A protein bar co-packer mixes, presses or extrudes, cuts, coats and flow-wraps your bars at a pace a kitchen can't match. Bars are a good product to co-pack: they're dry enough to keep for months, and the machinery that makes them consistent is expensive. The label is where protein bars get tricky: putting "protein" in a claim, even "10 g of protein" in big letters on the front, means the Nutrition Facts has to show a corrected percent of Daily Value for protein, worked out from the protein's quality, not only its grams. In the example below, a snack bar maker selling 8,000 bars a month pays $1.47 a bar making it itself, $1.20 with a small bar co-packer, and 93 cents with a larger plant whose minimum is nearly four months of sales. Below is the protein claim rule, texture and shelf life, allergens, what the co-packer needs, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- A protein claim on the front makes a corrected percent Daily Value for protein required on the panel.
- That figure depends on protein quality, so the protein source matters, not only the grams.
- Bars harden or soften over months; agree on texture and test the shelf life.
- Nut butters, whey, soy and wheat are common in bars; ask what runs on the line.
- Your label names you with "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by".
- Minimums are often in the thousands, because a bar line runs fast once it's set up.
- TaroStack keeps track of your bars at the co-packer, by lot and date, as a site of its own. More below.
The protein claim
Protein in grams always goes on the Nutrition Facts label. The percent of Daily Value for protein is optional, except that it has to be given if a protein claim is made for the product, and it's the corrected amount, adjusted for the protein's quality (21 CFR 101.9(c)(7)). So a bar sold as "15 g protein" needs a lab's or a co-packer's calculation of how much of that protein counts, and a bar made from a lower-quality protein can show a much smaller percent than its grams suggest. Ask the co-packer, or a lab, to work out the corrected figure for your formula before the wrappers are printed. This is general information, not legal advice. How a bar business is planned is in protein bar business plan.
Texture, shelf life and allergens
A bar that's soft and chewy in week one can be hard in month three as moisture moves and sugars set. Co-packers adjust binders, syrups and fats to hold texture, and test it over the shelf life you need. Bars also carry allergens: nut butters, whey and milk, soy protein, wheat in crisps. Ask what else runs on the line, and keep your own allergen list per bar; one is in allergen matrix template. Your wrapper names you, qualified with words such as "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by" (21 CFR 101.5).
What a bar co-packer will ask you for
- The formula by weight, protein source and supplier, and how much protein you want to claim.
- Specs: weight, size, texture, coating, and how much it can vary.
- The shelf life you need, and who pays for the testing.
- Wrapper film or printed rollstock, cartons and cases.
- A forecast and a deposit: protein powders and nut butters are often bought to your order.
What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
Three quotes compared
Bonneville Bar Co., a made-up snack bar maker in Salt Lake City, Utah, I use in these examples, sells about 8,000 sixty-gram protein bars a month:
| Make it yourself | Small bar co-packer | Larger bar plant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 1,500 | 8,000 | 30,000 |
| Minimum run | none | 5,000 | 30,000 |
| Good bars, after the loss | 1,455 | 7,840 | 29,700 |
| Setup, or kitchen rent | $180 | $500 | $1,200 |
| Fee, or your own labor, a bar | $0.50 | $0.32 | $0.16 |
| Protein, nut butter, dates, oats, coating | $0.63 | $0.60 | $0.55 |
| Printed wrapper | $0.18 | $0.16 | $0.12 |
| Freight a run | $0 | $300 | $800 |
| Run cost | $2,145 | $9,440 | $26,900 |
| Months to sell the run | 0.2 | 1.0 | 3.7 |
| Storage while it sells | $0 | $0 | $678 |
| Cost a good bar | $1.47 | $1.20 | $0.93 |
Making them itself, Bonneville mixes, presses, cuts, coats and wraps about 1,500 bars a day, five or six days a month. The small bar co-packer saves 27 cents a bar, about $2,150 a month, and its flow-wrapper seals better than a hand sealer. The larger plant saves another 28 cents, but its 30,000-bar run is nearly four months of sales and $26,900 out. Bars keep, so the question is cash and whether the texture holds for four months. How co-packer quotes compare more generally is in co-packer vs commercial kitchen.
Get the calculator
Download the protein bar 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 bar 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
Bars at the co-packer by flavor and lot, variety packs built at home, boxes of twelve shipped online, and grocers that want the newest dates. A spreadsheet can't say how many chocolate peanut bars are at the co-packer, which lot dates out first, or what it takes to build 500 variety packs.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps track of your bars at the co-packer, by lot and date, as a site of its own.
The co-packer as a site. The co-packer's premises can be a site, so the wrappers and powders you send are a transfer, shown in transit until they arrive, and the finished bars there are counted as yours. More than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
Lots with dates. Each run is a batch with a lot and a best-by date, so orders pick the earliest dates first and an alert warns before a lot nears its date. A recall report shows which customers got each lot. How lot tracking works is in what is lot tracking.
Variety packs as recipes. A variety pack is a recipe of four bars and a carton, so packing 500 takes the bars off stock, and "what could I make right now" says how many packs the bars on hand allow.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Bars at the co-packer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Which lot dates out first | A guess | Earliest dates first, with alerts |
| Variety packs from the bars on hand | Count each flavor | What could I make right now |
| Which stores got lot 1006 | Search the invoices | One recall report |
Sites, transfers, recipes, lots and expiry alerts 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.