How packaging changes meal margins
4 min read · 2026-09-28
Short answer: Packaging is a direct cost of every meal you sell, so it comes straight out of your profit. Add the cost of the container, lid, label, cutlery and bag to each meal. On a $10 meal, 70 cents of packaging lowers your margin by 7 percentage points.
The formula
Add packaging to the direct cost before you work out profit. Margin then falls by exactly packaging ÷ price.
Margin lost to packaging = packaging per meal ÷ selling price × 100
Worked example
A salmon rice bowl uses $3.90 of ingredients and sells for $11.50. Without packaging: profit $7.60, margin 66.1%.
Add a $0.48 container and lid, a $0.06 label, $0.12 cutlery and a $0.09 bag: $0.75 in total. Profit drops to $6.85 and margin to 59.6%. Food cost (ingredients only) is still 33.9%, but direct cost is now 40.4%.
Common mistake
Quoting a food cost % that leaves packaging out, then pricing as if that were the whole cost. For meal prep and delivery, packaging can be a noticeable share of the price. Look at direct cost %, not just food cost %.
What to do about it
Price per container buys usually drop sharply at the next case size. Check whether one container size can serve several meals. Then run a What if? on packaging −20% to see what switching supplier is worth per meal.