The Cost Ledger

What a bar costs you to make, from beans to wrapper, and the price that pays for it after the card reader or Etsy takes its share. Or the honest answer to whether making beats buying.

The recipe

Start from

IngredientSharePrice /lbSource

Cacao beans % $ $15.93/lb: the middle of 16 single-origin raw beans, $11.74–19.45/lb in 1 lb bags

Sugar 30%the rest $ $1.85/lb: organic cane sugar, 5 lb for $9.26

Add , or

Lost to shell % Shell is 10–15% of a bean; more goes in winnowing. Batch kg What goes in; about 1.9 kg comes out Bar size g About 31 bars, plus 0.7 of a bar costed in

Your costs

Packaging $ Foil and wrapper, per bar Power and supplies $ Per batch Lost in making % Left in the melanger and bowls

Hours a batch h Roast, winnow, tend the melanger Minutes a bar min Temper, mould, wrap Your hourly rate $

Equipment $ Spectra 11: $449 on sale from Spectra, $485 from Chocolate Alchemy Spread over bars Its working life

Monthly fees $ Shop plan, market stall, insurance Bars a month bars What you sell in a month

Selling Where you sell Square’s free plan: 2.6% + 15¢ a tap, dip or swipe.

Bars per order Spreads the per-order fee

Margin 50%

Profit as a share of the price you’re paid. The price rounds up to the next 50¢.

The Cost Ledger · 70% dark

2 kg batch · 60 g bars · about 31 bars · beans $15.93/lb, sugar $1.85/lb · 20% shell

Packaging $0.60 a bar · power $4.00 a batch · 4 h a batch + 2 min a bar at $20/h · $449 of kit over 1,500 bars · 5% lost in making · Card, in person · 2 bars an order

Cost	Per batch	Per bar	Of the price
Cacao beans	$61.46	$1.98	14%
Sugar	$2.45	$0.08	1%
Packaging	$18.60	$0.60	4%
Your time	$100.67	$3.25	23%
Power and supplies	$4.00	$0.13	1%
Equipment	$9.28	$0.30	2%
Cost to make	$196.46	$6.34	45%
Card fees	$13.61	$0.44	3%
Profit	$223.94	$7.22	52%

Price $14.00 · cost $6.34 · fees $0.44 · profit $7.22 · margin 52%

$23.33 per 100 g; 299 bean-to-bar bars sell for a median $20.00 per 100 g (5 October 2026).

Prices: Chocolate Alchemy shop, Square, Shopify and Etsy, checked 2 October 2026. jayarrchocolate.com/tools/cost-calculator/

Ingredients are cheap. Time isn’t.

In the Ledger’s starting example, beans and sugar are about a third of what a bar costs, and the hours cost more than everything that goes into the bar: roasting, cracking, winnowing, tending the melanger, tempering and wrapping. Some of that time is the same however big the batch (roasting, winnowing, tending the melanger), so bigger batches spread it further; tempering, moulding and wrapping grow with every bar.

To work out a recipe first, use the Chocolate Lab. To choose a melanger, try the Melanger Guide, and for the rest of the kit, the starter kit guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to make a bar of chocolate at home?

In ingredients, not much: a 60 g bar of 70% dark made from $15.93/lb beans and organic sugar costs about $2.06 in beans and sugar, plus packaging. Time is the big cost. Four hands-on hours a batch, plus two minutes a bar to temper, mould and wrap, at $20 an hour over a 2 kg batch of about 31 bars, adds about $3.25 a bar. That’s why a bar priced to pay for its maker’s time lands near the price of a craft bar.

What do craft chocolate bars sell for?

Among 299 single bars of 30–150 g from bean-to-bar makers, priced in US dollars in our Tasting Room (16 makers, checked 5 October 2026; Valrhona and Michel Cluizel, which mostly supply the trade, are left out, as are 26 bars whose shop page gives no weight), the middle price is about $20 per 100 g, and half sit between $17 and $25. That is about $12 for a 60 g bar.

What is the difference between margin and markup?

Margin is profit as a share of the price; markup is profit as a share of the cost. A bar that costs $5 and sells for $10 has a 50% margin and a 100% markup. The Ledger works in margin, after fees.

How much do Etsy and card readers take?

Etsy charges a 6.5% transaction fee and a 20¢ listing fee, and its US payment processing adds 3% + 25¢ an order. Square’s free plan takes 2.6% + 15¢ for in-person card payments. Shopify’s online card rate is 2.9% + 30¢. These were each company’s own published rates on 2 October 2026.

What do wholesale buyers pay?

Shops commonly buy at about half the shelf price, though terms vary. In the Ledger, choose “Wholesale to a shop”, set what share of the shelf price the shop pays, and it shows the shelf price your invoice implies.

The Cost Ledger

The Cost Ledger · 70% dark

Ingredients are cheap. Time isn’t.

Frequently Asked Questions

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