How Much Do We Need To Charge?

I received an email from a company with a large buyer of their tamales. The buyer pays $1.50 and they want to price the tamales to have a 30% cost of sales. Currently, they charge less than $3.00 for the tamales.

At $3.00, the cost of sales is 50%. If they could sell the $1.50 tamales for $5.00, they would hit their target. This is a 67% increase in selling price.

The tamale manufacturer could re-engineer the tamale at a $1.20 price point. If the seller raised the price to $3.60, they would be close to the target 30%. Do you think the customers would stand for 20% decrease in portion size and a 20% price increase?

The tamale manufacturer could offer a volume incentive. If the buyer hits a volume target, they could offer a discount. This discount could be paid monthly or quarterly. They could continue selling the tamales at $3.00. If the manufacturer produces the smaller portion for $1.20, they would have a 40% cost of sales.

Let's use a 20 cents incentive as an example. The buyer would achieve a 33% cost of sales if they hit the volume target ($1.20 minus $0.20).