A pallet of flour is 40 fifty-pound bags: 2,000 lb of flour, about 2,145 lb on the scale once you add the pallet and wrap. For La Finoise T55, which comes in 25 kg sacks, the closest equivalent is 36 bags (1,980 lb). Pricing the flour is the easy part: it is the bag price times the bag count. Whether a pallet pays off depends on three things: how the freight divides across the bags, how fast you bake through it, and whether you can take delivery without paying for extras like a liftgate. As a rule of thumb, a pallet makes sense once you use about five bags a week or more, or whenever freight is involved and you would otherwise ship bags a few at a time.
Specialty Food Source and our parent company, JN Kidds Distributors, stock all three in Brockton, Massachusetts. Pallets leave by warehouse pickup, on our own delivery routes across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and southern Maine, or by LTL freight anywhere in the country.
Shop this guide: King Arthur Special for hearth breads, pan breads and buns, Sir Lancelot for bagels and New York-style pizza, and La Finoise T55 as the French all-purpose bag. For a pallet price with delivery to your ZIP, use the quote request form.
Bagged flour is stacked five bags to a layer on a 48 by 42 inch footprint, and each layer adds about six inches. King Arthur's own product sheet for its 50 lb bakery flours lists the mill pallet at 50 bags, five per layer and ten layers high. That is also the most we put on one pallet. A 40-bag pallet, the round 2,000 lb most bakeries ask for, is eight layers.
These are the dimensions and weights we give a carrier. Gross weight includes the pallet and an allowance for bag overage and wrap, so it runs a little above the net flour weight.
| Load | Net flour | Layers | Size (L x W x H) | Gross weight | Est. freight class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 x 50 lb bags | 1,000 lb | 4 | 48 x 42 x 30 in | 1,105 lb | 60 |
| 40 x 50 lb bags | 2,000 lb | 8 | 48 x 42 x 54 in | 2,145 lb | 60 |
| 50 x 50 lb bags (full pallet) | 2,500 lb | 10 | 48 x 42 x 66 in | 2,665 lb | 60 |
| 36 x 25 kg bags of T55 | 1,980 lb | 8 | 48 x 42 x 54 in | 2,117 lb | 60 |
| 50 x 25 kg bags (full pallet) | 2,750 lb | 10 | 48 x 42 x 66 in | 2,915 lb | 55 |
| Mixed: 20 x 50 lb + 20 x 25 kg | 2,100 lb | 8 | 48 x 42 x 54 in | 2,245 lb | 55 |
Freight class is estimated from density (flour on a pallet runs about 31 to 38 lb per cubic foot); the carrier makes the final call. Two practical notes: a pallet can be mixed, so 20 bags of one flour and 20 of another ship as one unit, and anything over 50 bags becomes a second pallet.
To price a pallet, multiply the bag price by the bag count, then add delivery. The bag counts are fixed by the sack size; the bag price is whatever your account or quote shows.
| Flour | Bag | Bags for about 2,000 lb | Net flour | Full pallet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| King Arthur Special (12.7% protein) | 50 lb | 40 | 2,000 lb | 50 bags, 2,500 lb |
| Sir Lancelot (14% protein, high-gluten) | 50 lb | 40 | 2,000 lb | 50 bags, 2,500 lb |
| La Finoise T55 (French all-purpose) | 25 kg / 55 lb | 36 | 1,980 lb | 50 bags, 2,750 lb |
The single-bag price on each product page is the ceiling. Approved wholesale accounts see their pricing at checkout, with a further saving for paying by ACH or cash, and pallet quantities are quoted individually. The French flour costs more per pound than the domestic bags because it is imported from the mill in 25 kg sacks; our guide to French flour types covers when that is worth paying and when a domestic bag does the same job.
How the pallet reaches you matters more to the final price per bag than which flour is on it.
| Method | Where | Delivery cost | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warehouse pickup | 830 West Chestnut Street, Brockton, MA | None | A truck or van rated for about 2,200 lb, and a way to unload at your end. Order online first; pickup is quick. |
| Our delivery route | Massachusetts, Rhode Island, parts of New Hampshire and southern Maine | Free on orders of $250+ in MA and $500+ in RI, NH and ME (some areas excluded; confirm for your ZIP) | Someone to receive it. A pallet clears both minimums several times over. |
| LTL freight | Everywhere else in the US | Quoted to your ZIP | A commercial address helps; a dock or forklift avoids a liftgate fee. |
For bakeries inside our New England delivery area, that middle row is the whole story: the flour price is the delivered price, and the case for a pallet rests on volume pricing and fewer deliveries to receive. Route days vary by area, so confirm your delivery date when you order. Everywhere else, freight is the number to understand.
The formula is simple: landed cost per bag equals the bag price plus the freight bill divided by the number of bags. The useful part is what happens to that second term as the pallet gets taller.
A real example from our own shipping log: in September 2026 a 20-bag pallet (1,105 lb gross) went from Brockton to a commercial dock in New York's Hudson Valley for $281.71 all-in, fuel and cargo coverage included, with one-day transit. That is about $0.25 per pound, or $14.09 per bag. One lane on one day is not a rate card, but it shows the scale.
LTL carriers price by weight in steps, with a minimum charge per shipment, so doubling the bags does not double the bill. The table below is plain arithmetic, not quotes: it shows what a given freight total adds to each bag at three pallet sizes.
| If the freight quote is | Per bag at 20 bags | Per bag at 40 bags | Per bag at 50 bags |
|---|---|---|---|
| $300.00 | $15.00 | $7.50 | $6.00 |
| $450.00 | $22.50 | $11.25 | $9.00 |
| $600.00 | $30.00 | $15.00 | $12.00 |
| $800.00 | $40.00 | $20.00 | $16.00 |
The pattern to notice is the diagonal. A longer lane that costs twice as much to ship still lands at the same per-bag freight if you put twice as many bags on the pallet. That is the entire argument for filling the pallet when freight is involved, and it is why we suggest out-of-region customers order at least 600 lb at a time.
What moves a freight quote, beyond distance and weight:
Ask for every quote all-in, with fuel, accessorials and transit time, so you are comparing whole numbers. When you send a quote request, tell us whether the address is commercial or residential, whether you have a dock or forklift, your receiving hours and whether the driver needs an appointment. Those four answers decide most of the difference between a good freight price and a surprise.
Two tests, and a pallet should pass both.
Can you bake through it while it is fresh? King Arthur's product sheet for its 50 lb bakery flour gives a shelf life of 180 days stored cool and dry. Most bakeries want a pallet gone well inside that, both for quality and because flour sitting on the floor is cash sitting on the floor.
| Flour you use per week | A 40-bag pallet lasts | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 2 bags (100 lb) | 20 weeks | Too slow. Buy 10 bags at a time. |
| 5 bags (250 lb) | 8 weeks | Works, if you have dry storage. |
| 10 bags (500 lb) | 4 weeks | The natural pallet customer. |
| 20 bags (1,000 lb) | 2 weeks | Take a full 50-bag pallet, or a standing order. |
Does the saving beat the cost of holding it? The saving comes from three places: volume pricing on the flour, freight spread over more bags (or one free route delivery instead of several), and less time spent ordering and receiving. Against that, count the floor space, the cash tied up for a month or two, and the labor to break down the pallet if you have no pallet jack. For a local bakery using ten bags a week, the answer is nearly always yes. For a shop two states away using two bags a week, the better move is usually a half pallet shared with a neighbor.
That last option is more common than people think. Several small bakeries, a restaurant group or a baking club can combine one pallet, split the freight and each take ten bags. Our group buying program is set up for exactly that, and this guide to buying wholesale as a group walks through how to organize it.
| If you bake mostly | Pallet | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hearth breads, sandwich loaves, rolls and buns | King Arthur Special | 12.7% protein spring wheat bread flour for everyday production |
| Bagels, New York-style pizza, high-hydration or whole-grain doughs | Sir Lancelot | About 14% protein for chew and volume |
| Brioche, viennoiserie, pastry doughs and everyday white bread in the French style | La Finoise T55 | The all-purpose bag of the Grands Moulins de Paris range |
| Artisan bread and laminated dough on a domestic flour | Sir Galahad | 11.7% protein; King Arthur's flour of choice for artisan breads |
| A bread program plus a pastry program | A mixed pallet: 20 bags of bread flour, 20 of T55 or Gruau Rouge T45 | One freight charge, two flours |
| Baguettes de tradition | T65 Tradition | The additive-free French bread grade; pairs with our baguette formula |
Browse the full flour collection, the King Arthur range or the Grands Moulins de Paris flours, then send the list and your ZIP through the quote form. We reply by email with price, availability and timing.
A full mill pallet of 50 lb flour is 50 bags: five per layer, ten layers high, 2,500 lb of flour. The 2,000 lb pallet most bakeries ask for is 40 bags in eight layers, about 54 inches tall and roughly 2,145 lb gross on a 48 by 42 inch footprint.
Multiply the bag price by the bag count: 40 bags for 2,000 lb of a 50 lb flour, or 36 bags for 1,980 lb of a 25 kg flour such as La Finoise T55. The single-bag price on the product page is the ceiling; wholesale accounts and pallet quantities are quoted separately, and delivery or freight depends on your ZIP. Send a quote request for an exact figure.
It depends on distance, weight and delivery conditions. As one real example, a 20-bag pallet from Brockton, MA to a commercial dock in New York's Hudson Valley cost $281.71 all-in in September 2026, about $14.09 per bag. Liftgate, residential delivery and appointments add to a quote. Inside our New England route area, delivery is free on qualifying orders.
Yes. A pallet can carry any combination up to 50 bags, for example 20 bags of King Arthur Special and 20 bags of La Finoise T55. It ships as one unit with one freight charge.
King Arthur lists a shelf life of 180 days for its 50 lb bakery flour when stored cool and dry. In practice, plan to use a pallet within about two months. Store it off the floor, away from heat, humidity and strong odors, and rotate the oldest bags first.
No, but it changes the price. Without a dock or forklift the carrier supplies a liftgate truck, which is an added fee on LTL freight. Tell us when you request a quote so the number you get is the number you pay. On our own New England routes, tell us your receiving setup when you order.
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