A pasta co-packer mixes, extrudes or sheets, cuts, dries and bags your pasta, the long, slow part of the job a small pasta maker does in a rented kitchen by the pound. The questions that matter are about the pasta itself: bronze dies for the rough surface sauce clings to, or smoother Teflon dies; the drying temperature and time, which decide texture and how long it keeps; your flour and shapes; and, for egg pasta, the federal standard of identity, because a product called egg noodles has egg solids of at least 5.5% of its total solids. Wheat and egg are allergens on the label, and a gluten-free pasta needs a line that doesn't carry wheat over. Dry pasta keeps for months, so a big run is a cash question; fresh pasta needs refrigeration and a much smaller run. In the example below, a Lawrence, Kansas pasta maker selling about 1,500 bags of dried rigatoni a month pays $2.96 a bag extruding it itself, $2.30 with a small bronze-die co-packer, and $1.63 with a larger pasta maker whose minimum is more than six months of bags. Below is what pasta co-packers do, the standards and allergens, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Pasta co-packers mix, extrude or sheet, cut, dry and bag to your recipe.
- Bronze dies give a rough surface; ask which dies and shapes they have.
- Drying temperature and time set the texture and the shelf life.
- Egg noodles need egg solids of at least 5.5% of the total solids.
- Wheat and egg are allergens; gluten-free needs a line without wheat carryover.
- Dry pasta keeps for months; fresh pasta needs cold and small runs.
- TaroStack keeps track of your bags at the co-packer, by lot, as a site of its own. More below.
What pasta co-packers do
They mix semolina or flour with water or egg, extrude through dies or roll sheets, cut, dry on racks or in a dryer, and bag by weight. Most buy the semolina; a heritage wheat or a specialty flour you may supply. Extra dies for your own shape cost money and time. What a co-packer is in general is in what is a co-packer.
Standards and allergens
| Question | What it means |
|---|---|
| Macaroni products | Dried formed dough from semolina, durum flour, farina or flour, with listed optional ingredients (21 CFR 139.110) |
| Egg noodles | Egg or yolk solids at least 5.5% of the total solids (139.150) |
| Allergens | Wheat, and egg in egg pasta, declared on the label |
| Gluten-free | A line and flour that keep gluten out, with testing |
| Drying | Temperature, time and final moisture, which set texture and shelf life |
This is general information, not legal advice. How the label fits together is in food labeling requirements for small business.
Three quotes compared
Prairie Mill Pasta, the made-up pasta maker in Lawrence, Kansas, I use in these examples, sells about 1,500 one-pound bags of dried rigatoni a month, mostly wholesale at $5.50:
| Extrude it yourself | Small bronze-die co-packer | Larger pasta maker | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 300 | 2,000 | 10,000 |
| Minimum run | none | 1,000 | 10,000 |
| Good bags, after the loss | 291 | 1,960 | 9,900 |
| Kitchen rent or setup | $125 | $300 | $600 |
| Fee, or your own labor, a bag | $1.10 | $0.70 | $0.30 |
| Semolina, a bag | $0.95 | $0.90 | $0.80 |
| Bag and label | $0.40 | $0.38 | $0.30 |
| Freight a run | $0 | $250 | $700 |
| Run cost | $860 | $4,510 | $15,300 |
| Months to sell the run | 0.2 | 1.3 | 6.6 |
| Storage while it sells | $0 | $0 | $840 |
| Cost a good bag | $2.96 | $2.30 | $1.63 |
The small co-packer saves 66 cents a bag, about $990 a month, and the extruding and drying days. The larger maker saves another 67 cents for $15,300 out and more than six months of rigatoni; dry pasta keeps, so it's a cash question, and the answer changes when grocery sales double. The fresh fettuccine and ravioli stay in the kitchen: they need cold and short runs. What the pasta business earns is in pasta business plan.
What to settle before the first run
- Flour, water or egg ratio, and egg solids for egg pasta.
- Dies and shapes, and who pays for a custom die.
- Drying temperature, time and final moisture.
- Bag weight and declared net weight.
- Allergen cleaning, lot code and best-by date.
What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
Get the calculator
Download the pasta co-packer quote calculator. One column for each quote and one for extruding it yourself: type the run you'd order, the minimum, the loss, the setup, the fee or your labor, the semolina, the bag and label, 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
Rigatoni at the co-packer, fresh pasta in your kitchen's walk-in, semolina in two places, and grocers wanting dates: a spreadsheet doesn't keep the two kinds of stock straight.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps track of your bags 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 bags you send are a transfer, shown in transit until they arrive, and the finished cases there are counted as yours. More than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
Runs as batches. Each run is a batch with a lot and its best-by date, and the fresh pasta made in your kitchen is a batch of its own, with its shorter date.
Bags on time. Bags and labels come up on the reorder list in days of cover, with each supplier's lead time and minimum.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Rigatoni at the co-packer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Fresh and dry pasta dates | Two lists | Lots with their own dates |
| Bags for the next run | Found short | Reorder list in days of cover |
Sites, transfers, recipes, 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.