Whether you have developed a fantastic beverage formulation and are ready to scale up production, you’re just starting out and need help crafting the formula, or you want to start with white or private label, choosing the right manufacturing partner is crucial for ensuring quality, efficiency, and speed to market. Here’s the hard truth about speed-to-market: The sooner you start your process, the sooner you can get to market with quality products. So, if you’re considering tapping into this booming market, start your conversation with copackers today! From our experience producing a wide range of products out of an NSF, cGMP, certified facility, here are the top 5 things you should consider:

1. Communication: A successful partnership thrives on communication, and strong communication is necessary to make it work. Choose a copacker that sets clear expectations upfront about their processes and timing. You may want regular updates or weekly calls, but the manufacturer you’re thinking of may not offer them. Find out who your primary point of contact will be and track how well they service you in the pre-sale phase. If it’s hard to get proper attention to your project when he or she is hoping to bring you in as a new client, then expecting service to improve after you commit is unlikely.
2. What kind of help and relationship do you need with your manufacturing partner?: Having a company produce your product is a pretty intimate business relationship. You have a lot riding on their ability to perform. Some manufacturers have a large client base and offer strict “this is what you get service”. Others, are more inclined to be invested in your success and offer a wide variety of services such as 3PL, Formulation, and a road map of other products you might want to make later. It is best to understand what fits your needs and find the right partner.
3. Expertise with the specific functional actives, adaptogens, or botanicals you would like to use: Some active ingredients have total water solubility, and others don’t. Some need special handling or they can’t be found in testing later. Depending on the nature of your formulation and whether you have a locked and loaded SOP, it may make sense to find a manufacturing partner with proven experience handling the specific ingredients in your new formulation
4. Certifications that matter: If you want your products sold at Walmart, CVS, Costco, and other big retailers, having your product manufactured at an NSF-certified facility is mandatory. That will prevent you from having the unfortunate experience of getting a “yes” from a major big retail player only to lose the opportunity due to not having the right certifications.  Big retail depends on NSF certification to ensure that the products they are selling have been made with rigorous quality control procedures in place.  Secondly, if you want to target consumers that care about “certified organic” or “Non-GMO” you’ll want to be in “Sprouts” or “Whole Foods”. Check upfront which of these certifications they have to avoid a limiting factor down the line.
5. Scalability to Meet Your Growth: Imagine your beverage taking off! What does volume look like at plan? Your ideal copacker should have capacity or at least a strong plan to scale up production to meet growing demand.
6. Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs) That Fit Your Needs: MOQs can be a significant hurdle for new entrepreneurs. A manufacturing partner with high MOQs can lock up your capital and limit your ability to test the market.
7. Successful market-ready formulations: If speed to market is something you’re looking for, and you don’t have the formulas ready, the copacker you choose should have white or private label proven formulas to get you to market faster than waiting to finish up your own this way you can launch sooner while you continue to refine (with help of your copacker) your own.

Beyond these top considerations, here are a couple of additional things you could want from your copacker:

• Custom Formulation Support: A team willing to help refine your formulation or develop a new one to optimize its effectiveness and taste.
• Regulatory Compliance: A beverage manufacturer with a dedicated compliance department ready to guide and navigate the complexities of food and beverage regulations, ensuring your functional mushroom beverage meets all labeling and safety requirements.

Choosing the right functional beverage copacker is a critical decision. We hope this article helps. If you have questions or would like to expand details, feel free to contact us at contact@ltbbeverage.com. We offer beverage manufacturing services and much more.