Shipping Perishable Food From a Small Business

Shipping perishable food from a small business comes down to keeping it cold for longer than the trip takes. Pack it in an insulated shipper inside a sturdy outer box; use gel packs for food that has to stay chilled and dry ice for food that has to stay frozen; ship by an overnight or two-day service, Monday to Wednesday, so nothing sits in a depot over a weekend; and tell the customer it's coming. Dry ice has its own carrier rules and labels, and some foods and some states have rules of their own about selling by mail, so check both before the first order. The part that catches small makers out isn't the packing, it's the price: the cold box and fast postage can cost more than the food inside. In the example below, four boxes of frozen taro patties cost $14.88 to make and $41.50 to ship frozen, so the business ships only orders of eight boxes or more. Below is chilled against frozen, the packing, the timing, the cost, and keeping track of what went where.

The short version

• Chilled food: insulated shipper and gel packs. Frozen food: insulated shipper and dry ice.
• Fill the shipper so nothing moves, coolant on top and around, and close it tight.
• Ship overnight or two-day, Monday to Wednesday.
• Check your carrier's rules for perishables and dry ice, and your state's rules for your food.
• Tell the customer when it's arriving, and to put it away at once.
• Price the cold box and postage in, and set a minimum order that makes it pay.
• TaroStack keeps each batch's lot and date, and which lot went to which customer. More below.

Chilled or frozen

Gel packs keep food cold; they don't keep it frozen for long. Dry ice keeps food frozen, but it needs room to vent, and the box must be marked as your carrier requires. Ask your carrier for its rules before you buy any.

How to pack it

1. Freeze or chill the food fully first. The box keeps it cold; it can't make it colder.
2. Seal the food in its packaging, then a bag, so condensation can't reach it.
3. Use an insulated shipper that fits the load; empty space warms faster, so fill it.
4. Put the coolant on top and around; cold air sinks.
5. Close the shipper, then the outer box, and mark it "Perishable" and, if used, as your carrier requires for dry ice.
6. Put the lot and use-by on the inner pack, so the customer knows how long it keeps.

When to ship

Ship Monday to Wednesday, so a delayed box still arrives before the weekend. Check the forecast for both ends in summer, and the carrier's holiday schedule in December. Email the customer the tracking number and the day it's due, and ask them to put it away when it arrives. How long a product keeps once it's out of the freezer or fridge is something to test, not guess; how is in shelf life study template.

What a box costs

Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, ships frozen taro patties from Oʻahu:

Shipping four boxes costs $41.50, almost three times the food. Eight boxes spread it to $6.44 a box. So the business ships only orders of eight boxes or more, and prices them as delivered. Where a $3.72 box of patties comes from is in frozen food profit margin, and how a frozen food business plans its year is in frozen food business plan.

Where this stops working

Shipping a few boxes is a packing job. Shipping thirty a week is a records job: which batch went into which shipper, which customer's box was delayed in the heat, which lot is close to its date, and whether the order you promised for Wednesday actually left. On paper, a customer's question about a thawed box means searching orders by hand.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps every batch's date and every shipment's lot.

Every batch, a lot with its date. Recording a batch takes ingredients off stock at what you paid and puts the product into a lot with its use-by or best-by date. Lot labels print with both, and lots close to their date show in your alerts.

Shipped by lot, in date order. Shipping takes stock from a lot you choose, so the oldest goes first, and a customer's minimum days of shelf life is applied when an order is picked. Delivery notes print with each line's lot and best-before date, and a warning shows when an order you promised hasn't shipped.

And every box, traced. If a customer writes about a thawed box, the order shows its lot, the lot shows its batch, and one report shows every other customer who got it. Orders from your Shopify store come in, and we set that up with you.

Lots, batches, sales orders, shipping and expiry alerts are on every plan, from $49 a month. 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.

Questions people also ask

How do small businesses ship perishable food?

In an insulated shipper inside a sturdy box, with gel packs for chilled food or dry ice for frozen, by an overnight or two-day service, shipped early in the week, with the customer told when it's arriving.

How do you ship frozen food?

Freeze it solid first, seal it, pack it tight in an insulated shipper with dry ice or plenty of frozen gel packs, and ship overnight early in the week. Check your carrier's rules for dry ice before you use it.

What are the requirements for shipping perishable food?

Your carrier's rules for perishables and dry ice, and your state's rules for selling your kind of food by mail. Check both before the first order.

How much does it cost to ship perishable food?

Often more than the food. In the example, shipping four boxes of frozen patties overnight costs $41.50 against $14.88 of food; eight boxes bring it to $6.44 a box.