A smoothie poured into a cup in front of the customer needs a cup, a lid and a straw, and no label. A clear cup with a dome lid shows the color; a compostable cup costs more and suits customers who ask. Anything sold to a business to sell again is different. A frozen smoothie pack, fruit and greens in a pouch for the gym to blend, is frozen fruit until it's blended. A bottled smoothie is a fruit purée, which FDA's juice rule counts as juice, and selling bottles to a gym makes you a juice processor. In the example below, a Tampa smoothie business prices four options: 17 cents to 40 cents a smoothie.
The short version
- Cups for smoothies blended in front of the customer: no label needed.
- Clear cups with dome lids show the color.
- Compostable cups cost more.
- Frozen packs for a gym are frozen fruit until blended.
- A bottled smoothie is juice under FDA's juice rule.
- Bottles sold to a business need a juice HACCP plan with a 5-log step.
- TaroStack puts the cup in each smoothie's cost. More below.
The options
| Option | Label | Juice rule | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 oz clear cup, dome lid, straw | None | Retail, exempt | The cart |
| 16 oz compostable cup, lid, straw | None | Retail, exempt | The cart, events |
| Frozen smoothie pack | Yes | Not juice until blended | Gyms |
| 12 oz PET bottle, tamper cap | Yes | Processor, sold to a gym | Gyms, grocers |
A bottled smoothie sold through a gym needs a juice HACCP plan whose process cuts the pathogen of concern by at least 5 logs, which for a smoothie means high-pressure processing or pasteurization, in juice HACCP plan. Bottles a retail shop fills and sells itself without that step carry a warning, in juice warning label.
The label
FDA's juice rule counts purées of fruits and vegetables as juice, and a business that sells juice to other businesses, not only to its own customers, is a processor rather than a retail establishment (21 CFR 120.1 and 120.3); a processor's process achieves at least a 5-log reduction (21 CFR 120.24). A frozen pack's label lists ingredients (21 CFR 101.4), the name and place of business (21 CFR 101.5) and the net weight, and declares milk in yogurt, nuts in almond butter and any other major allergen (21 U.S.C. 343(w)). This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: four options for a smoothie business
Key Lime Blends, the made-up smoothie business in Tampa, Florida, I use in these examples, blends about 500 smoothies a week on its cart and packs frozen smoothie packs for gyms:
| Option | Parts | Per smoothie | 500 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 oz clear cup, dome lid, straw | Cup 10¢, lid 5¢, straw 2¢ | $0.17 | $86.70 |
| 16 oz compostable cup, lid, straw | Cup 18¢, lid 8¢, straw 2¢ | $0.29 | $142.80 |
| Frozen smoothie pack | Pouch 12¢, label | $0.17 | $87.30 |
| 12 oz PET bottle, tamper cap | Bottle and cap 32¢, band, label | $0.40 | $198.90 |
A gym asked for bottled smoothies. The bottle itself costs little; the 5-log step behind it, a high-pressure processing run at a co-packer, doesn't, and the gym was happy to keep blending frozen packs. The cart stays with clear cups, and compostable cups go to the events that ask for them. The year's numbers are in smoothie business plan, and bottles from a co-packer in how to package juice for sale.
Get the calculator
Download the smoothie packaging calculator. Two sheets: components, each part of each option with its pack price, units, how many a smoothie uses and waste; and compare, each option's cost per smoothie and per week at your volume, with notes. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A cost sheet doesn't know which lot of frozen mango went into which gym's packs. When a supplier recalls a lot of frozen fruit, every gym that got it has to be found.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each batch's lot, the packaging in its cost, and where every case went.
Each batch a lot. Each batch of smoothie packs records the ingredient lots it used, gets its own lot and dates, and lot labels print for the packages.
Packaging in the recipe. The cups and pouches are items in each smoothie's recipe, so every batch uses them up at the price you paid, and the count of what's left stays current.
Where it went. Each customer's order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows every customer a batch reached.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which batch is in a package | Written on it | The lot on its label |
| Cups and pouches left | Counted when you run out | Used by every batch |
| Which shops got a batch | Invoices | One recall report |
Lots, batches, recipes and true cost are on every plan, from $49 a month. 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.