These are not the gummy bears you're looking for.

August 18, 2005 9:20 PM

How does one get a food item made/packaged/produced?

I have an idea for a niche food item. Mostly this is just idle chatter, but I do wonder how I'd go about getting it made. Certainly it's nothing worth starting up a factory and self-producing it, like a good many niche products, so some company out there has to be doing that.

What would a company like that be called? What steps would someone have to take to make a product and sell it?

Disclaimer: I'm in Canada, so American FDA rules won't apply, unless I was to sell it to Americans, I'd guess.

posted by Kickstart70 to food & drink (8 comments total)

What type of food item is it? There are vastly different requirements depending on whether the item is perishable, etc.. I know you're looking for a company that would produce it for you, but I don't know of any off the cuff and believe your best bet would be approaching a local packager of the type of foodstuff you'd be producing.
And depending on what type it is, you might have an easy or tough time of it. For example, meat products, dairy products, etc.. require close monitoring, source ingredient lot tracking, etc.. and a packager might not want to get involved with it.

Cheers,
Ed T.
posted by Lactoso at 11:04 PM on August 18, 2005

As Lactoso mentions, it depends on the food product.

I work in the packaging industry. Over the past decade, I've worked with a number of food product startups, including Oregon Chai (which was created by sister-in-law's cousin).

I know that the way Oregon Chai worked was this: the creators developed a recipe that they liked and could reliably reproduce. They then took this recipe to a nearby facility that produced other liquid foodstuffs. The Oregon Chai people had the correct ingredients delivered to the "factory" (factory seems like the wrong word), and the factory manufactured the product from the supplied recipe.

The recipe may or may not have changed slightly over the years. The packaging certainly did. The early packaging was simply plastic bottles. Now the product is sold in asceptic packages. (I think that's the correct name — I work with corrugated boxes, not food service stuff.) As Oregon Chai grew, they left the small facility they were using and contracted production through a larger "factory". I don't know who makes their stuff now; we haven't sold boxes to them in five years plus.

Take another example: my aforementioned sister-in-law's stepfather sells horse cookies. (They're not human cookies, it's true, but they're made in the same places.) He bought the recipe from an inventor of some sort. He then took the recipe and, as with Oregon Chai, supplied the ingredients to a commercial bakery. The commercial bakery produced the horse cookies for him.

In both cases, the business owner has the recipe, orders the ingredients, and contracts with a production facility. The production facility manufactures the product. The business owner is then responsible for making certain that the finished foodstuffs are sent to the correct customers.

Really, this is no different than in many other industries. A printing house here in town used to manufacture at least some of Wizards of the Coast's Magic cards. Wizards didn't print them; they farmed that job out. There are countless similar examples.

To summarize: if you have an idea for a niche food item, develop a recipe. Obtain some capital. Find a place in your town that manufactures similar products. (Use the phone book. Don't be afraid to call similar businesses and ask where they have there products manufactured. Concentrate on other small niche products similar to the one you want to produce. Those companies can steer you in the right direction, and will if they don't perceive you as direct competition.) Once you have a source of production, the most important thing is to sell your product. If you can sell it, you can get rich.

I liked Oregon Chai when I first tried it in the creator's kitchen, but I didn't think it would sell well. I certainly wouldn't invest in the company. Ha! Now I wish I'd had the chance (and taken it).
posted by jdroth at 11:42 PM on August 18, 2005 [1 favorite]

Me again.

On the other hand, I've dealt with several companies that have produced their food product entirely in-house. These are generally much smaller, boutique companies, who have no real intention of "going big". There was once a man nearby who was producing pepper jelly and garlic spread and assorted vinegars. He and his wife ordered custom-made bottles from italy. They grew their own ingredients, and bottled everything in their barn.

Some companies continue to contract out, even when they're large. Others purchase their own equipment for greater quality control.

If you're more specific about the type of food product you're looking to market, the more specific answers you'll get...
posted by jdroth at 11:46 PM on August 18, 2005

Thanks...to be more specific, I'd give the whole thing away, but basically: it's completely dry, using two common ingredients, one of which is one of the traditional non-name-branded breakfast cereals. I'd think that a cereal manufacturing facility would be able to take the two ingredients and package the whole thing easily. But, having no experience with this, I'm unsure what complications there could be.
posted by Kickstart70 at 11:54 PM on August 18, 2005

Great info, JDR
posted by growabrain at 2:13 AM on August 19, 2005

You might try contacting a local college to see if they've got a commercial food production program. I'm in Nebraska and the one in Lincoln is quite helpful. Scaling recipes can get tricky and the brains at the university help with that as well as spoilage, transportation and storage issues among other things.
posted by Atom12 at 6:51 AM on August 19, 2005

Second community college / local college commercial kitchens. They often have cheap prices (comparatively) for recipies that the students can use as class assignments. The work is supposed to be ok (I can't say about that part). And hey, you're helping local kids get edjumakated.
posted by zpousman at 7:21 AM on August 19, 2005

Your question mentions gummi bears so I'll shill for the org my girlfriend works for, the National Confectioner's Association, the trade group that represents candy makers in the US. You may or may not find info on connecting with an existing organization on the website but you can mail them and they likely will be able to put you in touch with some for-hire fabricators.

Be warned, 'tooling' a line for manufacturing anything is expensive and if you're looking to keep control of this you'll have to open your pocket pretty deep, not even counting packaging. On the other hand, the margins in food are phenominal and the people who have opened their own pockets are astonishingly rich. The vast majority of NCA members are privately held and family controlled. For example, if you're not aware: Masterfoods/Mars who make those Snickers bars you may have seen around... 18b a year. Private.
posted by phearlez at 10:39 AM on August 19, 2005