A chocolate co-packer tempers, molds, wraps and packs chocolate for a brand, most often from couverture, chocolate made by a larger maker and remelted, and sometimes from the bean. What it makes has to meet FDA's standards to be called chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate, and lines that run milk chocolate raise a question for every dark bar that follows. Then there's heat: chocolate blooms and melts, so storage and summer freight are part of the quote. In the example below, a chocolate bar brand selling 3,000 bars a month pays $2.19 a bar tempering and molding itself, $1.97 with a small co-packer, and $1.57 with a larger plant whose minimum is three months of sales. Below is the standards, the allergens, what the co-packer needs, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- "Milk chocolate", "sweet chocolate" and "white chocolate" are standardized names with minimum contents.
- Milk chocolate has at least 10% chocolate liquor and 12% total milk solids, among other requirements.
- Ask whether the line runs milk; a dark bar made after milk chocolate may carry milk.
- Your label names you with "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by" when the co-packer makes it.
- Agree on tempering, snap and gloss, and on what happens to bars that bloom.
- Plan for heat: cool storage, and insulated or cold freight in summer.
- TaroStack keeps track of your bars at the co-packer, by lot, as a site of its own. More below.
The standards
FDA's standards of identity for cacao products set what each named chocolate has to contain. Milk chocolate, for example, is made by mixing and grinding chocolate liquor with dairy ingredients and sweeteners, and contains at least 10% chocolate liquor and at least 12% total milk solids, along with a milkfat minimum (21 CFR 163.130); sweet chocolate and white chocolate have standards of their own in the same part. A bar that doesn't meet a standard can't use that name, so a co-packer working from your recipe should confirm it qualifies. Your label names you, not the co-packer, with words such as "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by" (21 CFR 101.5). This is general information, not legal advice. How a chocolate line is costed is in chocolate business profit margin.
Milk on shared lines
Tempering machines and molds that run milk chocolate are hard to clean completely before a dark bar, and dark chocolate made on shared equipment can carry milk. For a brand selling a dairy-free or vegan bar, ask whether the co-packer has a milk-free line or schedules dark bars first after a full clean, and how it checks. The label has to declare milk if it's an ingredient, and a precautionary statement, if you use one, has to be truthful. How to map allergens across a product line is in allergen matrix template.
What a chocolate co-packer will ask you for
- The recipe: the couverture or the bean-to-bar formula, the percentage, the inclusions and how much of each.
- Bar specs: weight, mold, snap and gloss, and how much bloom is acceptable.
- Packaging: foil, wrappers or boxes, and who prints them.
- Allergen needs: dairy-free, nut-free or gluten-free, and what the co-packer can promise.
- A forecast and a deposit, and a plan for cool storage and freight.
What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
Three quotes compared
Sawtooth Chocolate Co., a made-up chocolate bar brand in Boise, Idaho, I use in these examples, sells about 3,000 two-ounce bars a month, made from couverture with inclusions:
| Temper and mold yourself | Small chocolate co-packer | Larger confectionery plant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 600 | 3,000 | 10,000 |
| Minimum run | none | 1,500 | 10,000 |
| Good bars, after the loss | 582 | 2,940 | 9,900 |
| Setup, or kitchen rent | $150 | $350 | $800 |
| Fee, or your own labor, a bar | $0.60 | $0.55 | $0.30 |
| Couverture and inclusions, a bar | $0.82 | $0.78 | $0.72 |
| Foil and wrapper | $0.45 | $0.42 | $0.35 |
| Freight a run | $0 | $200 | $500 |
| Run cost | $1,272 | $5,800 | $15,000 |
| Months to sell the run | 0.2 | 1.0 | 3.3 |
| Cool storage while it sells | $0 | $0 | $575 |
| Cost a good bar | $2.19 | $1.97 | $1.57 |
Making it itself, Sawtooth tempers and molds 600 bars a day in a shared kitchen with a tempering machine, five days a month. The small co-packer saves 21 cents a bar and those days. The larger plant saves another 40 cents, but its 10,000-bar run is more than three months of sales and $15,000 out, kept cool the whole time. Chocolate keeps for months, so the question is cash and heat, not freshness. How quotes compare more generally is in co-packer vs commercial kitchen.
Get the calculator
Download the chocolate co-packer quote calculator. One column for each quote and one for making 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 bar 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
Six bars at the co-packer, holiday bars made in your own kitchen, wrappers printed in thousands, and cases going to shops, gift stores and online orders through a hot summer. A spreadsheet can't say how many bars of each kind are at the co-packer, which lot a shop's bloomed bars came from, or when to order the next wrappers.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps track of your bars at the 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 couverture and wrappers you send are a transfer, shown in transit until they arrive, and the finished bars there are counted as yours. More than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
Runs with lots. Each run is a batch with a lot that records the couverture lot it used, so a shop's complaint about bloomed or off bars leads to the run, and a recall report shows which customers got it. Bars damaged by heat are an adjustment with a reason, so waste shows by reason. How lot tracking works is in what is lot tracking.
Wrappers on time. Foil and printed wrappers come up on the reorder list in days of cover, with the printer's lead time and minimum.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Bars at the co-packer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Which couverture lot is in a bar | Unknown | Lots recorded on the run |
| Bars ruined by heat | Thrown out | Adjustment with a reason |
| Wrappers for the next run | Found short | Reorder list in days of cover |
Sites, transfers, batches and lots 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.