May is Celiac Awareness Month. If you have gluten free products, now is a great time to promote.
What is a Co-packer?
14
Apr
A co-packer also known as a contract packer is a company that manufactures and packages food for other companies. An entrepreneur food company often hires a co-packer to produce for a variety of reasons. The main motivation behind companies choosing to use a co-packer is to reduce the start up costs in overhead, manufacturing, labor, equipment, insurance, research and raw ingredients. Using a copacker can reduce the lead-time in getting a product to market. Co-packers can also help in the formulation, food science, and certification of the desired food product.
What to look for in a co-packer
When selecting a co-packer, seek one that has experience in manufacturing a particular food product. Find out the co-packer’s capabilities in quality control, minimum and maximum size manufacturing runs, receiving and storing facilities, packing and shipping as well as product development services such as product stability testing, nutritional labeling, formulation assistance and ingredient substitution. Inquire if the co-packer uses similar raw ingredients to the desired food product in order to take advantage of the co-packer’s buying power with bulk ingredients pricing and other other supplies. Another important question to ask is the required lead time to manufacture.
Prepare a co-packer checklist to address special needs
Do a lot of homework before visiting a co-packer. Have a business and marketing plan in place which outlines product needs, size, container, minimum quantities and target pricing. Get technical help from a university, a consultant or a testing laboratory to determine the requirements for product stability and safety. Write preparation and process instructions as well as specifications for ingredients, packaging materials, regulatory compliance, and finished product.
- Can the co-packer provide product development assistance such as safety determinations, coloring, stabilizers and emulsifiers, or preservatives?
- Can the co-packer address special product concerns such as; acidity, thermal process, refrigerated ingredients, refrigerated product storage?
- Can the co-packer accommodate specialized ingredients in terms of variety, function, or piece size?
- Can ingredients be purchased ready-to-use?
- Are there alternative sources for specialized ingredients?
- Can the co-packer maintain an inventory of finished product?
- Will the co-packer help with shipping as well as special shipping requirements such as carton labeling, palletizing and routing instructions?
Beware of the disadvantages when using a co-packer
Using a co-packer, has its disadvantages such as the loss of control over the food product. An entrepreneur is at the mercy of the co-packer’s production schedule, their fixed costs, their vendors and their method of doing business. The entrepreneur does not have much flexibility and the product must conform to the co-packer’s equipment and facility limitations.
The food entrepreneur should research and get recommendations on the prospective co-packer. Confidentiality may be an obstacle as formulations, ingredients and product specifications must be shared with the co-packer. The co-packer will have access to sensitive information such as sales, volumes and price. This information can be protected somewhat with agreements, but confidentiality can never be assured.
Resolving disagreements between customers and co-packers are not easy. Disputes and litigation may tie up ingredients, supplies and finished product for extended periods of time. Finding an alternative co-packer who can produce the same product may be difficult.
Using a copacker can be expensive as a copacker must also make a profit. Consequently, the costs associated with co-packed product may be high.
Co-packer Resources
Common Universally Recognized Food Symbol Callouts
01
Apr
Food companies use symbol to show the consumer important features about their product. There are symbols that are universally recognized and show that the claim is certified and there are others that claim an advantage but may not be verified or regulated by the FDA.
Here are some symbols you can trust when reading labels.
Fair Trade: Fair Trade Certification empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills necessary to compete in the globalmarketplace. (transfairusa.org)
Certified organic: For any product sold in the United States – regardless of where it was grown or produced – to carry the USDA Organic logo, it must have been inspected by a certified agent of the USDA certification program.
Kosher: The most common symbols of kosher certification, from the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, New York, NY.
Gluten-free certification benifits consumers by giving them confidence that a product is gluten-free. This not only reassures the consumer that the product has been tested and the site inspected, but it also saves the consumer time that would have been spent calling the manufacturer for the gluten-free status of the product
Sales Management and Strategy
26
Mar
To successfully take your products to market, you must first determine the most effective methods of sales management. Your goal is to sell product in a way that achieves the highest level of visibility for your product, and gives a positive light on you, your brand and your company.
The success of your product remains in the hands of those that are responsible for marketing and selling it. In your sales management strategy, you might consider:
Knowing your sales plans and goals will dictate the sales management and strategy. Find out all of the pros and cons of the various options in sales and marketing representation, before you decide what is right for you. Additionally you must understand who is the buyer of your product. Finding buyers is a science. Knowing where to look for them is the key. You must employ the best and efficient ways of finding them. You need to consider the design of sales and promotional materials, identify and participate at key trade shows, garner trade and consumer press, grow your prospect list and successfully establish your buyer relationships. This requires creativity, hard work and patience. You must prepare forecasts and budgets and generate publicity or ‘free’ press. Once the buyers have ‘found’ you, you have to get the right ones to buy your product. Always remember the big picture. Once you’ve found the buyers you want, plan and execute vertically integrated promotions that will excite your consumers, as well as each level of the distribution chain. You will need to present promotional and point-of-purchase proposals that reflects the specific retailers’ business culture. Design your promotional, advertising, and merchandising materials to maximize flexibility and versatility in order to reduce production costs while maintaining continuity throughout your promotion. Be creative, excited and engaging throughout the process. Once you have a meeting schedule, remember to prepare for a stellar and convincing 10-15 minute presentation. After pro-actively designing and executing creative, unique, and effective promotions, measure your success by using the latest technologies to gather retail data to monitor sales and promotional effectiveness. |
UPC Bar Code
24
Mar
The folks at cummingsdesign.com have a really nice article on getting a UPC bar code and how to get it on a retail package. Below is their article.
How retail suppliers get a UPC bar code and how they get the UPC bar code number on a retail product package.
To get the UPC bar code number for a retail package, suppliers first get a UPC bar code prefix from a private organization called GS1 (formerly the UCC).
GS1 is the umbrella organization with operations in many countries.
Each UPC barcode has a country code with the UPC barcode.
Suppliers seeking UPC barcodes must go to their own GS1 member organization located in their own specific country.
In the United States, suppliers seeking a bar code visit GS1 US, gs1us.org, become a member, and receive their barcode prefix.
Suppliers in other countries seeking a bar code should first visit gs1.org to find the GS1 member country web site in the specific country of the supplier.
More about UPC bar codes
While others sell UPC barcode numbers, there is no guarantee other bar code providers will keep the supplier’s number unique, no support from GS1, and no way to grow a business with GLN assignments (the global data synchronization network), or for product recalls, or RFID using an electronic product code. In an interesting way, GS1 is the only valid source to obtain UPC barcode numbers.
With a bar code prefix assigned by GS1, the supplier then assigns and adds a unique product number to the UPC bar code prefix.
The complete UPC bar code number consists of the UPC bar code prefix plus the unique product ID number that the supplier randomly assigns.
To create the UPC bar code symbol, the UPC bar code number is input into UPC bar code software. The UPC bar code software will then generate the UPC bar code symbol that is printed on the retail product packaging.
The retail packaging graphic designer or packaging printer then takes this UPC bar code symbol artwork and adds it to the artwork of the retail product packaging at the proper size and in the proper format.
The UPC-A bar code symbol is shown above.
The UPC-A bar code number (and associated bar code symbol) consists of the manufacturer number (also known as the GS1 company prefix) which is combined with a product number (assigned by the manufacturer), and a check digit (assigned by a mathematical equation found in most bar code software).
The GS1 Company Prefix is provided by the specific country’s GS1 member organization, and, with it as the prefix, the manufacturer creates the individual product number. In most software, when the prefix # and the product # are entered, the software automatically generates the check digit.
The GS1 Company Prefix is a 10, 9, 8, 7 or 6 digit number assigned to you by the GS1 member organization in your country when you become a member and pay the membership fee.
The number of digits in the UPC bar code is determined typically by how many products you will need to assign numbers to.
If you have 50 products that require unique numbers, you would probably be assigned a 9 digit GS1 Company Prefix (leaving 2 digits to represent your items).
The U.P.C. symbol is composed of a row of 59 black and white bars. Printed beneath the bars (on a UPC-A) is a series of 12 numbers. The bars are scanner readable while the numbers are human readable and can be input manually.
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In the barcode sample above, a 6 digit number, “012345″ has been assigned (leaving 5 digits to represent items – plus one ‘check digit’). This initial number “012345″ represents the manufacturer on all of their products as well as in any EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) applications.
For example, in a 12 digit UPC bar code there are three main parts, the prefix, the product identifying code, and a last number which is the ‘check digit’.
The UPC prefix code for the Coca-Cola Company is 049000. Therefore, this 049000 number will appear in the first 6 digits of all of the Coca-Cola Company’s product UPC bar codes.
This 049000 prefix was assigned and licensed to the Coca-Cola Company from GS1 US, and Coca Cola, as a member of GS1 US, pays an annual fee to GS1 US (currently based on its gross sales) to license this unique UPC bar code number from GS1 US.
The 6 digit UPC prefix identifies the Coca-Cola Company while the 5 numbers that follow identify the specific product, and its size, color, flavor, etc. (depending on type of product).
The last number, in the example above a 5, is called the ‘check digit’ and is used to guard against errors (when numbers are manually keyed in) and fraud. There is a mathematical formula that, when applied, produces the proper check digit.
How do companies get a retail product bar code?
The retail product seller, manufacturer or distributor with the retail package (the supplier) does not actually get or buy the UPC barcode symbol you see in the retail product package design.
Instead, to get the UPC bar code on its retail packaging, the supplier must first get its own UPC bar code prefix by becoming a member of an organization that licenses the UPC bar code prefix to them. This UPC bar code prefix identifies the seller, manufacturer or distributor (the supplier).
Once the retail supplier/vendor is able to get the UPC bar code prefix, it is the supplier (or a UPC coordinator working for the supplier) who actually assigns the numbers following the UPC bar code prefix.
If you are a supplier based in the US and need a UPC bar code, click here.
If you are a supplier based outside the US and need a UPC bar code, click here.
Does every supplier need to get a UPC bar code?
To sell products, most retailers require sellers or suppliers to get a UPC bar code.
Does a company just starting out need a bar code?
I’m often asked this question. The answer is yes and no. Click here.
What a seller must do to get a bar code number.
A supplier must first obtain a Universal Product Code Identification Number to use with your UPC bar code symbol.
A US company can obtain this unique six digit UPC company identification number (UPC company prefix) by becoming a member of GS1 US.
Outside the United States, a company can obtain the unique UPC company identification number (UPC company prefix) by becoming a member of their own country-specfic GS1 member organization.
GS1 does not sell the U.P.C. barcode prefix to the supplier, it licenses this UPC barcode prefix number to the supplier.
To obtain a prefix, a supplier must become a GS1 member.
Even if all the supplier needs is one UPC bar code, according to the current rules of GS1, to get that one UPC bar code, the seller must become a member of the G1 member organization in their own country.
Without becoming a member, the supplier will not have the necessary UPC bar code prefix, and therefore cannot create the UPC bar code to place on the retail package. So to get a bar code symbol, the supplier needs to become a GS1 member.
A seller needs a UPC prefix in order to create a UPC symbol and bar code. The prefix is actually just the first set of numbers from the left (not the symbol). The remaining numbers describe the product except the last number to the right, which is the check digit. It is used to increase reliability.
Sellers/suppliers pay an initial fee and then an annual renewal fee to keep their GS1 membership and license this UPC company prefix that identifies the company (since the seller is not buying the UPC code but instead becomes a licensee of the UPC).
The only place to get an authentic GTIN (or UPC bar code) in the US that is accepted by retailers everywhere is GS1 US, (formerly the Uniform Code Council), a privately owned and operated not-for-profit tax-exempt organization that assigns all bar code prefixes necessary to have a bar code, and has done so for over 30 years.
GS1 has an interesting history which all began with a request of grocers involved in the National Association of Food Chains, a trade group of supermarket owners and others.
Today GS1, the parent organization of GS1 US, administers the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.) for over 108 local country GS1 member companies doing business in 150 countries worldwide
The address and phone of GS1 US is Princeton Pike Corporate Center, 1009 Lenox Dr., Suite 202, Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648, Telephone: 609-620-0200, Fax: 609.620.1200.
Whether you as a seller need only one bar code or many (each and every product variation must have its own unique bar code), GS1 charges a fee to become a member, plus an additional annual membership fee based on your company’s annual revenues.
Most retailers require bar codes and therefore you must become a member of the GS1 to get a bar code.
Can a supplier buy the UPC bar code number anywhere else?
Only GS1 US offers unique and authentic barcodes which are accepted by retailers everywhere.. According to GS1 US, a UPC number cannot be rented, leased, or further sub-divided.
To obtain a bar code, you will need to become a member of GS1 US (or GS1 in your own country), pay the membership fee, plus a fee based on your company’s revenue, and wait for an information packet to be sent to you.
According to the GS1 US site (at the time of this writing), you should allow up to 14 business days from the time they receive your completed application and payment.
This UPC identification number can then be encoded into a UPC-A or EAN-12 bar code symbol and be printed on your retail product packaging.
The retail bar code format is currently referred to as UPC-A. There are also many other types of bar codes and uses for a bar code, though this page discusses those used for retail.
Today most retail stores in North America will only stock retail packaging with a UPC-A or UPC-E bar code symbol. The UPC-A bar code is 12 digits long. The UPC-E bar code is a special shortened version of the UPC-A bar code and is 6 digits long. The UPC-E bar code is primarily for small retail packaging where a UPC-A code would not fit.
The U.P.C. (Universal Product Code) number itself may also be referred to as theGTIN - Global Trade Item Number. The GTIN is made up of the GS1 Company Prefix and the number that the seller, manufacturer or distributor has assigned to that unique product, however the GTIN numbers are 14 digits while the UPC-A bar code format is12 digits long.
The assignment of the numbers following the GS1 company prefix on the bar code is normally sequential, though can be random, and is determined by the seller, manufacturer or distributor who then lets the retailer know which specific retail product is associated with which specific UPC bar code number. The only real trick is for the seller, manufacturer or distributor to keep track of its own UPC bar code numbers and to be sure it doesn’t assign duplicate UPC bar code numbers.