Guide
The co-packer brief: eight answers that get quotes back
Updated
Brands assume packers are ignoring them because they are small. Packers are ignoring them because the enquiry cannot be priced, and the fix is a page of specification rather than a better introduction.
The eight
Format. Volume, first run and expected annual. Storage and distribution temperature. Shelf life required. Who supplies ingredients or components. Certification your route to market requires. Who is responsible for labelling. And where the recipe comes from.
None of these needs a consultant. All of them can be answered in a paragraph, and an enquiry containing all eight is answerable on the day it arrives.
Format is the hard filter
A packer owns particular machinery. It runs pouches, or it runs bottles, or it runs flow wrap. It does not add a line for one customer.
So naming the format is what routes the enquiry to the right companies. If it is genuinely undecided, say that: a packer can advise, and it is a completely different conversation from an enquiry that names a format it cannot run.
Be honest about volume
Minimum order quantity is the commonest reason a small brand hears nothing at all, and inflating the forecast to clear it produces a quote you then cannot meet.
Give the real first run and the real expected annual. A packer whose MOQ is above your first run will say so quickly, which is a useful answer rather than a rejection.
Temperature before recipe
Ambient, chilled and frozen are different facilities and different logistics chains, frequently owned by different companies.
Settle it before briefing anybody. It moves the shortlist more than the recipe does, and changing it later usually means starting the search again.
Ask your buyer about certification first
Retailers set audit and scheme requirements, and a packer either holds the certification or it does not.
This is the filter brands apply last and should apply first, because discovering it after a shortlist has been built means rebuilding the shortlist.