Getting Started with Cold Craft
You’re product is great, you found Cold Craft, and you want to get going . . . lets sit down for a sec and have a chat (cue calming cool meeting graphic)
Gut Check
Understanding the commitment
If you have never scaled up a food product before then you might not be familiar with the process requirements coming at you from several different sides. It is imperative that you prepare yourself mentally, financially, and have enough time to do each step correctly.
-
Capital: You will need enough capital to get through the process all the way to getting paid on your first invoice. This can often mean months of cash outflow before any income is realized. Even with a small scale, short run specialist like Cold Craft Bev Co, you will need adequate capital to last through to the SECOND ORDER…
-
Production Requirements: Each product we build at Cold Craft will have specific requirements, ranging from food safety to recipe standards, packaging process and handling and storage. Certain steps will require a 3rd party to verify local, state and federal regulations and ensure your product will fulfill the obligations.
-
Logistics: Raw materials need to be handled, and Finished Goods will need appropriate solutions. Each of these will be potentially time critical, and scheduled well in advance. Many of these elements will require special handling or considerations.
-
Time Schedule: If you are working with retail or grocery, you need to plan accordingly for seasonality and buying cycles. Some buyers and operations will be reviewing your samples well before they place an order. Some operations require you use certain distributors or logistics, others are more flexible.
Cold Craft Bev Co projects follow a set of milestones the build up to the final product. The following steps will help to explain some of the requirements and steps EACH potential project will go through before pricing and schedule can be determined.
In some cases, we may require additional steps from a safety or compliance aspect, but each process will typically follow this sequence:
Initial Project Retainer
The goal with the first step is to get your product under consideration, and begin to understand the following:
- What you want to make
- How you want it made
- How you want to package it
- How much you need to make, or plan to make and what frequency
- Is it a good fit for our operations
- Will it scale
- What problems or roadblocks are there
- Make samples of your current product for your initial review
Cost: $5000
Timeframe: 30-45 days from payment
Deliverables: Typically 4 samples of product (not packaged) for tasting and evaluation against spec
Additional steps: If required, additional sample session can be purchased (TBD)
Process Authority Verification
Every product Cold Craft Bev Co produces requires a Process Authority Letter that is validated by our 3rd party service. If you already have a process authority letter, we will still require our Process Authority to validate your letter before we will take your project.
This process evaluates and certifies:
- The recipe is compliant with required information by the state and federal guidelines. This will mean product descriptions, suppliers, quantities by weight and %
- The process of each step is clearly defined and able to be inspected
- Measurements and corrective actions are clear and compliant
- Additional requirements and standards are noted
Cost: $1500-$2000 is typical for a simple and easy Process Authority letter. Recipe formulation starts at $1500 and will depend on complexity and services required.
Timeframe: 30-45 days from payment
Deliverables: Process Authority Letter and Formal recipe sheet
First Articles
At this point, initial short run pricing determination is made, and a batch is scheduled to run. This batch is typically 100 gallons or so, and will determine the viability of the samples and packaging success. The goal here is to have a large enough sample to see where processes are not adequate, or need to be changed in order to fulfill the project goals. These products are intended to be safe for consumption, but not for sale. Often these products can be used for buyers samples, or market testing but are not viable for any other use.
In the event Cold Craft Bev Co or the customer determines a second set of first articles are required, you will need to purchase an additional run.
Inital Pricing and Product Specification
This step takes all the information and results and will determine an initial pricing structure. This price will be offered the customer for 2 initial production runs at a specified minimum quantity for a specific amount of time. Once the time has expired, the product or pricing may have to be re-evaluated.
Final Pricing and Product Specification
After the 2 initial orders, an evaluation is done of price and specification to determine if any process changes are required. Either the customer or Cold Craft Bev Co can require changes requiring the process to begin again. If no further development or process changes need to be made, final Pricing is established. the project is issued a final part number, revision, and pricing structure with discounts for volume. This price will typically be good for a specified time, and contracts may or may not be required.