A frozen food co-packer makes your dumplings, pierogi, empanadas, burritos, soups or meals, freezes them fast and packs them for the freezer case. The first question is which inspector it answers to for your product: a potato and cheese pierogi is an FDA product, while a pierogi with meat in it comes under USDA's meat inspection, so the co-packer needs a grant of inspection and your bag carries its establishment number. After that, it's machines, freezers and minimums, and freezer space costs money every day a case sits. In the example below, a pierogi maker selling 1,000 frozen dozens a month to grocers pays $5.77 a dozen making them by hand, $3.80 with a small frozen co-packer, and $3.06 with a larger plant whose minimum is three months of sales. Below is FDA or USDA, freezing and freezer space, what the co-packer needs, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Frozen foods with meat or poultry in them can fall under USDA inspection; plant-based and dairy fillings under FDA.
- For a meat product, the co-packer has a grant of inspection, and your label carries its establishment number.
- For an FDA product, your label names you with "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by".
- Blast freezing and machine forming change texture; taste the co-packer's version.
- Freezer space at the co-packer, and frozen freight, are part of the cost.
- Wheat, milk, eggs and soy run through dumpling and pierogi lines; ask what else does.
- TaroStack keeps track of your frozen cases at the co-packer, by lot and date, as a site of its own. More below.
FDA or USDA
Which agency covers a frozen food depends on what's in it. Products with more than a small amount of meat or poultry come under USDA's inspection, made in an official establishment whose number goes on the label in the inspection mark (9 CFR 317.2); cheese, potato, vegetable and most seafood fillings are FDA products. A pierogi line with both kinds is often two products at two kinds of co-packer, or one co-packer with both a USDA grant and an FDA registration. For an FDA product, the label names you, qualified with words such as "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by" (21 CFR 101.5). This is general information, not legal advice; ask FSIS or your co-packer which side of the line a recipe falls on. How a frozen food business is started is in how to start a frozen food business.
Freezing and freezer space
Frozen food co-packers freeze fast, in blast freezers or tunnels, so ice crystals stay small and the food isn't mushy when it's cooked. Then the cases go into a holding freezer until they ship, at a price a pallet a month, and onto frozen trucks. A bigger run means more freezer months, and a freezer full of slow-selling flavors is a bill every month. Agree on the storage terms and who pays the frozen freight. How quotes compare more generally is in co-packer vs commercial kitchen.
What a frozen food co-packer will ask you for
- The recipe by weight, with dough, filling and the ratio between them, and each ingredient's spec.
- Specs: weight per piece, pieces per bag, shape, how it's cooked, and the texture to match.
- Packaging: bags or boxes for freezer cases, labels with cooking instructions, and cases.
- Allergen information and what can't run before your product.
- A forecast and a deposit, and who stores the cases after the run.
What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
Three quotes compared
Avondale Pierogi Co., a made-up pierogi maker in Chicago, Illinois, I use in these examples, sells about 1,000 frozen dozens of potato and cheese pierogi a month to grocers:
| Make them by hand | Small frozen food co-packer | Larger frozen plant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 150 | 1,000 | 3,000 |
| Minimum run | none | 500 | 3,000 |
| Good dozens, after the loss | 147 | 980 | 2,970 |
| Setup, or kitchen rent | $200 | $400 | $900 |
| Fee, or your own labor, a dozen | $2.67 | $1.30 | $0.70 |
| Dough and filling, a dozen | $1.25 | $1.20 | $1.10 |
| Bag and label | $0.40 | $0.38 | $0.30 |
| Freight a run, frozen | $0 | $300 | $700 |
| Run cost | $848 | $3,580 | $7,900 |
| Months to sell the run | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| Freezer storage while it sells | $0 | $147 | $1,188 |
| Cost a good dozen | $5.77 | $3.80 | $3.06 |
By hand, with a mold, a pierogi takes Avondale about 40 seconds: $2.67 of labor a dozen, and seven days a month of shaping for three people. The small co-packer's forming machine cuts that to $1.30 and saves $1.97 a dozen, about $1,970 a month, which turns the grocery price of $9 a dozen into a real margin. The larger plant saves another 74 cents, with three months of pierogi in its freezer at $1,188. Machine-formed pierogi look less handmade than Avondale's pinched edge, which is a brand question as much as a cost one. How the pierogi business is planned is in pierogi business plan.
Get the calculator
Download the frozen food 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 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
Frozen cases at the co-packer, in your own freezer and on a distributor's truck, each lot with its date, and grocers that rotate stock by date. A spreadsheet can't say how many cases of each flavor are in the co-packer's freezer, which lot dates out first, or which stores got a lot with a labeling problem.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps track of your frozen cases at the co-packer, by lot and date, as a site of its own.
The co-packer's freezer as a site. The co-packer's freezer can be a site, so the cases there are counted as yours, and moving pallets to your freezer or a distributor is a transfer, shown in transit. More than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
Lots with dates. Each run is a batch with a lot and a best-by date, so orders pick the earliest dates first and a grocer can carry its own minimum days left. A recall report shows which stores got each lot. How lot tracking works is in what is lot tracking.
What's worth the freezer space. Sales by product and a forecast of what will expire unsold show which flavors are filling the freezer without selling.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Cases in the co-packer's freezer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Which lot dates out first | A guess | Earliest dates first |
| Slow flavors filling the freezer | Noticed at year end | Forecast of what will expire unsold |
| Which stores got lot 0925 | Search the invoices | One recall report |
Sites, transfers, lots, expiry forecasts and recalls 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.