A Little Secret About Contract Manufacurers

“If your co-man can share your vision, you are off to a great start.”

Let me let you in on a little secret about contract manufacturers.

Yes, they have MOQs (minimum order quantities) that sometimes seem quite large for smaller brands.

Here’s the secret: They’re not making money off of those MOQs. The co-man is actively investing in you in order to try to get your product out on the market so that you can grow.

MOQs are not the minimum point at which they make money.

In most cases, the onboarding costs associated with bringing you in aren't paid back in the first year. They believe in you, or else they would not be getting to the point of discussions of production.

So, if you are approaching a co-man for the first time to get your new product into production, the first thing you need to do is demonstrate why your product is going to sell. 

Share your research, the problem you are solving, and the current solutions that are letting the consumer down. Who are you targeting, and what is your vision to change a category and bring in more value? You are creating a new product that people really want, and you’ve thought through all the commercials and have a plan to deliver a product the consumer will pay for. If your co-man can share your vision, you are off to a great start.

That’s the secret, as simple as it sounds. 

To fully appreciate their role, it helps to understand what’s happening on their side of the table.

Your Co-Man is Your Hero

Just remember that your contract manufacturer is made up of people as well, who are just trying to find a way to make things work and still pay their people at the end of the day.

They can't go into debt in order to help make sure that a product gets to market and they’re every bit as invested as you are, because it's their responsibility to feed their own people.

One of the reasons why we always say that a contract manufacturer is more of a partner than simply a transactional element of your business is that contract manufacturers are often the hero when it comes to successful launches and ongoing production.

A good co-man will call and tell you about a problem they had, but they knew how to solve it, so they went ahead and did it, and are notifying you just to make sure you know what’s going on.

For example, there have been many cases where, let’s say, a starch goes out of stock.

And because that brand has already alerted the co-man to multiple types of starch they can source, they just go ahead and do it. They bring in one of those alternative suppliers, run the product, get it out as promised on their PO—when they were going to ship it—and then they simply call the brand and let you know:

“Hey, we did this. Thank you for being a good partner and having that alternative supply ready to go.”

It’s a partnership, and one of the most important partnerships you need to develop and nurture in food product commercialization. 

“It’s a partnership, and one of the most important partnerships you need to develop and nurture ”

“A co-man isn’t a vending machine. It’s a production partner.”

A Co-Man is Your Partner

The number one thing when selecting a good contract manufacturer?

That you can communicate with them. By that I mean you've got that chemistry that allows you to focus on solving problems when they arise, rather than focusing on each other as the problem.

I’ve said it before and it bears repeating: A co-man isn’t a vending machine. It’s a partner—one tied deeply to your business, whether in quality, cost, or performance

Instead, it is a production partner. It is an integral part of your business plan that, necessarily, you will be tied into—whether it's from a quality level, a performance level, or simply from a reduction in COGS level.

It turns out contract manufacturers often have a lot more to bring to the table. When trust and transparency flow both ways, you often get unexpected efficiencies—what we call a ‘one plus one equals three’ outcome.

From Kitchen Scale to Walmart Scale

Here’s a great example: we helped a client transition from a small commercial kitchen to a contract manufacturer capable of scaling their yogurt to Walmart-level volumes.

Not only did we support the supply chain scale-up—we also helped them expand their distribution systems and strengthen their marketing campaign.

That’s what a true co-man partnership looks like: not just scale, but shared success.

“A true partnership is not just scale, but shared success.”

Need help bringing your next product to market?

Catapult is your outsourced product commercialization team built for fast-growing food brands. We bring together senior industry experts to execute with speed, precision, and accountability. 

With decades of experience and deep industry relationships, we’ll help you identify the right manufacturing partner and build that relationship fast.

Author: Jamie Valenti-Jordan

20+ years in food & beverage commercialization. If you’re tackling a tricky project, odds are I’ve seen it before. I’ll be sharing the things that worked here—so you can skip the 'learning experiences'.