How do I calculate profit for my home bakery?

Take the month's sales, subtract the cost of everything you made and sold, gave away or threw out, and subtract fees and commissions. Add any deposits you kept on cancelled orders and subtract refunds. Farinu does this for you from your sales log.

Will changing a recipe change last month's profit?

No. Each sale keeps the price and cost it had on the day you logged it, so past months stay as they were. The one exception is adjustments such as fees: editing one applies to past months too.

Can my helper see how much I make?

No. Helpers can log sales, but costs, margins and the P&L are only visible to the owner.

Is the P&L my tax return?

No. It is a management report to see how your bakery is doing. Check your tax obligations with an accountant or your local tax agency.

Feature

Bakery profit tracking that does the math for you

Bakery profit tracking in Farinu comes down to one formula: profit = sales - cost of what you sold - fees and commissions, plus deposits you kept on cancelled orders, minus refunds. You log each sale, giveaway or waste in a few taps, and Farinu fills in the cost from your costed recipe at that moment, then builds your monthly profit and loss without a spreadsheet.

Why bakery profit tracking matters more than sales

A busy weekend at the market feels like a good weekend. But money in the tin is not profit. Butter went up, the card reader took its cut, the stall cost a flat fee, and three cakes went home with friends.

Farinu already knows what each recipe costs, because you costed it: ingredients, packaging, sub-recipes, labour, machines and overhead. Every sale you log carries that cost and the price you charged, so the monthly numbers are built from what really happened, not from guesses.

A bakery sales log built for your phone

The sales log is a quick form made for a phone at a market table or a shop counter. Pick the product, the quantity and one of your price lists (say retail, wholesale or market), or no list. The price comes in from that list, or from the recipe's suggested price, and you can change it for a discount or a one-off.

Each line is one of three kinds, so your numbers stay honest:

Sale: earns the price you charged and carries the recipe's cost at that moment.
Giveaway: a sample or a gift; it earns nothing but its cost still counts.
Waste: unsold or ruined bakes; no revenue, real cost.
Paid custom orders: when an order is marked paid, its lines are logged as sales for you.

Your home bakery profit and loss, every month

Open the report, pick a month and you see your home bakery profit and loss on one screen. It is calculated fresh from your sales and order payments each time, so it is always up to date, and it refreshes on its own when someone logs a new sale.

Because each sale keeps the cost and price it had on the day, changing a recipe or an ingredient price today does not rewrite last month. Below the summary, a table lists every product with quantity, revenue, cost and profit, highest revenue first.

Revenue: what you charged for every sale in the month.
Cost of goods: the recipe cost of everything that left the kitchen, giveaways and waste included.
Adjustments: card fees, marketplace commissions or stall fees, as a percent of sales, a fixed amount per sale, or a fixed amount once a month on one price list.
Kept deposits: what you keep when a customer cancels a custom order.
Refunds: money you gave back on paid orders.
Set-asides: savings or tax money shown next to the profit, not taken from it.

Worked example: one month for a home baker

Here is an example month, with made-up but realistic numbers, to show how the report adds up. The baker sells at a weekend market and takes custom cake orders, pays a 3% card fee on all sales and a $60 market fee each month, set as a fixed amount on the market price list.

Profit = 2,480 + 40 - 25 - 930 - 74.40 - 60 = $1,430.60. With 25% set aside for taxes, $357.65 goes to the tax pot and $1,072.95 is what the baker can really spend or reinvest.

Example monthly P&L (illustrative numbers)
Line	Amount
Revenue from sales	$2,480.00
Kept deposit on a cancelled order	$40.00
Refund on a paid order	-$25.00
Cost of goods (incl. giveaways and waste)	-$930.00
Card fee, 3% of sales	-$74.40
Market fee, fixed	-$60.00
Profit	$1,430.60
Set aside for taxes, 25% of profit	$357.65
After set-asides	$1,072.95

Costs stay with the owner

Helpers can log sales, giveaways and waste from their own phone, but they never see costs, margins or the P&L. Only the owner sees the money side. Only the owner can undo a sale, and an undone sale leaves the report.

If you have not set your overhead rate or labour rate yet, the report tells you that costs may cover materials only, and links you to the settings so you can complete them.

What you need to start

The free plan covers recipe costing for up to 10 recipes, which is where your costs come from. The sales log and the monthly P&L are part of the Team plan, together with unlimited orders and stock; the free plan takes up to 50 orders a month.

Questions

How do I calculate profit for my home bakery?: Take the month's sales, subtract the cost of everything you made and sold, gave away or threw out, and subtract fees and commissions. Add any deposits you kept on cancelled orders and subtract refunds. Farinu does this for you from your sales log.
Will changing a recipe change last month's profit?: No. Each sale keeps the price and cost it had on the day you logged it, so past months stay as they were. The one exception is adjustments such as fees: editing one applies to past months too.
Can my helper see how much I make?: No. Helpers can log sales, but costs, margins and the P&L are only visible to the owner.
Is the P&L my tax return?: No. It is a management report to see how your bakery is doing. Check your tax obligations with an accountant or your local tax agency.

Know what each month really earned

Create a free account, cost your recipes, and switch on sales and the monthly P&L with Team when you are ready.

Start free