Manufacturing WORKING WITH A CONTRACT MANUFACTURER CAN BE A WIN-WIN FOR ALT-MEAT STARTUPS. BUT COMPANIES NEED TO AVOID FALLING INTO A — POTENTIALLY COSTLY — PATTERN OF TRIAL AND ERROR. Goldilocks paradigm The By Cynthia L. McVey, contributing editor hen Brett Christoffel, CEO of All Y’all Foods, finally perfect-ed his plant-based jerky, he was Finding and maintaining those re-lationships, however, can leave brands feeling like Goldilocks in a trial-and-er-ror search for comfortable surround-ings and food that is “just right.” A co-man is a third-party compa-ny hired by a brand to manufacture, package and sometimes distribute their products. For an alt-meat company, this partner might be a conventional meat processor, a large-volume bakery or a specialty facility. Some brands also look for a co-man with expertise to help improve their recipes or processes. “In the beginning, startups had to do their own manufacturing because no one else knew how. Now, the process is normal and there are many advantages of working with a contract manufactur-er,” explains Dennis Durban, co-found-er of the Contract Manufacturing Alliance trade association. “Owning a facility is expensive, dis-tracting and takes the focus away from sales and marketing,” Durban says. “For a startup, it’s an advantage to have your own facility, but you need to have the money to build and maintain it.” Ricardo Cordaro agrees. The presi-dent and CEO of Ricardo Food Group, which provides manufacturing consul-tation to companies, adds that many venture capital firms will not invest in infrastructure before product. “It takes up to $1 million and 12 to 18 months to open a plant, and most busi-nesses in the alt-meat category have no manufacturing experience. Most VCs would prefer the brand to work with a co-man so that $1 million is available for marketing and packaging.” Wilson, of Bayou Best Foods, has run her own contract manufacturing compa-ny, so she understands what it takes for both co-man and brand to be successful. She also has experience literally from the ground up in the food industry, growing up on a farm before spending W excited to bring the product to market. He also knew that there was no way he could make tens of thousands of bags of jerky in his home oven. Faced with the challenge of getting a plant-based shrimp product into the marketplace in less than a year, one of the first actions Kelli Wilson took in her role as CEO of Bayou Best Foods was to find a contract manufacturer. And, in pre-pandemic early 2020, Future Foods Enterprises established a state-of-the-art production facility to manufacture its plant-based protein, only to see customers’ needs change. Regardless of how they arrive at the decision, many alt-protein companies establish relationships with a con-tract manufacturer (a.k.a. co-man or co-packer) who becomes an important partner in their production process. 16 Alt-Meat May 2025
Alt-Meat May 2025: Page 16
