Contract Manufacturing
Gatherer's Granola is a contract manufacturer ready to handle your production and packaging needs.
What to look for in
a manufacturer.
Finding the right partner to produce and pack on your brand's behalf is critical. Price, turn around times, minimum order quantities, certifications carried, and quality of products produced all factor into the fit for brands. While there are many manufacturers to choose from, only a tiny minority are likely to meet your brand's specific needs. As finding the right supplier is often time consuming and can be expensive, knowing what information to ask for can help:
What are the typical fees for your category of product?
Ask specifically about "Toll" or "Tolling" fees, as that will allow you to compare apples to apples across producers.
What are the packaging capabilities?
Some private label manufacturers do not do packaging in-house, others may not be able to handle your brand's specific packaging varieties. If you don't know the answers to this topic in advance, it is difficult to arrive at a comprehensive cost estimate.
Food Safety Standards?
Contract manufacturers maintain a wide variety of food safety standards. Your brand's clients may have specific standards that must be met in order to satisfy contractual requirements. Big retailers often have rigorous standards while specialty food stores rarely do. Make sure to ask potential manufacturing partners about their food safety programs, if they undergo third party audits, and, before going to contract, be sure to review copies of any food safety certifications they claim to have.
What are the Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs) or Minimum Run Volumes?
This will tell you how large your orders need to be, at least, in order to work with a given partner. Emerging brands often don't have the financial flexibility to invest in massive production runs.
What certifications are carried?
If your products needs a specific labeling claim, such as Kosher or Non-GMO, it is critical to ask the candidate manufacturing partners right away. There is no point wasting your time and theirs on producing quotes only to discover that they process wheat on their equipment and your product needs to be certified gluten-free.
Commitment to quality?
Many white label or private label manufacturers can produce high quality product as samples, but drop in quality once they go to full scale production. Reviewing products that candidate manufacturers already produce at full production volume can help brand managers determine if they are capable of maintaining the level of quality their brand needs. It's similarly important to negotiate a contract that specifies quality parameters and holds the producer accountable for out-of-spec products.
Many brands only discover too late that they have teamed up with the wrong private label, white label, co-packing, or contract manufacturing partner, a mistake that can be difficult to recover from. Arm yourself with the right questions to ask before you make any firm commitments for your brand!
Quality Counts
Gatherer's opened its own production facility because no contract manufacturer could meet quality standards central to Gatherer's mission. Making a world class, artisan quality product requires attention to detail that isn't available from most co-manufacturers. Where others optimize for throughput at the expense of taste and texture, Gatherer's makes a firm commitment to always honor the product quality values of its customers. Gatherer's delivers home-made quality at scale in a way that no other partner can.
We're ready to take on your project!
Ready to launch your product with Gatherer's?
Let's turn your vision into reality. Contact us today to set your brand on the path to contract manufacturing excellence.