Protecting Your Commercial Recipe

00

Hi Dave:

Your article, "How to Manufacture and Sell Your Own Product", is chocked full of helpful information, being that I am looking to do exactly that with my pepper sauce. I'd like to ask a question regarding co-packers.  How would you advise one to protect his recipe when dealing with co-packers? What prevents them from creating my product if their process does not satisfy my taste and I decide not to use them? In general, can you protect your recipe from becoming someone's next big success?

Thanks in advance,
Thomas H.

Hello Thom:

You have the co-packer sign a confidentiality agreement to never reveal your recipe.  In reality, I've only seen this happen once or twice in the 25 years I've been involved in this industry.  Any sauce can be analyzed to discover the recipe, but it's rarely done because each manufacturer thinks his or her recipe is better than all the rest.

Dave 

00