A kosher co-packer is a co-packer whose plant is certified kosher by an agency, so the products it makes for you can carry that agency's symbol once the agency approves them. For a small brand, that's often the fastest way to kosher certification: rather than certifying its own kitchen, the brand has its product made in a plant that's already certified, with every ingredient approved, and the agency adds the brand's product to its list. Grocery chains and distributors ask for kosher more often than brands expect. In the example below, a seasoning maker asked for kosher by a grocery chain pays $2.19 a jar at its current, uncertified co-packer, $2.28 at a kosher-certified one, and $1.88 at a larger certified plant whose minimum is four months of sales. Below is how certification works through a co-packer, dairy and pareve, ingredients, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Kosher certification comes from a private agency, not a government; buyers often name the agencies they accept.
- A certified co-packer's plant is already supervised; your product is added once the agency approves it.
- Selling under your own brand often needs a letter or private label agreement from the agency.
- Every ingredient has to be kosher-certified and approved for that plant.
- Products are designated dairy, meat or pareve, and shared equipment affects the designation.
- Expect a small cost per unit for certified ingredients and the agency's fee.
- TaroStack keeps each lot's kosher certificate with it, through to the run. More below.
How certification works through a co-packer
Kosher certification is given by private agencies, each with its own symbol, standards and fees; a buyer may accept some agencies and not others, so ask the buyer first. A co-packer certified by an accepted agency has a supervisor who inspects the plant, approves its ingredients and lists the products it may label. Your product joins that list when the agency approves your formula and ingredients. Because the product carries your brand rather than the co-packer's, agencies commonly issue a letter of certification or private label agreement naming it, with a yearly fee; ask the co-packer's agency how it handles private label. This is general information; the agency's rules are the ones that count. What a co-packer is, in general, is in what is a co-packer.
Dairy, meat or pareve
Kosher products are designated dairy, meat or pareve, neither dairy nor meat, and the symbol shows which. A pareve product made on equipment that also runs dairy may be designated dairy, which matters to buyers who keep kosher and to anyone who reads a "D" as "contains milk". If your seasoning is pareve, ask whether the co-packer's blenders run dairy blends, such as a cheese powder, and how the agency treats that. Allergens are a separate question with their own label rules; a list by product is in allergen matrix template.
Ingredients
Every ingredient in a certified product has to be certified kosher and approved by the agency for that plant, down to the flavorings and anti-caking agents. A spice that's fine on its own may come from a supplier without certification, so the co-packer may swap suppliers, and the cost or flavor may move a little. Agree on approved suppliers before the first run. What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
Three quotes compared
Sangamon Spice Co., a made-up barbecue rub and seasoning maker in Springfield, Illinois, I use in these examples, sells about 2,500 five-ounce shakers a month, and a regional grocery chain has asked for kosher certification:
| Current co-packer, not certified | Kosher-certified co-packer | Larger kosher-certified co-packer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 3,000 | 3,000 | 10,000 |
| Minimum run | 1,500 | 2,000 | 10,000 |
| Good jars, after the loss | 2,955 | 2,955 | 9,900 |
| Setup, with a share of the agency's fee | $300 | $400 | $650 |
| Fee a jar | $0.45 | $0.48 | $0.30 |
| The blend, a jar | $0.95 | $0.98 | $0.92 |
| Shaker, sifter cap and label | $0.58 | $0.58 | $0.50 |
| Freight a run | $220 | $220 | $450 |
| Run cost | $6,460 | $6,740 | $18,300 |
| Months to sell the run | 1.2 | 1.2 | 4.0 |
| Storage while it sells | $0 | $0 | $355 |
| Cost a good jar | $2.19 | $2.28 | $1.88 |
Moving to the certified co-packer costs Sangamon about 9 cents a jar: certified spices, a slightly higher fee, and a share of the agency's yearly fee for the private label letter. It opens the grocery chain. The larger certified co-packer is 30 cents cheaper than the current one, with four months of rub up front and $18,300 out. How co-packer quotes compare more generally is in co-packer vs commercial kitchen.
Get the calculator
Download the kosher co-packer quote calculator. One column for each quote: type the run you'd order, the minimum, the loss, the setup, the fee, 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
Twelve blends, forty spices, each with its supplier's kosher certificate that expires each year, some runs certified and some not, and a buyer asking for the current certificate for every product. A spreadsheet can't keep each lot's certificate with it, or show which runs used a spice whose certificate lapsed.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each lot's kosher certificate with it, through to the run.
Certificates on the lot. Each lot of spice is received with fields of your own, such as the kosher agency, the certificate number and its expiry, so the paperwork travels with the lot.
Runs that record their lots. Each run at the co-packer is a batch that records the spice lots it used, so a buyer's question about a jar, or a supplier's lapsed certificate, leads straight to the runs. The co-packer's premises can be a site, with transfers in and out; more than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
Certified and uncertified apart. A certified spice and an uncertified one are separate items, so a certified recipe can't quietly use the wrong one. How lot tracking works is in what is lot tracking.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| A spice lot's kosher certificate | A folder of PDFs | Fields on the lot |
| Which runs used that lot | Unknown | Lots recorded on the run |
| Certified and uncertified paprika | One line on a sheet | Separate items |
| Rub at the co-packer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
Lots, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month; more than one site is on Standard at $99. 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.