Run the Numbers for Your Own Business
Every meat market is different. Pricing, product mix, and batch size all influence how quickly equipment pays for itself.
To make that easier, we built a simple calculator that allows you to enter your own numbers—fresh meat cost, retail pricing, and aging time—to estimate how quickly a Reserve 100 or 300 could move from equipment purchase to profit generator in your own shop.
Dry Ager Calculator
Profitability & ROI Payback Tool
Unit
$
Inputs & Assumptions
$
/lb
$
/lb
%
Loss through maturation (between 8–15% within 4 weeks)
%
Loss through trimming (approx. 4%) meat not deboned, with bones.
weeks
Typical aging period for beef: 3–4 weeks.
lbs
$
/lb
Include energy expense in net margin
Weight Loss vs Trim Loss
Weight loss is moisture evaporation during the aging process (typically 8–15% depending on duration). Trim loss is the dried crust that must be trimmed before sale (typically 3–5% for bone-in cuts).
End Load Calculation
End load after one cycle = Fresh Load × (1 − Weight Loss % − Trim Loss %). This represents the sellable product after aging.
Energy Expense
Energy expense is shown as an assumption. By default it is NOT subtracted from the net margin (matching standard industry calculations). Toggle it on for a more conservative estimate.
Yearly Projections
Yearly return assumes consistent loading, pricing, and 52 operating weeks per year.
Results
Per-Pound Analysis
Gross profit margin / lb
Weight loss cost / lb
Trim loss cost / lb
Net profit margin / lb
Break-even
Break-even point
End load after 1 cycle
Absolute cycles
Full cycles (rounded up)
Duration
Yearly Return
Cycles per year
Total potential / year
Total sales / year
Total net profit / year