The Eight SKUs: Why Jam Drives Revenue but Dried Drives Margin
Two products generate the bulk of revenue. Three different products generate 5–7× more margin per kilogram. They are not the same products — and the lesson is what to sell where.
The numbers
The full SKU table lives on the Canonical Figures page. This article interprets it.
A revenue snapshot
Order the eight SKUs by season revenue and a clear pattern appears:
| SKU | Units | Cost (лв) | Retail (лв) | Revenue (лв) | % of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jam 314 g | 5,085 | 2.62 | 5.20 | 19,831 | 21.9% |
| Syrup 500 ml | 2,922 | 3.75 | 7.50 | 16,437 | 18.1% |
| Syrup 750 ml | 1,948 | 5.36 | 10.70 | 15,633 | 17.3% |
| Dried 40 g | 3,750 | 1.96 | 3.90 | 10,969 | 12.1% |
| Pestil 1 kg | 150 | 41.85 | 83.70 | 9,416 | 10.4% |
| Healing 500 ml | 1,350 | 3.49 | 7.00 | 7,088 | 7.8% |
| Healing 750 ml | 900 | 4.97 | 9.90 | 6,683 | 7.4% |
| Flour 1 kg | 75 | 40.52 | 81.00 | 4,556 | 5.0% |
| Total | 90,612 | 100% |
Jam plus the two syrups account for 57% of revenue. The dehydrated trio — dried, pestil, flour — accounts for 27%.
The margin paradox
Now invert the lens to profit per kilogram of finished product:
| SKU | Margin / unit (лв) | Margin / kg of product (лв) |
|---|---|---|
| Jam 314 g | 2.58 | 8.22 |
| Dried 40 g | 1.94 | 48.50 |
| Pestil 1 kg | 41.85 | 41.85 |
| Flour 1 kg | 40.48 | 40.48 |
Dehydrated products earn 5–7× the margin per kilogram of the wet products. The reason is physical: dehydration removes 90% of weight while concentrating value, and processing costs do not scale linearly with mass.
What this means in practice
Sell volume products at retail through the short-supply-chain ecosystem. Jam and syrups are the cash engine. The Bulgarian ecosystem is well-developed: Хранкооп runs farmer markets in Sofia (Римската стена, Иван Вазов, Драгалевци, Княжево, Владая), in Добрич, and on the Бургас sea promenade [^1]. Farmhopping connects farms to urban consumers [^2].
Reserve dehydrated products for direct channels. A customer who buys 1 kg of pestil at 84 лв does not buy it from a supermarket. They find it through a CSA share, a curated online store, or a tasting at a farmers' market. One pestil customer is worth 16 jam customers in margin terms.
A third principle, hidden in the numbers
Healing syrup costs roughly the same to produce as regular syrup but retails for less (7.00 vs 7.50 лв). Why is it in the lineup? Branding and channel access. Healing syrup positions the operation as serious — not just preserves, but a wellness product. It opens doors to organic shops, pharmacies, and gift baskets that wouldn't take a regular jam supplier.
What the spreadsheet doesn't tell you
- Discount channels. Retail at 5.20 лв is one number; selling at a Хранкооп market with a 10% cooperative margin gives a different effective price.
- Spoilage and seconds. Some jars don't seal. Some pestil cracks. Realistic saleable output is 95–97%, not 100%.
- Channel-specific labour. Market-booth labour differs from packing labour. The SKU table merges them.