A pet food co-packer makes your dog food, cat food or treats to your recipe: kibble on an extruder, canned food in a retort, fresh-cooked food frozen in packs, or baked and dehydrated treats. Pet food is food to FDA, with its own rule for animal food plants, and to the states, which commonly register pet food products or license the companies that sell them. The co-packer's plant has to be set up for your format, and your label has to say the co-packer made it for you. In the example below, a fresh-cooked frozen dog food maker selling 1,500 packs a month pays $4.27 a pack making it itself, $4.04 with a small co-packer, and $3.38 with a larger plant whose minimum is three months of sales. Below is what the rules ask, the label, what the co-packer needs, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Pet food plants follow FDA's animal food rule: good manufacturing practice and, for many, preventive controls.
- Find a co-packer set up for your format: kibble, canned, fresh-frozen, raw or treats.
- Your label names you with "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by" if the co-packer makes it.
- States commonly register pet food products or license the seller; check each state you sell in.
- Complete-and-balanced claims need a formula that meets a recognized nutrient profile or a feeding trial.
- Fresh and frozen pet food needs freezer space and a cold chain, which shows in the quote.
- TaroStack keeps track of your packs at the co-packer, by lot and date, as a site of its own. More below.
What the rules ask
FDA's rule on good manufacturing practice, hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls for food for animals, 21 CFR 507, sets out when animal food is adulterated because of how it was made, packed or held (21 CFR 507.1), and it applies to the plants that make pet food, with exemptions and modified requirements for smaller ones. A co-packer will have a food safety plan for its process; ask how it handles raw meat, pathogens and cleaning between brands. States add their own layer, commonly through product registration or a license to distribute, so a brand selling in ten states may register its products ten times. This is general information, not legal advice. How a dog food business is planned is in dog food business plan.
The label
A packaged animal food's label names the manufacturer, packer or distributor, and when the food isn't made by the company named, the name is qualified with a phrase such as "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by" (21 CFR 501.5). Beyond that, a pet food label carries a guaranteed analysis, an ingredient list, feeding directions, and, if the food claims to be complete and balanced, the basis for that claim. Many co-packers review labels before a first run; it's worth paying for that review.
What a pet food co-packer will ask you for
- The formula by weight, and the nutrient profile it's built to, if it claims to be complete and balanced.
- Ingredient specs and suppliers, or approval for the co-packer to buy them.
- The format: pack size, kibble size, treat shape, fill weight, and storage temperature.
- Labels and state registrations, or a plan for them.
- A forecast and a deposit; meat-heavy formulas often mean the co-packer buys meat to your order.
What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
Three quotes compared
Paddock Pet Kitchen, a made-up fresh-cooked frozen dog food maker in Lexington, Kentucky, I use in these examples, sells about 1,500 one-pound beef packs a month:
| Make it yourself | Small fresh-frozen co-packer | Larger frozen plant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 500 | 1,500 | 5,000 |
| Minimum run | none | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| Good packs, after the loss | 490 | 1,478 | 4,950 |
| Setup, or kitchen rent | $240 | $400 | $800 |
| Fee, or your own labor, a pack | $1.20 | $1.05 | $0.65 |
| Beef, vegetables and supplements, a pack | $2.10 | $2.00 | $1.85 |
| Vacuum pouch and label | $0.40 | $0.38 | $0.32 |
| Freight a run, frozen | $0 | $300 | $700 |
| Run cost | $2,090 | $5,845 | $15,600 |
| Months to sell the run | 0.3 | 1.0 | 3.3 |
| Freezer storage while it sells | $0 | $118 | $1,155 |
| Cost a good pack | $4.27 | $4.04 | $3.38 |
Making it itself in a shared kitchen, Paddock cooks and packs 500 packs a day, three days a month. The small co-packer saves 23 cents a pack and those days, freezer space included. The larger plant saves another 65 cents, but its 5,000-pack minimum is three months of frozen food, $15,600 out and $1,155 of freezer space while it sells. Frozen food keeps, but the freezer bill and the cash don't wait. How quotes compare more generally is in co-packer vs commercial kitchen.
Get the calculator
Download the pet 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 pack 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 packs at the co-packer, in your freezer and in a delivery van, each lot with its date, monthly plans that ship every four weeks, and treats still baked in your kitchen. A spreadsheet can't say how many beef packs are in the co-packer's freezer, which lot is closest to its date, or which subscribers got a lot if a meat supplier calls.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps track of your packs at the co-packer, by lot and date, as a site of its own.
The co-packer as a site. The co-packer's freezer can be a site, so the finished packs there are counted as yours, and moving them to your own freezer 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 use-by date, so orders pick the earliest dates first, an alert warns before a lot nears its date, and a forecast shows what will expire unsold. A recall report shows which customers got each lot. How lot tracking works is in what is lot tracking.
Plans and orders. Each subscriber's delivery is a sales order, and the day's orders make one picking list with the earliest dates first. How a treat line fits alongside is in dog treat business plan.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Packs in the co-packer's freezer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Which lot dates out first | A guess | Earliest dates first, with alerts |
| Packing the week's deliveries | Lists by hand | One picking list |
| Which subscribers got lot 1104 | Search the orders | One recall report |
Sites, transfers, lots, expiry alerts and sales orders 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.