We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Minimum Orders

Q.  On your website you state that you don’t have a minimum amount that customers have to order.  Did I read that correctly? 

Yes, you did. 

At FoodProductLaunch.com we have no minimum when it comes to your initial order.  I’ll say it again - No minimum.  You don’t have to do anything but get your low-acid canned product through our Research and Development (R&D) process.  If you decide that you want to run a small batch (let’s say 10 gallons), then we’ll do that for you as well. 

I bet you’re wondering why.

Well, as I’ve stated on the website, we’ve been where you are right now - at the precipice of a new adventure. When I say we’ve been there as well – the above picture is proof.  That’s two pallets of pasta sauce getting ready for me to drive it back home. 

TWO PALLETS!!! 125 CASES!!  1500 JARS OF SAUCE! Are you kidding me?  What the heck was I supposed to do with 2 pallets of sauce? 

Prior to that order, the only thing that I had gotten from my co-packer was a 16 ounce sample for me to approve.   It wasn’t even in a pasta sauce jar.  Sheesh.

All I had was a concept of having the best sauce in the world and no real plan to get it into retail shops. I thought I knew somewhat, but I was a babe in the woods. I’m sure you’re in the same boat.

I’ve thought about this a lot in the past few years. And I had a few questions.

• Wouldn’t it have been awesome to have gotten at least a small sample (a case or so) of my sauce in whatever packaging it would end up being in?
  • It will be awesome to provide a small sample of your product.  We’ll be happy to do that for you.
• Wouldn’t it have been better for me to purchase 10 cases or so of my sauce – a total of approximately 120 jars instead of 1500 – so that I could market my wares?
  • It’ll be a lot better to give you the option of purchasing a smaller order so you can spend your cash on better things than a massive inventory – like marketing and sales.  This is so when the time comes, you will need inventory.
• Why do other co-packers have a requirement for such big minimum orders? 
  • I honestly don’t know.  I suspect the answer falls somewhere between “it’s our standard because it’s more cost effective” and “we really don’t want to work with new recipes and customers.”

At FoodProductLaunch.com we’re here to help you through the Research and Development process for your low-acid food product and provide you samples and examples of your finished product. 

We’re happy to do that for you!

TJ Gallivan

© foodproductlaunch.com 2014 All Rights Reserved.  We encourage you to repost this blog in its entirety.  If you choose to use portions of it…give credit where credit is due.

Going Forward with the Process

Q.  I saw your post about helping startups get going.  What are the things I need to take my product from my kitchen to the grocer’s shelves?

Thanks for asking this important question.  It can be a daunting process, but we’ve been right where you’ve been before.  We help you every step of the way.

There are just a few things that you need to have in your hands to approach a co-packing company to manufacture your product.   We perform and provide full services in our Research and Development (R&D) kitchen – pictured here - for your product at one low fee.

1. pH testing.  We test your provided sample for acidity to make sure we can go forward with the R&D process.  We deal only certain types of food products and the pH of your product should be less than 4.6 for us to work together.  
2. Recipe Replication.  We take your recipe into the R&D kitchen and replicate it so that we can duplicate the taste of your product.  We should be able to do this in as many as three tries.  We'll keep testing until you believe we have it right.
3. Recipe Formulation.  We take the replicated recipe that you've approved and turn that into a formula for manufacture.  This includes scaling your recipe up to a larger batch (10 gallons) and determining percentage of each recipe item in the recipe.
4. Nutrition Analysis and Ingredients Statement.  We determine the nutritional contents of your product. We provide FDA compliant Nutrition Fact Statement, Allergen Statement, and Ingredient Statement.
5. Food Processing Authority Letter.  We send a sample, the formula, the nutritional label and other pertinent information to an independent lab for stability and shelf life analysis.  This is the process that allows any co-packer to be able to manufacture your product with a copy of this letter. 
6. Comprehensive Package. We provide a package with the information from the above services. We develop this so that you can take it to any co-packer anywhere in the United States to get your product manufactured.  It will be provided in both soft and hard copies. 

In addition, we can help you with label compliance, costing estimates and other consulting services to help you move forward.

At FoodProductLaunch.com we’re here to help you go from your kitchen to commercial…to do all the Research and Development for your food product…and best of all we’re happy to do this for you. 

Please contact us for more information.

TJ Gallivan

© foodproductlaunch.com 2014 All Rights Reserved.  We encourage you to repost this blog in its entirety.  If you choose to use portions of it…give credit where credit is due.