Hot fill, aseptic or HPP: choosing a preservation route
The preservation decision drives your capex, your shelf life and your clean-label positioning. Take it before formulation, not after.
Read the article →The manufacturer you choose determines your quality, your working capital and your ability to grow. Choosing on conversion cost alone is the most expensive decision a young brand makes.
Shortlist on capability first
Start from the process your product needs, not from a list of contacts. A plant that makes excellent sauces may be poorly suited to a beverage with a specific fill temperature. Ask what else they run on the same line, what their changeover procedure is, and how many SKUs they handle in a shift.
Audit before you commit, not after the first complaint
- Certifications: FSSAI licence category, and whether HACCP, ISO 22000 or BRC certification is current and covers your product type.
- Documentation: ask to see batch records for a product they made last week. The quality of those records predicts the quality of yours.
- Traceability: can they trace an ingredient lot to finished goods and back within an hour?
- Hygiene zoning: personnel flow, material flow, drainage and pest control.
- Capacity honesty: what percentage of their line is already committed, and to whom?
Understand the cost structure, not just the price
Conversion cost is one line. Minimum order quantity, packaging wastage norms, yield assumptions, rework policy and payment terms often matter more to your cash flow. A lower conversion cost with a 20,000 unit MOQ can be worse than a higher one at 5,000 units when you are still finding your demand.
Write a technical annexure into the agreement
The commercial contract handles price and volume. A separate technical annexure should specify the formulation, process parameters, packaging specification, sampling plan, release criteria and what happens to out-of-specification batches. Without it, quality disputes have no reference point.
Protect the formulation
Confidentiality clauses, non-compete on the specific formulation, and ownership of any development work done during the relationship. Manufacturers commonly launch similar products under their own brands, and the time to prevent it is before the first trial batch.
Plan the second source early
Single-sourced manufacturing is a risk, not a strategy. Once your monthly volume becomes meaningful to the plant, begin qualifying a second partner. It improves your negotiating position and protects you when a line goes down in peak season.