What is co-packing?
Filling and packing your product into its final format. Sometimes the whole job, sometimes the last step of it.
Also called Contract packing, Co-manufacturing.
Strictly, co-packing is the packing step: taking product — sometimes made elsewhere, sometimes made in the same building — and getting it into cans, bottles, jars, pouches or cartons, labelled and cased.
In practice almost nobody uses the word that precisely. Most sites that call themselves co-packers also blend, cook or formulate, and most brands use "co-packer" and "contract manufacturer" to mean the same thing. Correcting people on it is not a good use of anyone’s time.
Where the distinction does matter is when the two steps happen in different places — product made at one site and packed at another. That is two relationships, two schedules and a transfer in between, and it is worth knowing which you are buying before you sign.
Suits you if
- You have product and need it in retail-ready format
- Your formulation happens elsewhere, or in your own facility
- You need a specific pack format your maker cannot run
Probably not if
- You want one site accountable for the whole product
- Splitting making and packing adds a transfer you have to manage
Questions
Is a co-packer the same as a contract manufacturer?
For most practical purposes, yes — the terms are used interchangeably and most sites do both. The question worth asking is not the label but which steps they actually perform, and who buys the ingredients.
What does co-packing cost?
A tolling fee per unit, banded by volume, plus materials if they are buying them. Packing-only work is generally cheaper per unit than full manufacturing, because the expensive part — the making — is not theirs.