Download the FREE Spreadsheet Template: freezedriedbusiness.com/spreadsheet/

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.

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.

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!

Excellent resource! thank you for this video which I actually watched completely because it was very informative. Great pace, great information! KUDOS!

Heya David, been watching a lot of your videos. Great stuff. Thanks for making these types of videos.

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I’m still in the process of figuring it all out.

Great information! I just got approved for the Cottage Kitchen Permit! Let the fun begin!

Thanks so much. Appreciate all of your videos/help 😊

Thanks for being a positive supporter of people and their dreams of starting a business!!! Love!! 💜

Thank you soooooo much I have been stuck this was the most informative and smooth video I’ve ever seen 😂

Very interesting..from UK and researching the options of which freeze dryer is best here etc..your videos are fantastic 😊 Thank you

Great concluding statement on competition. Cheers.

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!

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!🎉❤

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!

Thank you for sharing. It matters ❤

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.

Thanks For The Awesome Videos. ✌️🖖

TY for the advice and videos

Great info, thank you!

The last part of your video.... bro. Much love.

Another great video!

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?

masha Allah... an informative video brother... thank you... insha Allah planning on doing this soon... subbed 😉

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.

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.

Thanks this was awsome

What is the shelf life on freeze dried taffy? My Harvest Right freeze dryer is being delivered tomorrow. Can't wait to try this.

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

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?

Thank you think is so cool!

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.

how do you know your info for food safety? do you monitor times and temps? woukdnt that be required to sell commercially?

David, Thank you so much for this video. I started a spreadsheet for this purpose but you gave the nuts and bolts of the process and simplified the system so well. Two thumbs up! Would you share your formula for finding percent, I'm not mastered the percent formula yet. FYI I created a page to compare bag costs from multiple vendors, another to compare comp prices of products, and another to record inventory I have at each location. I'm working on better note-taking of my process. It seems that I'm not getting a consistent result and that some candy performs better on a different setting, temp, time, prep, etc. Are you finding that some products like the full freeze-dry feature?

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

#Respect for being Transparent this is very interesting #Greatings From #Germany ...

Hello. Have you added the cost of your kitchen rental and your freeze dryer, or do you add that in a different spot?

Thank you 😊

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?

I knew a private small-scale caterer & baker who rented a commercial kitchen 👍

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.

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?

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! ❤

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!

Where did u get ur bags made ?

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 ...

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

the numbers look good until you factor in kitchen rent and cost of electricity [whether doing freeze drying at home or commercial kitchen]

Where do you get your bags? Love them. 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.

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 :).

If i took taffy put into mylar with an oxygen obsorder would it not last 20 years anyway?

I might have missed it did you calculate in your rent and machine depreciation?

What model freeze dryer is that you are using? How long have you had it?

Do you have an LCC?

Where's your cost for the commercial kitchen rental?

Concerning the issue of dealing with permits and local laws, check to see if you have any farmers markets nearby that are on Native American Sovereign Land. Most of those permits and local laws do not apply and you can legally sell without all that government 'red tape'.

Can you share your spreadsheet? The column offset and makes it slightly hard to follow the formulas. But thanks for the video.

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.

Hi goodday ,i'm from SA ,where can i buy a freeze drie machine,and how much is the machine

I think this dude is a robot he does not blink at all 😅

When renting a kitchen what do you do with your machine? Leave it or??

What about the building you’re renting, utility costs and cost of the freeze dryer.

Did he count electricity and machine depreciation costs

I just noticed that you are assuming that you are only doing 1 hr of labor per 3lbs of taffy. Do you change this for other items or just always keep it 1 hr?

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.

Part 2: FD in a Commercial Kitchen: Do you have a way to lock it? Or are you worried that someone will use it and do it wrong? OH! Do you take the pump with you? Do you need to stay there and watch it during the whole cycle or do you go out and run a few errands. Just wondering what protocol was with the pump running and possibly being too loud for other inhabitants of the kitchen. Also - I'm sure you probably answered this is some of your other videos, which I'll go look at - as I'm new to your channel. Just wondering what the protocol would be. I get enough 'Stupid Californian' comments as it is .. just don't want to prove anyone right! Thanks and Take Care!

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?

Where do you get the labels for the ingredients?

Could you do this from home?

I didn’t see where the cost of the commercial kitchen and freeze dryer was included in the cost per bag of candy.

What about the cost of the freeze drier and the cost of the commercial kitchen. Where do those costs get incorporated?

Hey Man, Great video! how do you print on your bags?

How many batches to do the 3 pounds? You have a large right?

What about the commercial kitchen costs, was that calculated in?

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?

Hi. Amazon took away freeze dryers from their site overnight....thoughts?

I just checked Amazon and that same bag of taffy is $82 now !

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.

You didn't speak about power consumption or maintenance? How much does that influence business?

I would like to know how to order wholesale from your business.

My question to do this would be how can you scale this of freeze drying cycles take days? You'd need multiple dryers..correct?

I didnt see where you calculated the electrical cost of running the freeze dryer or renting the commercial kitchen.

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?

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??

Be careful about selling freeze dried food in vacuum sealed bags. Even though it is dried, that is not permitted in some areas.

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

Anyway you could share that spreadsheet out?

Can I get a copy of that spreadsheet? I’m cottage food local in person events only. Not comp by any means for you.

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.

Wow!

Probably comments on this already.. but that counter should be cleaned prior to packaging

How much for electricity ?

How much did the Kitchen cost? and the freeze dryer?

I see you are in Idaho. Random question, however I have been following the Idaho 4 case, which I’m sure you are well aware of. Do you believe Brian Kohberger is innocent or guilty?

Where is the link for the free spreadsheet template?

Hii.. How can i buy freezer dryer for home bussiness make money for making food freezer dryer

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.