What a US co-packer is good at
Type private label chocolate manufacturer into a US search box and the results are domestic co-packers: firms that run truffles, moulded bars, panned pieces or seasonal boxes for other people's brands, plus the industrial directories that list them by process. For a narrow brief they are the right answer.
A co-packer is organised around a line. It makes what that line makes, at the minimum that line needs, and it stops there. If your range is one bar in three flavours, that is enough. If your range is a shelf — a tablet, a bagged dragée, a gift box, a jar — you are managing four suppliers, four minimums and four production calendars.
The other route: a producer network at origin
We are a manufacturer and exporter in Gaziantep. Our factory runs something different on each line every day: pistachio and filled tablets, coated dragées and Jordan almonds, Turkish delight, wrapped confectionery, pistachio spreads — the jar American buyers look for as pistachio cream or pistachio butter. We combine those lines into one shipment.
That is the difference from a domestic co-packer. One order can carry four products under your brand, from our own factory, without four negotiations.
- Every line travels on its own pallet, with its own minimum, stated in the offer.
- One written offer covers the whole list, in US dollars, within two working days.
- Delivery is FCA Gaziantep, FOB Mersin, CIF or DAP; chocolate moves in a reefer through the hot months.
- Payment is half with the order and half against loading photographs, before the container leaves.
Private label or white label
Private label chocolate and white label are used interchangeably, and the difference is worth keeping. If the producer already makes the product and you put your name on it, that is white label: fastest, and the recipe is not yours. If the recipe, the weight and the pack are chosen for you, that is private label: slower, and the product is yours to describe. Both are open on selected lines, and both wait on our confirmation before we quote.
Anything outside that confirmed range — bulk chocolate by the kilo, couverture, raw pistachios, other nuts, dried fruit, halva, spices — is sourced on request; we confirm composition and format before quoting.
The label is the American half of the job
The pack is in English. The Nutrition Facts panel and the allergen declaration are built to US rules from our technical data sheet; on private label we prepare them, and nothing goes to print until you approve the artwork in writing.
US standards of identity decide what a product may be called. A coating made with vegetable fat is not chocolate under those names, however good it tastes, so the offer states line by line whether you are buying chocolate or compound. Settling that on the artwork is cheaper than settling it at the port.
Who holds what on the US side
None of this helps if the import file points at the wrong plant.
- FDA food facility registration is held for our factory, with a US agent. We do not hold it and we do not stand in for it. Each line in the offer carries our factory's registration, so your file shows the facility that actually made the goods.
- Prior notice and supplier verification are the importer's duties. We supply what those duties feed on: a technical data sheet per product, our certificates, and lot traceability back to the run.
- There is no free trade agreement between the United States and Türkiye. The offer states the tariff line and the duty that applies on the day, so your landed-cost model starts from the same number ours does.
Is a US co-packer cheaper than importing?
It depends on what you compare. A domestic run has no ocean freight and no customs step; an origin run gives you several products at once, made where the recipes come from. The two are only comparable line by line, on the same weight and pack, and the offer states the tariff line and the duty that applies on the day so you can finish the sum yourself.
Can I put my brand on more than one product in the same order?
Yes, and that is the reason to use a mixed container. Each line has its own producer, its own minimum and its own pallet, and they all travel together under one set of shipping documents.
Who registers with the FDA, you or my company?
Neither. Food facility registration is held by our factory, with a US agent, and every line in the offer carries it. Prior notice and supplier verification stay with you as the importer; we provide the technical data sheets, our certificates and lot traceability that file needs.
Can you supply couverture or bulk chocolate by the kilo for my own production?
That is outside the confirmed range, so we do not list it. It is sourced on request; we confirm composition and format before quoting.
