A jerky co-packer makes your jerky to your recipe in its own plant, and for beef or pork jerky sold to stores or online, that plant is almost always an official establishment: one operating under USDA's inspection or a state program equal to it. That's what lets you sell beyond your own counter, and it's why the co-packer's establishment number, not yours, goes in the inspection mark on your bag. After that it's recipes, labels and minimums. In the example below, a jerky maker selling 1,500 bags a month pays $5.52 a bag making it in a shared inspected kitchen, $4.87 with a small inspected co-packer, and $3.99 with a larger plant whose minimum is three months of sales. Below is why inspection matters, labels and approval, what the co-packer needs, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Meat jerky sold to stores or online is made in an inspected establishment; the co-packer's inspection covers your product.
- The inspection mark on your bag carries the co-packer's establishment number.
- Labels with all the required features can often be used without sending them to FSIS first; special claims need approval.
- The co-packer runs your jerky under its HACCP plan, with its heating and drying limits.
- Bring a recipe by weight, a target yield and texture, packaging and labels.
- Compare quotes on the cost of a good bag 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.
Why the plant has to be inspected
Meat products sold to the public come from official establishments, unless they're made and sold the way a retail store traditionally does it, in its own shop. A jerky brand selling to grocers, gas stations and online customers is past that line, so its co-packer is an official establishment, and the co-packer's grant of inspection covers your jerky. The co-packer makes it under its own HACCP plan, with the heating and drying limits its process supports; ask to see the plan's critical limits for jerky before you sign. How the retail exemption works for a meat shop is in sausage making business plan, and the jerky business itself in beef jerky business plan.
Labels and approval
A meat label's required features include the number of the official establishment where it was made, in the form the rules set (9 CFR 317.2), so your bag carries the co-packer's number inside the inspection mark. An official establishment can use generically approved labels, ones that show all the mandatory features prominently and aren't false or misleading, without submitting them to FSIS first (9 CFR 412.2); labels with special statements or claims go to FSIS for approval. The co-packer often handles that, because the labels are used under its inspection; agree who pays and how long it takes. This is general information, not legal advice.
What a jerky co-packer will ask you for
- The recipe by weight: the cut, slice thickness, marinade, cure if any, and the flavor to match.
- Texture and yield: how dry, and roughly how much finished jerky from a pound of raw beef.
- Packaging and labels: bags, oxygen absorbers, and labels for the co-packer's review.
- A pilot batch made on their equipment and signed off.
- A forecast and a deposit; many jerky co-packers buy the beef, so they want the order before they buy it.
What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
Three quotes compared
Cedar Hollow Jerky, a made-up jerky maker in Bozeman, Montana, I use in these examples, sells about 1,500 three-ounce bags of beef jerky a month:
| Make it yourself, shared inspected kitchen | Small inspected co-packer | Larger jerky plant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 400 | 1,500 | 5,000 |
| Minimum run | none | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| Good bags, after the loss | 392 | 1,485 | 4,950 |
| Setup, or kitchen rent | $250 | $350 | $600 |
| Fee, or your own labor, a bag | $1.60 | $1.40 | $0.85 |
| Beef and marinade, a bag | $2.73 | $2.60 | $2.45 |
| Bag, oxygen absorber and label | $0.45 | $0.45 | $0.38 |
| Freight a run | $0 | $200 | $500 |
| Run cost | $2,162 | $7,225 | $19,500 |
| Months to sell the run | 0.3 | 1.0 | 3.3 |
| Storage while it sells | $0 | $0 | $230 |
| Cost a good bag | $5.52 | $4.87 | $3.99 |
Making it itself, Cedar Hollow rents time in a shared inspected kitchen for $250 a day and makes about 400 bags, nearly four days a month of slicing, marinating, smoking and packing. The small co-packer saves 65 cents a bag, about $975 a month, and buys the beef by the case. The larger plant saves another 88 cents, but its 5,000-bag run is $19,500 out and more than three months of jerky, which keeps, but ties up the cash for a quarter. How a brand decides when to leave its own kitchen is in co-packer vs commercial kitchen.
Get the calculator
Download the jerky 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, beef and marinade, 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 bag 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
Jerky made at a co-packer, venison still made in your own kitchen, bags and labels in both places, and cases going to shops and online orders. A spreadsheet can't say how many bags are at the co-packer, which run a store's bags came from, or which customers got a run if the co-packer calls about its beef supplier.
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 bags and labels you send are a transfer, shown in transit until they arrive, and the cases there are counted as yours. More than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
Runs with lots. Each run is a batch at the co-packer's site with a lot, and the co-packer's records for it, such as its heating and drying readings, can go in fields of your own on the batch. A recall report shows which customers got each lot. How lot tracking works is in what is lot tracking.
Packaging on time. Bags, oxygen absorbers and labels come up on the reorder list in days of cover, with each supplier's lead time and minimum. How costs compare to your own kitchen is in how to price homemade jerky.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Jerky at the co-packer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Bags on the way | An email | A transfer, in transit |
| The run's heating records | A PDF | Fields on the batch |
| Which shops got lot 1102 | Search the invoices | One recall report |
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.