Your really can turn that great idea for a snack bar or meal bite into reality without knowing the rules, regulations, or how’s and what’s of large-scale production, packaging, and nutrition labeling.

A meal / snack / energy bar co-packer can help…

Working with a contract manufacturer makes it easy for anyone with a plan to create and market a product with no food skills or production facility.

“Co-packers” partner with you to handle the production of food products–whether you have a recipe or want them to start from scratch. You oversee your manufacturing partner to make sure the product and packaging are just right.

Tim Ferriss famously started an online-only bar company using a co-packer, before the phrase “digital native” had even come to be—a term that refers to goods sold only online.

1) Co-packers help formulate a recipe that will work at larger scales than in your kitchen. You’ll share your idea—such as if you want your foods to be raw and organic; the ideal nutritional profile you’re aiming for such as if it’s high protein or low sodium.

The co-packer may recommend a bar size or form, such as if you’re targeting a 100 calorie bar or 9 grams of protein. Some will have limitations on forms based on their machinery. Some will let you install custom forms or processes. For a cost of course.

You’ll ultimately approve the production recipe or ask for adjustments. Pay for changes. Repeat. Then do a sampling and ask their friends for feedback.

2) You receive an initial price. Then based on the ingredients and packaging they’ll come up with a final estimate for your energy bars.

3) Co-packers work with a few different packaging companies or have their own capabilities.  and can get packaging from one unit (very expensive) to a million packages (the definition of “economies of scale”). It will take some time to have the packaging made as well as to refine and test your recipe.

Then production!

Start with a strategy:

• What kind of energy snack product are you looking to develop? Will it be baked, raw, etc?
• What certifications and capabilities are you looking for in a partner?
• Do you have special packaging material requirements?
• Does it matter where the contract manufacturer is located?
• Are you budget-constrained and wanting to start in small batches or starting off big
• Have you scoped out the competition so you know who will buy your bars? 

Before you invest a dime, you need a plan for your sales and marketing. You don’t want to invest a lot of money only to realize you’re stuck with thousands of snack bars and a quickly aging “best buy” date.

Maybe you’re a TikTok or YouTube start and have a following just salivating in anticipation of your products. Still, you’ll need a plan for how they’ll get them…the overall customer experience.

And if what you really want is to produce food products yourself, scroll on down…although it’s worth perusing all of the energy bar co-packer websites to learn about ingredients, allergens, steps to produce a sellable product, as well as to see what’s out there.

These are just a few tips to lead you in the right direction. My book Good Food, Great Business can help you refine your business idea.

LIST OF ENERGY / SNACK BAR CO-PACKERS

Here are a few contract manufacturers experienced with working with small-scale food entrepreneurs and those aspiring to be the next KIND Bar.

You’ll find that some have limitations on the ingredients that are standard in their offerings. They may charge more if you want to use ingredients that they don’t normally keep in their inventory.

Be sure to get references and look into options before locking in your partner. Enjoy the journey and let me know how it goes!

Washington Nutrition Bar Co-packer – Clean Copack / Bumble Bar

Clean Copack has helped companies of all sizes to produce gluten-free, plant-based foods made from ethically sourced ingredients including energy bars, cookies, granola, human-grade vegetarian pet treats, and other healthy protein products.

Clean Copack can make nutrition bars and bites for people and pets.

If you’ve been thinking of starting a natural pet food company, you may have found your partner!

The company reports that in 2020 they are still manufacturing. “In the last year we’ve made several great improvements to our facility and our capacity/quality is better than ever.”

Clean Copack’s blog is an excellent resource for plotting your domination.

What’s really great: You can develop your nutrition bars and bites using Clean Copack’s facilities.

Chicago Small Batch Custom Whole Food Bars Manufacturer – Element Bars

Like most other snack bar co-packers, Element Bars can certify your private label bars as organic, meet your nutritional profile requirements, can customize packaging, and can help with recipe development.

Their test production runs start at 1,000 which is a great quantity for testing! (A good rule of thumb about if you’re ready to start a business is whether you can afford to do a run after that first test run. If not, maybe not. Although you could do a test run and launch a Kickstarter campaign with the test bars as rewards to get feedback.)

Snack bar capabilities: baked bars as well as bites, clusters, and balls

Visit Element Bars for more details.

California Meal Bar, Energy Balls, and Bites Co-packer – YouBar

I first met YouBar in 2011, when they were a fairly new, tiny energy bar manufacturer in West Los Angeles. As you can see on their website, the company has grown in lockstep with the explosive growth in energy bars! Here is an update to our interview:

In the heart of Los Angeles lies a small family business that’s spawning a world of both small and big businesses: YouBars.

You won’t find the the brand YouBars on your store shelves. They exist to create private label brands, helping retailers, food entrepreneurs and consumers bring their energy bar visions to life.

YouBars works with individuals and food entrepreneurs launch natural energy / protein / meal replacement bars as well as trail mixes and other healthy, customizable products, at minimal effort. The company expanded from their one-person apartment-sized space near the CBS studios to a huge square food facility in downtown Los Angeles (hooray for the local economy!). They are now in Monterey Park, California.

YouBars founder Anthony Flynn explained that people are launching lines of bars not only to sell on Amazon, your Facebook page, gyms, restaurants, dieticians, and stores: “You see all sorts of creative things, such as using bars as business cards or wedding favors.”

Visit YouBars to learn about your options for product fulfillment and distribution.

Canada Energy Bar Contract Manufacturer – YourBarFactory

Not to be confused with YouBar, YourBarFactory was founded in 2001 and calls itself an allergen-free expert. The company is located on the eastern side of Canada in Quebec.

YourBarFactory has a production capacity of half a billion (500 million) bars per year! 

Particularly if you would like to sell globally, a bar manufacturer in Canada, where French is required alongside English on packaging, could be a great asset for you. YourBarFactory also lists helping brands be sure they adhere to regulatory requirements as one of their services. (Allowed ingredients and statements on packaging are so important to get right, for maximum distribution!)

YourBarFactory says it makes private label energy and snack bars for clients around the world. Start with their Guidance page to explore the benefits of working with this contract manufacturer.

(Noble Foods is another Quebec-based energy bar co-packer which describes itself as catering to “medium sized” production and also has a location in Oregon.)

Imagine the possibilities by learning about all the ingredients and forms your snack bar idea can take with YourBarFactory.

Seeking more snack bar co-packers?

Google the area where you ideally would like to find a manufacturing partner (such as a state, city or region) and include keywords such as energy bar co-packer or snack bar co-packer.

Cornell also has a great list of co-packers in various states.

IF YOU WANT TO MANUFACTURE SNACK BARS YOURSELF RATHER THAN USE A CO-PACKER

Many of the co-packers that can make energy bars for you started out with their own brands.

Then there are companies like That’s It Nutrition, which started its own factory to produce minimal-ingredient, allergen-free, gluten-free, plant-based bars. With their own factory, the company can control everything from the production environment to the machinery to certifications to any secret formulas or techniques.

Another example is San Diego-based Perfect Snacks which got acquired by Mondelez International in 2019.

Need guidance from a food product developer or scientist on ingredients and shelf stability?

Check out Rachel Zemser‘s book and services as well as the Oregon Food Innovation Center. There may be other university-based food product development centers closer to you. There are several around the United States!