Pricing Coach — Per-Product Margin Health
How margin health is computed, how to apply suggested prices safely, and how Pricing Coach differs from the Scale-tier Pricing Optimizer.
What It Is
Pricing Coach shows every product with its margin health color-coded (green / yellow / red) and a one-click Apply button to update prices. Available to Growth+ bakeries at /dashboard/growth/pricing.
How Margin Is Computed
margin % = (basePrice − cost) / basePrice × 100
basePrice is your product price. cost is computed automatically by the ingredient → recipe → product cascade. When you edit an ingredient cost, Product.cost updates within seconds.
Health Classification
| Status | Definition | Color |
|---|---|---|
| Healthy | Margin ≥ target (default 60%) | Green |
| Warning | Margin between critical and target | Amber |
| Critical | Margin below critical (default 40%) | Red |
Both thresholds are editable per bakery in Growth Coach settings:
- Target margin — range 30-80, default 60. Industry norm for bakeries is 60-70%; premium/custom often 70-80%+.
- Critical below — must be lower than target. Default 40.
Suggested Prices
For any non-healthy product, Pricing Coach computes:
suggestedPrice = cost ÷ (1 − target/100) rounded up to 2 decimals.
Example: cost $2.50, target 60% → suggested $6.25 (marked "Increase by $X.XX to reach 60% target margin").
Safety Caps
Two layers of protection prevent runaway price changes:
- 3× cap on suggested prices — if the raw target price would be more than 3× the current price, it's clamped and flagged with a "capped" badge. This usually means the cost basis needs review, not a 5× price hike.
- Tenant-scoped update — Apply uses a multi-condition update that re-checks the product belongs to your bakery at the moment of write. Prevents any race condition between display and click.
Applying a Suggestion
Click Apply on any row:
- Default behavior: a confirmation dialog "Update Product from $X to $Y?" — click OK to commit.
- The suggested price is editable in the row — change it before clicking Apply if you want a different number.
- On success, the row updates and the margin recomputes. No page refresh needed.
Turn off the confirmation dialog in settings ("Ask before applying") if you trust the suggestions and want 1-click apply.
Bulk Apply?
Intentionally not supported. Every price change is a deliberate, one-at-a-time action. Bulk apply is error-prone and customer-visible; the friction is by design.
Pricing Coach vs Pricing Optimizer (Scale tier)
Bakeries on the Scale tier see both — not two tiers of the same feature:
| Pricing Coach (Growth+) | Pricing Optimizer (Scale only) | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Per-product margin check + suggested price | Scenario sim, elasticity modelling, competitor analysis |
| Workflow | Daily check, one-click apply | Deep analysis, what-if scenarios |
| Engine | Deterministic math + Haiku phrasing | Sonnet reasoning over rich context |
Growth Coach's Pricing Coach is the daily health dashboard. Pricing Optimizer is the workbench you open when you want to deliberately re-price a line.
What Happens With 0 Products or Missing Costs
Products with basePrice = 0 or cost = 0 are excluded — we can't compute a meaningful margin. If none of your products have valid cost + price data, the page shows an empty state with a link to the product editor.
Relation to Margin Alerts (Spec 039)
The Spec 039 dashboard margin-alert banner ("N products below target") and weekly digest margin section use the same computation. Clicking the banner lands you here on Pricing Coach to actually fix the flagged products.
See Also
The summary, FAQ, and statistics in this section were compiled from public sources and reviewed by the BakeOnyx editorial team. AI-assisted research.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does BakeOnyx calculate product cost for margin analysis?▾
BakeOnyx computes product costs through a cascade system. Ingredient costs are entered first, then aggregated into recipes. Finally, recipes are linked to products, automatically updating the product's cost. This ensures that changes to ingredient prices are reflected instantly across all associated recipes and products, providing an accurate basis for margin calculations.
What are the default target and critical margin percentages in Pricing Coach?▾
The default target margin percentage in BakeOnyx's Pricing Coach is 60%. This is the minimum margin considered 'healthy.' The default critical margin is set at 40%. Margins falling between the critical and target percentages are classified as 'warning' (amber). Both these thresholds can be customized within the Growth Coach settings.
Can I apply suggested price changes in bulk using BakeOnyx?▾
No, BakeOnyx intentionally does not support bulk price application for its Pricing Coach feature. Each price update is designed as a deliberate, one-at-a-time action. This is a safety measure to prevent errors and ensure that price changes are carefully considered, as they are visible to customers and can impact sales significantly.
What is the difference between Pricing Coach and Pricing Optimizer in BakeOnyx?▾
Pricing Coach, available on the Growth+ tier, provides a per-product margin check and suggests prices for daily health management. Pricing Optimizer, exclusive to the Scale tier, offers advanced features like scenario simulation, elasticity modeling, and competitor analysis for deeper strategic pricing decisions. They serve distinct but complementary roles in bakery pricing management.
How does BakeOnyx's Pricing Coach handle products with zero cost or price?▾
Products with a base price of zero or a computed cost of zero are automatically excluded from BakeOnyx's Pricing Coach analysis. This is because a meaningful margin percentage cannot be calculated without both a valid price and a cost. The system focuses on products where profitability can be accurately assessed.
What are the safety features in BakeOnyx's Pricing Coach to prevent drastic price changes?▾
BakeOnyx incorporates two key safety caps. First, suggested prices are capped at three times the current price to flag potential cost basis issues rather than allowing extreme hikes. Second, a tenant-scoped update process re-verifies product ownership at the moment of application, preventing race conditions and ensuring price updates are secure.