A salad dressing co-packer mixes, emulsifies and bottles your dressing, hot-filled or cold-filled, shelf-stable or refrigerated. The questions that matter start with what kind of dressing it is. A vinaigrette that's mostly vinegar and oil can be an acid food, but add enough garlic, onion, herbs or vegetables and it can become an acidified food, with the FCE registration, process filing and pH records those bring, so a process authority should review the recipe before the co-packer quotes. Creamy dressings with buttermilk or cheese often stay refrigerated. And two names are federal standards of identity: a product called mayonnaise has at least 65% vegetable oil, and one called salad dressing, the spoonable kind, at least 30% oil with egg yolk; your vinaigrette is named for what it is. In the example below, a Keene, New Hampshire dressing maker planning for about 2,000 bottles a month pays $3.34 a bottle making it itself, $2.95 with a small dressing co-packer, and $2.26 with a larger plant whose minimum is six months of bottles. Below is what dressing co-packers do, the acidity and naming questions, three quotes, and a free calculator.
The short version
- Dressing co-packers mix, emulsify and bottle, hot-fill or cold-fill.
- Garlic, onion, herbs or vegetables can make a vinaigrette an acidified food.
- Have a process authority review the recipe first.
- Creamy dressings with dairy are often refrigerated.
- "Mayonnaise" means at least 65% oil; "salad dressing" at least 30% with egg yolk.
- Emulsion stability and separation over shelf life go on the spec.
- TaroStack keeps track of your bottles at the co-packer, by lot, as a site of its own. More below.
What dressing co-packers do
They weigh and mix ingredients, emulsify with high-shear mixers, fill hot or cold, cap, label and case. Hot-fill lines suit shelf-stable dressings; cold-fill with refrigeration suits creamy ones. Most buy the oils and vinegars; a specialty vinegar or herb you may supply. What a co-packer is in general is in what is a co-packer, and sauces in sauce co-packer.
Acidity and names
| Question | What to settle |
|---|---|
| Acid or acidified | Whether low-acid ingredients like garlic, onion or herbs make it acidified; if so, registration and a filing for each product and bottle size (21 CFR 108.25) |
| Process authority | A review of the recipe and pH before the first run |
| Mayonnaise | At least 65% vegetable oil (21 CFR 169.140) |
| Salad dressing | At least 30% vegetable oil and egg yolk, the spoonable kind (169.150) |
| Refrigerated or not | Dairy-based dressings kept cold, with a use-by date |
| Separation | How the emulsion holds over the shelf life |
The acidified food rules are in FCE registration, and the process authority in process authority letter. This is general information, not legal advice.
Three quotes compared
Monadnock Dressing Co., the made-up dressing maker in Keene, New Hampshire, I use in these examples, is planning for about 2,000 twelve-ounce bottles of shelf-stable vinaigrette a month after a grocery chain's offer:
| Make it yourself | Small dressing co-packer | Larger dressing plant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run you'd order | 400 | 2,500 | 12,000 |
| Minimum run | none | 1,500 | 12,000 |
| Good bottles, after the loss | 392 | 2,450 | 11,880 |
| Kitchen rent or setup | $150 | $350 | $700 |
| Fee, or your own labor, a bottle | $0.80 | $0.65 | $0.30 |
| Oil, vinegar and seasonings | $1.25 | $1.20 | $1.05 |
| Bottle, cap and label | $0.85 | $0.80 | $0.68 |
| Freight a run | $0 | $250 | $800 |
| Run cost | $1,310 | $7,225 | $25,860 |
| Months to sell the run | 0.2 | 1.2 | 5.9 |
| Storage while it sells | $0 | $0 | $988 |
| Cost a good bottle | $3.34 | $2.95 | $2.26 |
The small co-packer saves 39 cents a bottle, about $780 a month at 2,000 bottles, and the kitchen days. The larger plant saves another 69 cents for $25,860 out and almost six months of vinaigrette; shelf-stable dressing keeps, so it's a cash question that waits until the chain's orders prove out. The creamy dressing stays a kitchen product, refrigerated. What the dressing business earns is in salad dressing business plan.
What to settle before the first run
- The process authority's review, and the finished pH.
- Hot-fill or cold-fill, and the shelf life.
- Viscosity and emulsion stability.
- Fill volume and declared net contents.
- Allergens on the label, lot code and best-by date.
What a spec sheet holds is in product specification sheet.
Get the calculator
Download the salad dressing 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, the ingredients, the bottle 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 bottle 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
Vinaigrette at the co-packer, creamy dressing in your walk-in, restaurant gallons going out every week: a spreadsheet doesn't keep the shelf-stable and the refrigerated stock straight.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps track of your bottles 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 bottles and labels 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, with dates. Each run is a batch with a lot and its best-by date; the refrigerated creamy dressing made in your kitchen gets its own shorter date, and orders pick the earliest first.
Where it went. Each grocer's order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows every store a run reached.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Vinaigrette at the co-packer | Ask them | Stock at their site |
| Creamy dressing dates | A list on the walk-in | Lots with their dates |
| Which stores got a run | Invoices | One recall report |
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.