How to price wholesale coffee so every tier still makes money

The short answer: 4 steps

Step 1: Find your true cost per roasted pound

Most roasters already price cost-plus: 68% of the more than 200 roasters RoasterTools surveyed in February 2024 (Roast magazine, Sep/Oct 2024). The trap is not the method. It is starting from the wrong cost.

Green cost ÷ (1 − roast loss)

Coffee loses water in the roaster. A pound of green does not give you a pound of roasted coffee, so your green price is not your coffee cost.

Royal Coffee (July 14, 2022) puts the loss at about 10% for very light roasts dropped at the start of first crack, about 15% for a medium roast (their Brazil example), and as much as 25% well past second crack. Use your own roast logs, not a rule of thumb.

Add roasting, bags, labels, labour and delivery per pound

Now add everything that happens after the roaster, per roasted pound:

• Gas or power per batch
• Bag, valve and label
• Minutes of paid work per bag (weighing, sealing, labelling)
• The delivery run, or the shipping label

Add them up for a week and divide by the roasted pounds you sold. The free cost-per-cup calculator does this line by line from your numbers.

The costs people forget

These never show up on a bag, and they come out of your margin unless you count them:

• Sample bags for every prospect
• Training visits and the barista who did them
• The grinder or brewer on loan on a cafe's counter
• The free bag when a delivery was late

Total them for the year. Divide by the wholesale pounds you sold. Add the result to your cost per pound, or hold it inside your floor. Either way, it has to be in the number.

Step 2: Set a margin floor (the number no deal goes under)

The floor is the least margin you will take on any pound, for any account, in dollars. Every tier, discount and special deal is checked against it.

Why green prices make this urgent now

The exchange price for arabica has moved more in two and a half years than most price sheets have.

From January 2024 to July 2026 the benchmark rose 76%. From June to July 2026 alone it rose 16.7%. A sheet written in June was earning a lot less by August for anyone buying near the exchange price. Roasters feel it: in a Fresh Cup poll (Garrett Oden, August 28, 2026), 52% said they will raise prices next year, 45% will hold, and 1% will lower them.

Think in dollars per pound, not only percent

A percent hides the money. Take the illustration from Step 1: a coffee that costs $4.22 per roasted pound, priced for a 40% margin, sells at $7.03 and earns $2.81 a pound. Now green rises 16.7%, the June to July 2026 move. The cost becomes about $4.92. Hold the price at $7.03 and the margin is $2.11, or 30%. Ten points thinner, and nobody touched the sheet. (Roasting, bags and delivery do not move with green, so the real hit is a little smaller. The direction is the same.)

So set the floor in dollars: "No pound leaves for less than my cost plus $X." Percent becomes the check, not the target. The calculator shows both.

What other roasters aim for

Opinions, with dates, not rules:

• In The Black Coffee Co. (a roaster sales consultancy; guide updated June 2025) says to aim for at least 40 to 45% gross margin.
• The Barista Hustle forum thread "Formula for wholesale coffee pricing" (June 22, 2016 to December 31, 2023): Will Frith (June 23, 2016) doubles landed green plus costs for wholesale. Tristan (July 1, 2016) takes landed green times 1.25 for weight loss, then times 3. Will Shurtz (August 30, 2016) marks up to a 66% margin. The thread's last question, "Is that 66% the wholesale or retail markup?" (December 31, 2023), was never answered.
• The RoasterTools survey (February 2024, more than 200 roasters, Roast magazine Sep/Oct 2024) found an average wholesale price of $11.46 per pound in 5 lb bags for top-selling coffees.

Use them as a sanity check. Your floor comes from your costs.

Step 3: Build 3 or 4 volume tiers

Tier by pounds per week, not by type of business

Volume is what changes your cost per delivery and your roast plan. The sign on the door does not. In The Black puts it plainly (June 2025): "A restaurant ordering 5 lbs per week should pay the same base rate as a café ordering 5 lbs per week. The volume tier is the lever, not the account category."

A tier table you can copy

Set each tier as a margin per pound. A discount percent is just another way to get there, and it is the way tiers slip under the floor when green moves. The calculator fills the price columns from your numbers and turns any cell under your floor red.

Minimums and delivery

A minimum should cover a delivery stop. Two roasters' pages, read September 22, 2026, show the plain version. Path Coffee Roasters (Port Chester, NY) sets a 10 lb minimum, delivers within 40 miles and ships nationwide. Black Ink Coffee sets 10 lb (two 5 lb bags) or 15 retail bags, ships free in the US, and charges wholesale price for sample orders instead of giving samples away.

Whatever you choose, put three things on the sheet: the minimum, the order size where delivery is free, and whether pickup is an option below it.

Step 4: Put it in writing

What goes on a wholesale price sheet

One page, dated at the top:

• Each coffee and its roast level
• Price per pound by tier, and the bag sizes you sell
• Minimum order
• Delivery days, zones and the free-delivery threshold
• How long the prices hold ("valid through" and a date)
• Payment terms
• How to order and who to call

If a cafe cannot find one of these, they will call to ask. Every call is a slower order.

Payment terms

RoasterTools' guidance (October 31, 2024): take card payment up front for at least the first six months, then offer terms. Net 7, Net 15 and Net 30 are the most common. If accounts already pay late, see what we build for wholesale accounts paying late.

This is not legal advice. Have an attorney review any terms or agreement before a cafe signs it.

When green prices move: re-price without losing accounts

Green will move again. Three habits keep the sheet honest without a fight every month:

1. A rhythm. Re-run your cost every time you buy a new lot, and glance at the exchange price once a month (FRED updates the series monthly). Change the sheet when a tier falls under the floor, not on every wobble.
2. A "valid through" date. When every sheet carries one, the next sheet is expected, not a surprise.
3. A plain note. Cafes take a change better when they can explain it to their own customers.

Something like:

Hi [name], green coffee prices moved again, so our sheet changes on [date]. Your [coffee] goes from $[old] to $[new] a pound. At your volume that is about $[amount] a week. Your tier and delivery days stay the same. The new sheet is attached.

The cup maths helps here. Fresh Cup (Garrett Oden, August 28, 2026) puts it this way: a $1 per pound rise on wholesale coffee "equates to just 5 cents more per cup of coffee or double shot of espresso."

If a change touches a signed agreement, the agreement wins. This is not legal advice; have an attorney review it.

Try it: the free wholesale price calculator

The calculator does every step above on your numbers, on the page, with no sign-up. You enter your coffees (up to six) with green cost per pound, your roast loss, your cost to roast, bag and deliver, your floor in dollars, and your tiers. You get the full grid: price per pound and per bag, margin in dollars and percent, for every coffee at every tier. Anything under your floor turns red. If you want to send it to cafes, it can email you a saved link that reopens your numbers, ready to print a clean sheet for cafes.

What it looks like when cafes can price themselves

Most roaster wholesale pages we have read make a cafe fill out a form or call before it sees a price per pound, let alone hears, "At your volume, your price is this."

We built a working demo of the other way. A cafe answers a few questions about its machine, its taste and its cups per day. The page works out pounds per week, picks the tier, and shows the price. On the roaster's side, every quote is checked against the margin floor at the moment it is shown, and the check reads "passed" or "failed."

The first step is simpler than the demo, and we have built it for a real roaster. For Barista Plus Coffee, a Dallas roaster, the Shopify store we built includes a wholesale inquiry form that asks a cafe for its business details, monthly volume by product line, brew type and equipment needs. Asking for volume up front is what makes a tiered price possible. The demo shows the step after that: answering with the price on the spot.

Questions roasters ask

What is a normal wholesale price per pound for specialty coffee?

In The Black's guide (updated June 2025) puts specialty at about $10 to $18 per pound: entry blends around $10 to $12, single origins $13 to $18. The RoasterTools survey (February 2024, more than 200 roasters, Roast magazine Sep/Oct 2024) found an average of $11.46 per pound in 5 lb bags for top-selling coffees. Green has moved a lot since both: the exchange benchmark went from 203.88 cents in January 2024 to 359.16 in July 2026 (FRED). Treat these as a sanity check, not a price.

What margin should a roaster make on wholesale?

In The Black (June 2025) says at least 40 to 45% gross margin. That is one consultancy's opinion. Roasters on the Barista Hustle forum (2016) posted anything from "double your landed cost" to a 66% margin. What matters more is a floor in dollars per pound that every tier clears after your real costs. Set the dollars first, then read the percent off the calculator.

How much weight does coffee lose when you roast it?

Royal Coffee (July 14, 2022): about 10% for very light roasts, about 15% for a medium roast, and up to 25% well past second crack. In The Black (June 2025) works with an 80 to 85% yield, which is a 15 to 20% loss. Weigh your own batches. The difference between 15% and 20% loss changes your cost per roasted pound by about 6%.

Is "green cost times 3" still a good rule?

It comes from a 2016 forum post (Tristan, Barista Hustle, July 1, 2016): landed green times 1.25 for weight loss, then times 3. It skips bags, labour, delivery and the freebies, and it triples every green move. Between January 2024 and July 2026 the exchange price rose $1.55 per green pound (FRED). Times 1.25, times 3, that is a jump of about $5.80 on the cafe's price. Cost plus a fixed margin, at the same 20% loss, passes through about $1.94. A fixed margin per pound is the version cafes can live with.

Should cafes and restaurants pay different prices?

Not for the coffee. Tier by pounds per week, as In The Black puts it (June 2025): "The volume tier is the lever, not the account category." If one account needs more from you (training visits, a loaned grinder, menu help), price that as service, on the sheet, rather than hiding it in the per-pound price.

What minimum order should I set for a cafe?

Enough to cover a delivery stop. Two public examples, read September 22, 2026: Path Coffee Roasters sets 10 lb; Black Ink Coffee sets 10 lb or 15 retail bags. Tie free delivery to a threshold, and offer pickup below it so a small cafe can still start.

How often should I change wholesale prices when green moves?

Re-run your cost every time you buy a new lot, and check the exchange once a month (FRED updates monthly). Change the sheet when a tier falls under your floor, not on every wobble. A "valid through" date on every sheet makes the next one expected.

Should I give wholesale accounts net 30?

RoasterTools (October 31, 2024) suggests card payment up front for at least the first six months, then terms. Net 7, 15 and 30 are the most common. If late payment is already a problem, see how we handle it. This is not legal advice; have an attorney review your terms.