inevitably fails. Using your own $5/bag margin figures would require 1702 bags sold just to have the available funds to replace a single freeze dryer machine when needed. Then depending on your rent/utility costs would require you to sell around 1000 bags per month just to pay for those. Which means you would have to run about 50 batches (based on a comment you made were you said this took 10 trays to do), generously saying you might do 2 batches per day, means it takes about 20+ days of batches EACH MONTH JUST to pay for rent and utilities.
Electricity would be the only real utility cost in this business (I can’t imagine doing much more. Maybe washing some produce?) but yes those machines cost a lot, so there are a massive investment each time you buy one.
There is also oil you have to change out every 20 or so times of doing this (oil free cost 1k+ more, varies per machine but the XL harvest cost like 1.7k more for the oil free pump to be instead)
Also, all machines fail in time. Not a proverb, it’s a literal thing. All businesses’ machinery fail and need to be replaced in time, that is an expense any successful company will save and prepare for (hence that profit margin that he’s not technically directly paying for. He would save the amount from that. If he saved that at a minimum of 70 bags, he would have the money saved in case of needing to replace the freeze dryer, then he could keep making more because that heavy duty freeze dryer is not going to break by it’s 4th time being used.)
@@Norinia Electricity will be the highest cost, but not the only "real" cost UNLESS you don't plan on having heat during winter months.
He does not calculate "savings" as you describe, therefore that "savings" expense you state would have to come from that profit amount he has listed.
Cost of the capital investment of the dryer needs figured into this... how long till you "actually" make true profit above the investment. Even if you paid $100 a month towards paying off the equipment, it would take you 40 months to break even on a $4k unit. Granted your example is only one batch! ❤
Did you do your taffy whole? If you cut it, there would be that added labor time. Also added labor time to load up the trays for 2 runs, and the spacing out of the taffy. Labor is your biggest costs. I could never do those 3 lbs in one hour, including cutting, loading and bagging. So you'd would have to cut your hourly rate to keep a good profit. Otherwise, love this educational video!
I do 3lbs in 1 hour for 10 trays all cut in half or fourths.
Another great video!
Thank you!
Be careful about selling freeze dried food in vacuum sealed bags. Even though it is dried, that is not permitted in some areas.
Correct, all states have different regulations.
Interesting is a pressurized box allowed?
Decent for a side hustle but you would have to be moving a lot of candy to make even $500 a month in profit. I still want to try this out though and see how it would go locally in our rural area.
Correct, that's why I scaled back in my business to make it work better for my lifestyle. If you are planning on doing this full-time, you need to have a lot of volume and probably focus on products you can scale more quickly.
@The Freeze Dried Business No problem. I'm just looking to start a business that can bringing some extra income from my 9 to 5 job without incuring any debt. I'm thinking that fresh meats and veggies(especially those that can't normally grow in our area) may be a better route since I have the land and space.
Freeze dry the local veggies, could be a niche market for you.
@@freezedriedbusiness Is it feasible to FD "stuff" at a Farmer's Market ("FD While you wait") ? I don't know how long it takes to FD stuff. They provide the item & you've got the VERY EXPENSIVE machine.
Not worth the time in my opinion for a farmer's market. I'd look more into renting out your machine and generate customers through that versus your initial idea. Thank you for watching the video!
Can you share your spreadsheet. We are brand new to this business. Something like this would be extremely helpful. I am not very good at making spreadsheets from scratch.
I'm trying to figure out a decent way for it to be downloadable.
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
What about the commercial kitchen costs, was that calculated in?
Not in this calculation, this was more of a cost of goods sold
I seen your sheet but did you count the electric to run freeze dryer?
You could add another line for electricity. For something like fruit I use about $5-$6 of electricity per cycle
I knew a private small-scale caterer & baker who rented a commercial kitchen 👍
It’s an affordable option if you want to expand
Would you share your google form you used for the calculations?
Yes, that is coming within the next few weeks.
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
Is it possible to still get this spreadsheet? I clicked on the link and submitted my email several times but have never received anything. Would love to receive this. I appreciate all your videos and have found them very helpful. Thanks in advance.
When you say you are paying yourself $30/ hour is that based solely on time you spent making the product? What about when you are marketing? Do you also include that time? How many hours does it take to make one batch? How many is in one batch?
$30/hour for time soley cutting the 3lbs of taffy, putting on the trays, bagging and labeling, sealing.
Appreciate the video, wife and I have been considering starting a business like this. One question though, maybe i missed it in your spreadsheet, but where is the cost for renting the commercial kitchen? Is it a flat rate? Is the electric included in that? These machines pull a lot of amps. I just didnt see the cast of the kitchen/electricity in the spreadsheet. Also what was the initial cost of the machine from Harvest right? What size model? Im trying to figure out timeline for ROI here :).
Kitchen rate and other variable expenses were not included in this video, I tried to make it bare-bones to understand a good starting point. You can get the spreadsheet and make a copy if you'd like by going to www.freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet
@@freezedriedbusiness Thanks!
It depends on the kind of deal you cut with the restaurant owner. Everyones circumstances are different and so will every deal.
Can I get a copy of that spreadsheet? I’m cottage food local in person events only. Not comp by any means for you.
I won't be releasing it for download until January.
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
People were selling these as much as $9 a small bag of 1.5 oz at the fair in my town today. I walked the hell away.
That's what I sell Taffy at but you get about 15-20 pieces in the bag.
My state (NV) says in my county, i am not allowed to sell Cottage food products online. That's a big negative. Are many states like that? Will working from a commercial kitchen avoid that limitation?
Yes cottage food laws vary upon states. Some states allow you to ship in the state under cottage food and other don’t
@freezedriedbusiness thanks for the reply! Bummer. If i work in a commercial kitchen do you think that may allow me to ship out of state?
Absolutely! Commercial kitchen unlocks a lot of sales potential in wholesale and shipping outside of the state
@@freezedriedbusiness I have to look into that then
Where do you get the labels for the ingredients?
Avery Labels for Product Ingredients - amzn.to/3VEpjbo
I just checked Amazon and that same bag of taffy is $82 now !
Wow 😮
You omitted the fixed cost of renting the commercial kitchen. Do you rent per day, perhaps per hour. You mentioned that your electricity to run the freeze drier was minimal but don't you also pay for those hours where you are prepping and packaging and cleaning up? It just seems like renting a kitchen is a large expense. Please tell me that I am mistaken. Thank you for your help.
This video was meant to show a simple calculation of the cost of goods sold and how much is leftover which is a pretty good margin but yes then you'll need to determine all the variable costs that include kitchen costs, insurance etc. Renting a kitchen is just a stepping stone, if you can find a leased space that can make all the numbers work then I'd go with that because then you don't have to worry about hourly rent costs. I couldn't find anything within a reasonable drivable distance from my home to get a 500 sq ft leased space so the smallest available was 900 sq ft and that was $1500/month. Then you have to calculate all the equipment like freezers, security, sinks, etc. So for me the kitchen rental even with bagging, prep and clean-up made more sense than leasing.
You have to add the cost of the gas and rent l.
I'm just showing what it costs for the candy, labor and materials. I didn't want to show all my expenses in this video as it's variable and is also more information than I would prefer to share about my business.
Overhead cost like rent?
Machine usage? How much space and time in the harvest right did that absorb since those resources are limited like your labor and those machines are not cheap, etc ...
That's a variable cost that you would need to figure into your costs but for the purposes of my video I just wanted to show the hard costs for the product. Thank you for watching!
How much did the Kitchen cost? and the freeze dryer?
Freeze dryers range from $2000-$5000 if you are looking for one similar to what you see in my videos. Kitchen costs vary based on how much you use it, usually it’s an hourly rental rate
Where is the link for the free spreadsheet template?
freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet
My question to do this would be how can you scale this of freeze drying cycles take days? You'd need multiple dryers..correct?
Yes, there are people doing this that have over 15-20 large harvest right freeze dryers before buying more industrial size dryers
Yes, there are people doing this that have over 15-20 large harvest right freeze dryers before buying more industrial size dryers
If i took taffy put into mylar with an oxygen obsorder would it not last 20 years anyway?
Hard to say, freeze drying candy hasn’t been around 20 years so I haven’t seen anyone do it. I’m not sure candy is meant to have that long of a shelf life but it would be interesting to try and open at one year, two, and so on.
Hi! Is there anyway I can get an excel spreadsheet like that? Do you share this spreadsheet? Like I wonder how would you even plug in all the formulas to make it work like that??
I am working on an excel template that you could purchase from me at a very minimal rate. I will post a video once it's complete.
@@freezedriedbusiness Where can we buy it?
If you want the spreadsheet, I'm working on a shareable file to be downloaded. More to come! If you are looking for a freeze dryer, Harvest Right is a good start affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html. I also just purchased a Stay Fresh Freeze Dryer, you could look at that machine as well here: stayfreshfreezedry.com?sca_ref=3292008.4uBi4MIG3W
@@freezedriedbusiness oh wow. I thought you only had the HR products and made a purchase earlier today. I negotiated what I think was a really good deal direct (but who knows if it actually was). I will, however, use any of your affiliate links listed here for all my other products because I have watched several videos now and find your insight super helpful. I know that every little bit can help and will likely set up as an affiliate once I am up and going with this part of my business. With that said, have I missed where you might have shared 'must haves' for getting started? I plan to cram info and buy what I need to hopefully start right away once my machine arrives and my husband gets her hooked up. I already have a license that will cover this. Thanks so much.
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
You didn't speak about power consumption or maintenance? How much does that influence business?
Correct, this video was just for simple cost of product and packaging. Since other expenses are variable based on where you live I didn't put that into the calculation. I am looking at doing a Part 2 to this video to expand the calculations.
Could I buy your spreadsheet? I have long covid and I am struggling with simple math and other ways of analyzing. I am also a disabled vet so my other issues make it hard as well.
Email me at david@freezedrieddepot.com and we can chat
Here's the spreadsheet: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/
I would like to know how to order wholesale from your business.
Email me at david@freezedrieddepot.com
How do you find a commercial kitchen?
Great question! I answer that in this video
ruclips.net/video/Shx_WHTVF3g/видео.html
Where's your cost for the commercial kitchen rental?
this clip is a revelation..... just subbed!
How many batches to do the 3 pounds? You have a large right?
About 1 and a half. 8 trays worth if you have the Large Harvest Right freeze dryer
What model freeze dryer is that you are using? How long have you had it?
Harvest Right Large Freeze Dryer, had it for three years and it's served my business well. If you're interested in buying, use my referral link: affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
I didn’t see where the cost of the commercial kitchen and freeze dryer was included in the cost per bag of candy.
I didn't include those variable expenses as this video was just showing COGS.
Hello! How come can you sell candies from other brands with your brand? That’s not illegal. For example to sell snickers with your logo on it?
No it’s not as long as you don’t infringe on their copyright product name
Hey Man, Great video! how do you print on your bags?
Thank you! I hand stamp all of my bags.
Do you have a referral business you purchase your stamps from?
Yes, I use Zazzle now. Here's a link to a stamp you can customize with your logo and they usually run specials. www.zazzle.com/personalized_business_logo_large_stationery_rubber_stamp-256538145050104365?rf=238301965164297647
Could you share a draft of the spreadsheet?
Where did u get ur bags made ?
Hi. Amazon took away freeze dryers from their site overnight....thoughts?
Freeze dryers or freeze dried candy?
Wish you added electricity cost here
I will in Part 2 coming soon
How much weight is each bag of product? You were weighing it out, but I missed how much each bag's total weight was.
1.5 oz
Thank you! Yes 1.5 net oz
Have electricity costs and machine depreciation been included in the calculation? These cost components must be included in the calculation because they are important components in manufacturing and these costs are quite large in producing this product.
This is purely a Cost of Goods Sold calculation. All other expenses vary so I didn't include that in this video.
@@freezedriedbusiness The definition of cost of goods sold (COGS) is all the costs incurred by a company to produce a product or service starting from the product manufacturing process until the product is ready to be distributed to the market.
In your case, COGS is raw material + manufacturing cost (direct labor + overhead).
I assume that you have calculated raw materials and direct labor, but overhead costs have not been included in this calculation as these costs are significant.
What I mean by overhead costs here are costs that are directly related to the production process, such as electricity costs used by machines, machine depreciation costs due to producing goods, machine maintenance costs, etc.
masha Allah... an informative video brother... thank you... insha Allah planning on doing this soon... subbed 😉
Thanks for watching
Did he count electricity and machine depreciation costs
When renting a kitchen what do you do with your machine? Leave it or??
Leave it there of course, I ask about security cameras if there are more people using the facility and I have insurance to cover any damages