Our Method — Nelmado Cost & Pricing Workshops

The Core Idea

The problem isn't cooking. It's knowing what cooking costs.

Many food entrepreneurs in Argentina price their products by instinct — charging what feels right or matching a competitor's price without knowing if it covers their own costs. The result is often a business that works hard but doesn't build financial stability.

Nelmado's method is designed to close that gap. Over two intensive days, participants move through every layer of cost in a food product — from the gram weight of each ingredient to the minutes spent preparing it — and arrive at a price built on evidence, not guesswork.

We are not accountants and we do not prepare balance sheets. Our focus is one specific, practical question: what does each dish actually cost to produce, and what should you charge for it?

Workshop participant analyzing ingredient costs at a kitchen table

The Workshop Process

Six steps across two intensive days

Each step builds on the previous. By the end of day two, every participant has a complete, usable cost sheet and pricing structure for their own products.

1

Recipe Documentation

We start by writing out your recipes in precise detail — every ingredient, every quantity, every step. This becomes the foundation for everything that follows.

2

Weighing Portions

Every ingredient is physically weighed. We work with actual scales and real portions — not estimates or package sizes that don't reflect what ends up in the dish.

3

Applying Current Prices

Using this week's prices from Buenos Aires's Mercado Central, we assign a cost to every gram of every ingredient. The data is current, not from a textbook.

4

Indirect Cost Allocation

Gas, electricity, water, packaging materials, and delivery platform commissions are all calculated and distributed proportionally across each recipe.

5

Valuing Your Own Time

Your labor is a cost. We establish a method for calculating the value of your preparation time and incorporate it into the recipe cost — because your time is not free.

6

Building the Price List

With full costs established, we apply a margin and build a price list that covers everything and positions your products competitively without undervaluing them.

What Gets Calculated

Every cost that touches your product — nothing left out.

Raw Ingredients

Every ingredient priced by the gram using current Mercado Central data. Waste and trim loss are accounted for so the final cost reflects what actually goes into the dish.

Energy Costs

Gas and electricity consumption per recipe, calculated based on cooking method, equipment, and time. Often overlooked, these costs can significantly affect margins.

Packaging & Disposables

Every container, bag, label, napkin, or plastic utensil included in an order is costed. Packaging is a real expense that belongs in the price.

Delivery & Platform Fees

If you sell through delivery platforms, their commission percentages are factored into the cost of each order so your price accounts for what the platform takes.

Your Labor Time

Using a practical method developed for self-employed food producers, we calculate the cost of your preparation, cooking, and packaging time per unit.

Profit Margin

Once all costs are known, we work through margin-setting approaches that make the business sustainable without pricing you out of your market.

Common Questions

About the method

Yes — and that's the point. The workshop works with your actual products, not hypothetical examples. Bring the recipes you currently sell or plan to sell, with as much detail as you have. We'll refine and document them together during the first session.

The method we teach is reusable. You'll learn how to apply the costing process yourself, so when your recipes change or ingredient prices shift, you can update your costs without needing to return to the workshop.

None at all. The workshop is designed for people who cook well and understand their products — not for people with financial backgrounds. We explain every concept in plain language and work through everything step by step.

We update our price reference data weekly using publicly available information from Buenos Aires's Mercado Central. The goal is that the costs you calculate in the workshop reflect what you'd actually pay if you went shopping that same week.

You leave with a completed cost sheet for each recipe you brought, a working price list, and the knowledge to update both when prices or recipes change. You also leave with a clear understanding of which products in your range have the best margins.

How we go from recipe to a price that makes sense