A beverage co-packer mixes, fills, seals and packs your drink on its line: hot-filled into glass or plastic, cold-filled with a preservative, tunnel-pasteurized in cans, or retorted or aseptically filled for drinks that need it. Which co-packers can make yours depends on what's in it. A drink with juice in it falls under FDA's juice HACCP rule; a drink with a pH above 4.6, such as most coffee and milk drinks, is a low-acid food that needs a plant set up for it; a carbonated soft drink is simpler. After that come the minimums, and in beverages the container's minimum can be bigger than the co-packer's. In the example below, a craft soda maker selling 6,000 bottles a month pays $1.34 a bottle bottling it itself, $1.40 with a small glass co-packer, and 87 cents with a canning co-packer whose minimum is eight months of sales. Below is how drinks are filled, the rules that decide the plant, what a co-packer needs, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Know your drink's pH and whether it contains juice, milk or other low-acid ingredients; that decides the process.
- Juice used as an ingredient brings the juice HACCP rule, with a 5-log reduction in the pathogen of concern.
- A low-acid drink in a sealed container needs a thermal process in a plant set up for low-acid canned foods.
- Count the container minimum: printed cans and custom bottles often come by the truckload.
- Bring a formula by weight, specs, the process, packaging, labels and a deposit.
- Compare quotes on the cost of a good unit and the cash out before the run sells.
- TaroStack keeps track of what's at your co-packer, by lot, as a site of its own. More below.
How drinks are filled
| Method | For | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Hot fill | Acidic drinks, juices, teas, in glass or heat-set plastic | Filled hot, held, cooled; no preservative needed for many acidic drinks |
| Cold fill | Acidic drinks with a preservative | Cheaper line; the formula carries the preservative |
| Tunnel pasteurization | Cans and bottles of carbonated or acidic drinks | Filled cold, then heated in the sealed container |
| Retort or aseptic | Low-acid drinks: coffee with milk, plant milks | A plant set up for low-acid canned foods, with a scheduled process |
| Counter-pressure filling | Carbonated drinks in glass or cans | Keeps the fizz; often paired with pasteurizing |
The rules that decide the plant
Juice HACCP applies to any juice sold as such or used as an ingredient in beverages (21 CFR 120.1), so a soda with a splash of real lemon juice brings it in. A juice processor's HACCP plan has to include controls that consistently produce at least a 5-log reduction in the most resistant microorganism of public health significance likely to occur in the juice (21 CFR 120.24). Low-acid foods are foods, other than alcoholic beverages, with a finished equilibrium pH above 4.6 and a water activity above 0.85 (21 CFR 113.3); in a sealed can or bottle, they need a validated thermal process in a plant set up for it, which is why a canned latte goes to a different co-packer than a canned soda. Ask each co-packer which processes it runs before you ask for a price. This is general information, not legal advice. What starting a juice business involves is in how to start a juice business.
What a beverage co-packer will ask you for
- A formula by weight, with Brix, pH and, for carbonated drinks, the carbonation level, and every ingredient's supplier and spec.
- The process: the co-packer's, or a process authority's, for juice or low-acid drinks.
- Packaging: cans or bottles, ends or caps, labels or sleeves, carriers and cases, often bought by you.
- A pilot or bench batch, matched to your sample and signed off before the first run.
- A deposit, a forecast, and insurance.
What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
The container minimum
Beverage brands often find the can or bottle supplier's minimum is the real minimum. Printed cans often come by the truckload or more; small brands start with blank cans and printed labels or shrink sleeves, which cost more a unit and can be bought in thousands. A custom bottle mold is a big order too. The co-packer's minimum run and the container's minimum together decide how much stock you hold.
Three quotes compared
Gateway Soda Works, a made-up cane sugar craft soda maker in St. Louis, Missouri, I use in these examples, sells about 6,000 twelve-ounce sodas a month:
| Bottle it yourself | Small co-packer, glass | Canning co-packer, cans | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 2,000 | 6,000 | 50,000 |
| Minimum run | none | 3,000 | 50,000 |
| Good units, after the loss | 1,940 | 5,880 | 49,500 |
| Setup, or your own sanitizing | $200 | $350 | $800 |
| Fee, or your own labor, a unit | $0.27 | $0.32 | $0.18 |
| Syrup ingredients a unit | $0.28 | $0.28 | $0.25 |
| Bottle or can, closure, label, carrier | $0.65 | $0.65 | $0.30 |
| Freight a run | $0 | $400 | $1,200 |
| Run cost | $2,600 | $8,250 | $38,500 |
| Months to sell the run | 0.3 | 1.0 | 8.3 |
| Storage while it sells | $0 | $0 | $4,350 |
| Cost a good unit | $1.34 | $1.40 | $0.87 |
Bottling itself, Gateway fills 150 bottles an hour with two people at $20: 27 cents of labor a bottle, three runs a month. The small glass co-packer costs 6 cents more a bottle and frees three days a month. The canning co-packer costs 53 cents less a unit, but its 50,000-can run is eight months of sales, $38,500 out before it sells and $4,350 of storage, and switching from glass to cans means new carriers, new shelf tags and a new look in the stores. At 20,000 sodas a month, the same quote is two and a half months of sales, and the move makes sense. How quotes like these fit a brand's size is in co-packer vs commercial kitchen.
Get the calculator
Download the beverage co-packer quote calculator. One column for each quote and one for bottling it yourself: type the run you'd order, the minimum, the loss, the setup, the fee or your labor, ingredients, packaging, freight and storage, and the run's cost, the months it takes to sell at your sales a month, the storage while it sells, the cost of each good unit and the cash out before it sells fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A canning run is a truckload of cans arriving at the co-packer, your syrup ingredients sent ahead, 50,000 cans coming back on pallets to your warehouse and a distributor, and eight months of stock to sell before its best-by date. A spreadsheet can't say how many cans are at the co-packer, which run a case at a grocer came from, or which pallets will date out first.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps track of what's at your co-packer, by lot, as a site of its own.
The co-packer as a site. The co-packer's premises can be a site, so the cans, ends and syrup ingredients you send are a transfer, shown in transit until they arrive, and the cases on their floor are yours, counted at their place. More than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
Runs with lots and dates. Each run is a batch at the co-packer's site with a lot and a best-by date, so orders pick the earliest dates first, and an alert warns before a lot nears its date. A recall report shows which customers got each lot. How dating works for drinks is in best by date format.
Packaging ahead of the run. Cans, ends, sleeves and carriers come up on the reorder list in days of cover, with each supplier's lead time and minimum. How stock across places works is in multi-location inventory.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Cans at the co-packer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Syrup ingredients on the way | An email | A transfer, in transit |
| Which pallets date out first | A guess | Earliest dates first, with alerts |
| Which grocers got lot 2210 | Search the invoices | One recall report |
Sites, transfers, batches, lots and expiry alerts are on Standard at $99 a month for more than one site. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.