Structuring a Make-or-Buy Problem Fresh Foods, a large restaurant chain, needs to determine if it would be cheaper to produce 5,000 units of its main food ingredient for use in its restaurants or to purchase them from an outside supplier for $12 each

Structuring a Make-or-Buy Problem

Fresh Foods, a large restaurant chain, needs to determine if it would be cheaper to produce 5,000 units of its main food ingredient for use in its restaurants or to purchase them from an outside supplier for $12 each. Cost information on internal production includes the following:

 Total Cost Unit CostDirect materials$25,000  $ 5.00  Direct labor15,000  3.00  Variable manufacturing overhead7,500  1.50  Variable marketing overhead10,000  2.00  Fixed plant overhead30,000  6.00     Total$87,500  $17.50  

Fixed overhead will continue whether the ingredient is produced internally or externally. No additional costs of purchasing will be incurred beyond the purchase price.

Required:

 Now assume that 20% of the fixed overhead can be avoided if the ingredient is purchased externally. Which alternative is more cost effective?

And by how much?