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Microbakery Month in Review: $4,494, Pricing Fixes and Sellouts | Episode 65

  • Mar 3, 2025
  • 6 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Listen on Apple Podcasts


My gross revenue in February was $4,494.


I go back and forth about sharing numbers, because it feels a little strange to say out loud. Here is why I do it anyway. I did not know what was possible in a home microbakery until I heard another baker say her number, and that one sentence moved my own goals. So I will keep saying mine.


That $4,494 is gross. It came in before ingredients, fees, software, and before I paid myself. I also cover a good chunk of my podcast costs out of bakery revenue right now. If ten loaves a week is what your family needs, that is a completely good business. If you need this to replace a full-time income, it is possible, and it takes clear strategy and full-time work.


Here is what actually happened in February, and what I would take from it if I were you.


Alternating my sales weeks did more for me than adding sales

Last year I ran a market on the second and fourth Saturday of the month plus a porch pickup every single Thursday. On market weeks I was prepping and baking for both, and it was too much.


In January I switched to alternating. Market on the second and fourth Saturday, porch pickup on the Thursdays in between. My revenue held, and my weeks became workable.


The unexpected win is variety. With the extra breathing room on market weeks I finally had capacity to add fun things like cinnamon rolls and pizza crusts, which I could never prep when Thursday and Saturday were stacked on top of each other. Growth this year has looked like a better schedule, and I did not expect that.


If your weeks feel like a scramble, map your actual prep hours against your sales days before you add anything new. A schedule that gives you room is usually worth more than one more pickup day.


Pre-orders changed how market day feels

Along with the new schedule I started taking pre-orders for market days through Simply Bread. My first February market brought in about 20 pre-orders.


My regulars can lock in their favorites and stroll up whenever they like, instead of standing at my table at 9 AM hoping I have not sold out. I get a much better read on what to bake. Everybody relaxes, and market morning feels like a completely different day!


It also feeds my text list every single week, because I remind people to pre-order on Sundays when the menu opens. That list is the most valuable thing I own in this business.


Selling out is a growth problem, and it needs a plan

I sold out of bread by 11:30 at that first market and sold out completely by one o'clock, with the market open until two. I love that. I also spend the rest of the day telling people I am sorry.


Then I offered 20 packs of English muffins and they were gone in three minutes. People texted asking me to add more, and I had to say no, because that is my capacity right now. I am not getting up at two in the morning to bake, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.


There is no tidy fix. Scarcity is genuinely effective, and people talk about you when you sell out. What I do is handle it with grace and turn the miss into a next step: I am so sorry you missed out, here is how to get on my list, and if you order when the menu opens you will not miss again.


If you are hitting the same wall, sit with the real question underneath it. Do you want to scale capacity, or do you want to raise prices, or do you want to stay exactly here? All three are legitimate. Deciding on purpose beats letting demand decide for you.


Digging into my numbers changed my prices

I spent February in my numbers more deeply than I ever have, and I found I was undercharging on several items.

  • I raised my muffin price by $3. They sold just as fast and nobody batted an eye!

  • I ran the math on my blueberry lemon bread and it came out at a 38 percent margin at current blueberry prices, when I aim to keep products in the 75 to 80 percent range. That one stays off the menu until spring, and when it comes back it will be priced above my usual inclusion loaves.

  • I found a different source for my mixed seeds and cut what I was paying by a fair amount.

None of that took new software. It took sitting down and calculating the cost of the ingredients in every product, one at a time, then comparing it to what I charge. If you have never done it for your whole menu, that is the single highest-value afternoon on your calendar this month. I talk through how to know when it is time in Is it time to raise your prices in your sourdough microbakery? | Episode 30.


Losing an assistant, and what hiring really costs

My assistant Melissa is stepping away. She has been with me ten hours a week, that is her capacity, and I need more help than that going forward. She is also building her own microbakery, which I am genuinely thrilled about.


So I am hiring again, and I am being honest with myself about the timeline. A new assistant slows you down before she speeds you up. There are weeks of training where you are working at less than your normal pace, and if you plan your production as though the help is instant, you will be underwater.


Budget for that dip. Plan a lighter menu during onboarding. If you are thinking about your first hire, I go through the whole thing in Hiring an Assistant for a Burnout Proof Bakery | Episode 111.


Two small systems changes worth stealing

Neither of these is glamorous and both of them save real money.


I moved my business banking from Found to Relay. Both are good. Relay issues a Visa debit card, and Costco does not take Mastercard, so I had been ordering Costco delivery every week and paying the upcharge, the delivery fee and the tip, all of which I build into my cost of goods. Now I issue my husband a virtual card and he picks up bakery supplies while he is already there.


I am also weighing a move from Project Broadcast to Square for customer texting, since I keep hitting my credit limit as the list grows. Square would cost about the same, integrate with the point of sale I already use at market, let me run coupons and loyalty, and give me analytics. The catch is that it needs its own phone number, and I will not attach my personal number to it. That one is still unresolved.


Do this with your own setup once a month. Look at what your software, your bank and your supply runs are charging you, because those small numbers repeat every single month.


The monthly review itself

The most useful business habit I have is this recap. It takes a few minutes, and mine lives in a plain Google Doc as a stream of bullet points.


Four questions. What went well? What did not? What did I learn? What am I changing next month?


Answering them in writing turns a month of scattered feelings into a couple of decisions. It is also how I caught the pricing problem.


Final thoughts

February had a canceled market from a genuinely cold Texas Saturday, a three minute sellout, a goodbye to someone I love working with, and a $3 price raise nobody noticed. All of that is normal for a growing business.


Pick your one change for this month. Mine is protecting my capacity while I train someone new. Whatever yours is, write it down where you will see it.


Cheering you on,


Caroline


Keep going

If you like these monthly recaps, here are three more to sit down with.


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