TL;DR

For most cottage bakers, a fair delivery fee is $1-2 per mile round-trip with a $15-25 minimum, plus a $25-75 setup fee for tiered cakes or dessert tables. price delivery to cover gas, wear and tear, your time at $25-40/hour, and the orders you couldn't take because you were driving. if you've been giving delivery away "as a courtesy," you've been working below minimum wage for the driving portion of your day.

a customer texts: "could you possibly deliver?"

and you say yes because you don't want to lose the order. you drive 25 minutes each way, you carry the cake up two flights of stairs, you set it up in a hot back yard, you adjust the flowers, you take a picture for the bride, and you drive home.

you charged $15 for delivery.

an hour and a half of your time, $8 in gas, $5 of dry cleaning on the dress your toddler smeared frosting on while you were getting ready — and the actual profit on the delivery is somewhere around negative $20.

delivery is not a courtesy. setup is not free. and the cottage bakers who treat both as something they throw in to be nice end up paying their customers to take orders off their hands.

here's the actual math.

What is a delivery fee in a home bakery?

A delivery fee is a separate charge added to a cottage bakery order to cover the cost of transporting the product to the customer — including fuel, vehicle wear, the baker's time, and the lost ability to take other orders during that window. A setup fee is a separate additional charge for any on-site work after delivery, like assembling tiered cakes, arranging dessert tables, or placing fresh flowers. Both should be priced as line items, not absorbed into the product price.

Start with the four real costs of delivering

before you can price a delivery, you have to know what it actually costs you. there are four pieces, and most bakers only count one.

gas. the easy one. round-trip miles times your real cost per mile. for most cars in 2026, that's about $0.20-0.30 per mile just in fuel.

vehicle wear and tear. the irs reimbursement rate is $0.67/mile for a reason — that's the actual cost of operating a car when you include tires, oil changes, brakes, and depreciation. for cottage bakery purposes, $0.60/mile is a good estimate.

your time. if a 25-mile round-trip takes you an hour, and your hourly rate is $30, that's $30 right there. and that's just driving time — not loading, not setup, not unloading.

opportunity cost. while you're driving, you can't take walk-up orders, return inquiries, or bake the next batch. for a busy saturday, an hour of delivery time might cost you a $40-80 order you would have otherwise taken.

add it up and a "quick" 25-mile round-trip delivery actually costs you somewhere between $35 and $80 once you count everything. that's the number you need to be charging — not the $10 you've been quoting because you didn't want to "scare them."

The simple formula that works for most cottage bakers

you don't need a spreadsheet for every delivery. you need one consistent formula you can quote on the fly.

the one that holds up well:

$1-2 per mile round-trip, with a $15-25 minimum

at $1.50/mile, a 20-mile round-trip delivery is $30. a 10-mile round-trip hits the $15 minimum. a 40-mile round-trip is $60. this covers gas, vehicle costs, and most of your time on shorter deliveries, with the minimum protecting you against tiny deliveries that aren't worth getting in the car for.

if you're delivering during a peak time (saturday morning, weekend afternoons, holidays), you can add a "premium delivery" surcharge of $10-25 because those hours are the ones you'd otherwise be using for paid baking.

if delivery involves long carrying distances, multiple flights of stairs, or significant time on-site, that's no longer just delivery — that's setup, which is priced separately.

Setting setup fees the right way

setup is a different service from delivery and should be priced as such. a flat $25-75 fee for setup work depending on the complexity.

a fair breakdown:

simple drop-off setup (place cake on table, take a quick photo): $15-25
tiered cake assembly (stacking, dowel work, leveling on site): $50-75
dessert table styling (arranging multiple products, adding decor, photographing): $75-150
full event setup (multi-piece display, fresh flowers, longer on-site time): $150+

these are not luxury prices. they're the bare floor for skilled work done at someone else's location under pressure. wedding planners and event coordinators charge much more for the same on-site work, and they didn't bake anything that morning.

your setup fee should also reflect what happens if something goes wrong. if you stack a tiered cake on-site and it leans, you're the one fixing it in front of a crowd. that emotional load has a price.

Side-by-side: pricing a delivery the wrong way vs. the right way

let's run a real scenario. customer orders a 3-tier wedding cake and wants delivery + setup at a venue 18 miles away. saturday morning.

Cost element	"Courtesy" pricing	Fair pricing
Mileage (36 miles round-trip)	$15 flat delivery fee	36 × $1.50 = $54
Saturday peak premium	Not charged	+$20
Tiered cake on-site assembly	"I'll just throw that in"	$65 setup fee
Time on-site (45 min)	Not charged	Included in setup fee
Total add-ons	$15	$139
Hours of your saturday consumed	2.5	2.5
Effective hourly rate for the driving/setup portion	$6	$55

both rows describe the same morning. one of them pays you fairly. the other pays you below the federal minimum wage to drive a $400 wedding cake across town, where one bump in the road can ruin the entire order.

Build a delivery zone map and price it ahead of time

trying to calculate delivery on every individual quote eats your time and creates inconsistency. the cleaner solution: build a delivery zone map once and never calculate again.

a simple version:

zone 1 (0-5 miles from home): $15 delivery
zone 2 (5-10 miles): $25 delivery
zone 3 (10-20 miles): $40 delivery
zone 4 (20-30 miles): $60 delivery
beyond 30 miles: custom quote required

post this on your website, your order form, or your menu. when a customer asks about delivery, you tell them the zone and the price in 30 seconds. no negotiation, no second-guessing, no awkward "uhh let me figure out the cost."

it also signals professionalism. zone-based delivery is what bakeries with storefronts do. when you do it, you look like the operation you're trying to be.

The "weekend minimum order for delivery" rule

most cottage bakers should have a minimum order size required to qualify for delivery. otherwise you'll end up driving 15 miles for a $25 dozen of cookies.

a reasonable rule: delivery is available for orders over $75-100 minimum. anything under that, the customer is welcome to pick up at your home or designated pickup spot.

if a customer asks if you can deliver a $40 order, you have a clean answer: "i offer delivery for orders over $100. i'd love to either help you find some add-ons to get over the threshold, or you're welcome to pick up at [pickup location]."

this protects your time, encourages bigger orders, and removes the awkwardness of pricing a delivery that costs more than the food.

When to refuse a delivery entirely

some deliveries should just be a no. you don't have to take every order.

deliveries more than 30-45 minutes away (unless the order is large enough to justify your full morning)
deliveries during your most profitable baking hours
deliveries to event venues you don't know without on-site contact info
deliveries that require you to wait around — "drop off between 4 and 6pm" with no specific time
deliveries on holidays when your family time is worth more than the fee

declining well: "i'd love to help, but i'm not able to make it that far on the date you need. you're welcome to pick up at my home — i can help you find a pickup window that works."

most customers will pick up if pickup is the only option. the ones who can't usually have a reason that justifies paying a larger delivery fee, which puts the math back in your favor.

How to talk about delivery and setup fees with customers

most customers do not push back on fair delivery and setup pricing when you explain it normally. you don't have to apologize, justify, or pre-emptively defend.

a clean message looks like:

"delivery to your venue is 18 miles round-trip, so the delivery fee is $40. since this is a tiered cake that needs to be assembled on-site, there's also a $65 setup fee. that brings the total to $505 — happy to lock in the date as soon as your 50% deposit is in."

notice what's not in that message: no "i hope that's okay" or "i know that seems like a lot." stating the fees matter-of-factly signals that they're normal, because they are.

if a customer asks why delivery is so much, the answer is simple: "delivery covers the driving time, fuel, and the on-site setup — it's about an hour and a half of my saturday." that's all you owe them. you don't have to break out a spreadsheet.

What to do if a customer offers to pick up to save money

let them. always.

every pickup is a delivery you didn't have to drive, and the customer saves a real amount of money. you should make pickup easy: clear pickup window, simple instructions to your front porch or pickup spot, packaging that travels well, and a friendly handoff.

a healthy cottage bakery has maybe 70-80% pickup and 20-30% delivery. delivery is for the orders that genuinely need it (large events, customers without cars, products that can't safely be transported by a non-baker). it's not the default.

The mindset shift that fixes your delivery problem

if you've been undercharging on delivery and setup, you probably don't have a pricing problem. you have a permission problem. you don't feel allowed to charge what your time is worth, especially for something the customer might see as "just driving."

driving across town with a $400 wedding cake in your back seat is not "just driving." setting up a tiered cake at a venue in 95-degree heat while the bride's mom rearranges the flowers is not "just setup." these are real services with real costs and real risks.

every other delivery service — doordash, ubereats, white-glove furniture delivery, florists — charges separately for delivery. so do you, now. and once you start, you'll wonder why you ever drove a single mile for free.

Frequently asked questions

Should I include delivery in my product prices to make it look cheaper?

No. bundling delivery into product prices hurts your business two ways: pickup customers end up overpaying, and you have no leverage to adjust delivery pricing for far-away orders. always price delivery as a separate, transparent line item. it also makes the customer aware that delivery is an actual service they're paying for, which is good for both of you.

What's a reasonable minimum delivery fee for cottage bakers?

$15-25 is the floor for most home-based bakers in 2026. anything below $15 doesn't cover your time loading the car, driving, and unloading — let alone gas. if you're consistently doing local deliveries under 5 miles, $15 is reasonable. for anything further, scale up by $1-2 per mile.

Should I charge differently for weekday vs. weekend delivery?

Yes if your weekends are your peak baking hours. saturday morning delivery costs you a window where you could be filling another order. adding a $10-25 weekend or peak-time premium is fair and common. weekday afternoon delivery (when you'd otherwise be on errands or with family) can stay at your base rate.

Do I need to charge sales tax on delivery and setup fees?

It depends on your state. in some states, delivery fees on taxable goods are also taxable; in others, they're exempt if separately stated. setup fees are usually treated as service revenue with different tax rules. this is one to check with your state's tax authority or a local accountant. don't guess — sales tax mistakes get expensive.

How do I handle tipping for delivery and setup?

You don't have to expect a tip, but you can leave room for one. some bakers add a discreet "tips appreciated" line on receipts; others say nothing and let the customer decide. don't rely on tips to make your delivery economics work — your delivery fee should already be fair without one. tips are a bonus, not a substitute for accurate pricing.

crumb coach lets you save delivery zones, setup fees, and minimum order rules right into your order form — so every quote includes the right fees automatically without you doing the math each time.

What to charge for delivery and setup fees