tag:blog.payo.us,2014:/feedPaleo Foods2014-09-10T18:01:25-07:00Paleo Foodshttp://blog.payo.usloren@paleofoods.usSvbtle.comtag:blog.payo.us,2014:Post/approaching-production-batch2014-09-10T18:01:25-07:002014-09-10T18:01:25-07:00Approaching the Production Batch<p>We’re getting close to the 440-gallon seven-thousand-jar production batch of Payo! Here’s an update on a couple of the ingredients, the label, the Amazon storefront, and shipping. For the type of eggs used in Payo, the preference list is:</p>
<ol>
<li>Organic, pastured, fed traditional diet </li>
<li>Organic pastured </li>
<li>Pastured </li>
<li>Organic free-range </li>
<li>Organic cage-free</li>
<li>Free-range</li>
<li>Cage free</li>
</ol>
<p>I went down the list, looking for suppliers. For this batch, the best I could find was type 4 egg whites and type 7 egg yolks. There are a couple suppliers who may have type 4 yolks available next year. The reason good eggs are hard to find is that companies aren’t ordering them in the form I need, so egg suppliers aren’t offering them. When I ask how large an order I would need to put in for them to put their good eggs through the separation and pasteurization process, I hear a number between three and six thousand pounds. I need less than six hundred pounds (on the order of eight thousand eggs) for Payo. And while I kind of like the idea of having an extra 5.4 thousand pounds of pastured eggs to gift to friends and use in cooking, it would be a mite expensive, and I don’t think I would be able to consume them all.</p>
<p>I had hoped my manufacturer would be able to find organic NFC (not from concentrate) lemon juice in sizes above Santa Cruz/Lakewood 32oz glass jars (which would be a tad comical to manufacture with), but they came up dry. I also didn’t find any, many suppliers saying they were out of stock until next year due to a strong fresh market (meaning many more people were buying whole lemons at markets/grocers, so farmers were selling them there instead of in bulk to juicers). If anyone would like to help out by searching for a US bulk supplier, preferably a drum (50 gallons) in the northeast US, that would be welcome :-)</p>
<p>The initial label stock I planned on using I found in a wine label collection and had a very nice three-dimensional texture, with a deep groove pattern. My label printer had thought it would work fine, but found on a test run that the ink didn’t hold. The next stock we are testing out is a very earthy/crafty matte – similar to construction paper.</p>
<p>On the Amazon front, the single jar packaging is set, but it will be more expensive than in the grocery store, due to the high per-order fee and because it needs to be over ~$10 in order to not be classified as an add-on item (which often dramatically lowers sales). A less expensive per-jar option will be a two-pack, for which I’m designing a custom-sized and -printed box, similar to the ghee box pictured on the Kickstarter page. Mine will have a white outside, and will have the Amazon stocking label printed on the back to avoid the ~$0.20 labeling fee (which the customer service people at Fulfillment by Amazon had never heard of being done, but eventually agreed to allow). An interesting aspect of the box design is the amount of friction between the top and the sides, which determines how much force is required to open it. I’m trying to strike a good balance between being easy on your hands to open but unlikely to accidentally open during shipment.</p>
<p>For shipping out Kickstarter rewards, I will be going to the manufacturer on production day, taking the first cases that come off the line, unpacking them, and repacking jars into variously-sized packages along with a thank-you note, spec sheet, and other rewards. I’m new to the world of mailing packages economically, and was given an excellent primer by Steve Tinsky of Wild Mountain Paleo Market while visiting his warehouse in Portland. I didn’t even know basic things, like USPS is usually less expensive than UPS and has regional rate boxes. I highly recommend Steve’s comprehensive Paleo food online store at <a href="http://www.wildmountainpaleo.com">www.wildmountainpaleo.com</a>, which is the first retail store to sign up to carry Payo!</p>
tag:blog.payo.us,2014:Post/manufacturer-finally-found2014-05-05T10:07:36-07:002014-05-05T10:07:36-07:00Manufacturer Finally Found<p>I’m excited to announce that <a href="http://www.lancasterfinefoods.com/">Lancaster Fine Foods</a> in Lancaster, Pennsylvania has accepted me as a client, and the test batch at their facility was successful. The mix of oils has changed significantly through the stability and taste testing process. The amount of coconut oil had to be significantly reduced to improve emulsion stability, and extra virgin olive oil and virgin avocado oil were removed from the formula for taste. While non-virgin olive and avocado oil would have tasted okay, the process used to extract and refine them does not meet my health standards. So the final formula will be mostly cold-pressed macadamia oil and a small amount of gravity-separated coconut oil. </p>
<p>The worldwide harvest of macadamia nuts this year was low, which along with increased demand has driven up the prices of macadamia oil. Unfortunately, in order to offer 8oz jars of Payo to grocery stores at a viable price point, I have decided to use virgin macadamia oil instead of the significantly more costly organic virgin macadamia oil. I do wish for Payo to be a completely organic product, and will reevaluate this decision for future batches. </p>
<p>The suppliers for most of the ingredients have been set, and the only one remaining is eggs. The previous manufacturer I worked with was open to working with in-shell eggs, but Lancaster requires them in pre-cracked and pasteurized liquid form. This reduces the field of possible suppliers, and I am still searching for organic, pastured, liquid eggs. </p>
<p>On the label front, I’m trying to decide on a good, earthy brown for the background, and am working on shrinking the 16oz 2.5 x 8.5" label to 2.5 x 7.25" to fit the 8oz jar. I’ve also switched label printers to one with more stock options, and I’m looking for something with a rough, construction-paper-like look and feel. So far the one I like best is from a wine label materials collection, but the printer is looking at more options for me.</p>
<p>I have sent a jar of mayo to Amazon to test the process and find the exact cost of using them for fulfillment, and while it is costly ($4.07 per order of a single 8oz jar, plus a bit more if it sits in storage for a long period), it is less expensive than other options, considering that most buyers will be getting free shipping, either through Amazon Prime or the $35 free-shipping minimum order size. Orders through the payo.us website for cases of 12 jars will be discounted and shipped directly from the manufacturer.</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/pqqvyrmlny0jrg.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/pqqvyrmlny0jrg_small.png" alt="amzn-fee.png"></a></p>
<p>Testing out variously sized bubble wrap bags:</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ccrqdphhhak92a.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ccrqdphhhak92a_small.jpg" alt="uline.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Prepping a jar for Amazon:</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/0zevjjnhb4pow.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/0zevjjnhb4pow_small.jpg" alt="prepped-fba.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Test jar live on the store:</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ssidpczukxjnyg.png"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ssidpczukxjnyg_small.png" alt="on-amazon.png"></a></p>
<p>Unpacking the laboratory high shear mixer was a hilariously large project. The package was filled with small boxes and foam that could not be easily pried off, only slowly chipped away. Pictured is my VP of Formula Development. Thanks again, Tyler, for your help in the making and tasting of Payo and in the demolishing of this box: <a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/nqhfwfajcfwr3a.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/nqhfwfajcfwr3a_small.jpg" alt="package1.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/p0npzfwuerpvgw.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/p0npzfwuerpvgw_small.jpg" alt="package2.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/lbdqf7stzpexmq.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/lbdqf7stzpexmq_small.jpg" alt="package3.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Lab mixer head:</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/iiwc6sshl7lw.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/iiwc6sshl7lw_small.jpg" alt="lab-head.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Test batch at the manufacturer:</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/fkicrporrjojq.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/fkicrporrjojq_small.jpg" alt="test1.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/mq1fuszbczfjwa.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/mq1fuszbczfjwa_small.jpg" alt="test2.jpg"></a></p>
<p>Manufacturer’s bottle filling line:</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/fia4zspghnlvw.jpg"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/fia4zspghnlvw_small.jpg" alt="line.jpg"></a></p>
tag:blog.payo.us,2014:Post/manufacturing-mayonnaise2014-02-05T16:02:10-08:002014-02-05T16:02:10-08:00Manufacturing Mayonnaise<p><em>For previous posts about Payo, see the Kickstarter <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lorensr/payo-paleo-mayo/posts">updates page</a>.</em></p>
<p>I discovered that my previous manufacturer didn’t have the right kind of equipment (a high-shear mixer) for making shelf-stable xanthan-gum-free mayonnaise. So I’ve spent many hours on the phone in the past few weeks, first speaking with equipment manufacturers, finding out which types of mixers I could use, and then calling all dressing & sauce manufacturers I could find in the country, asking what equipment they used and what their minimum batch sizes were. Out of over 70 manufacturers, only a few do co-packing and have high-shear mixers. Out of those, I’ve only found one so far that have small enough minimum batch sizes. And they actually pick and choose which products they want to work on, so I need to send them an application and sample. I’m purchasing a lab-sized high-shear mixer, and once that arrives, I will test it out, see whether the formula needs to be refined with the new equipment, and then send a sample to the manufacturer and hope they accept me as a client. </p>
<p>I’ve read a few books about starting a food business, and they include sections on how to sell to grocery store buyers. They’ve led me to believe that I should market a smaller-sized mayo to health food stores. I need to lower the price point of a jar, and apparently many shoppers compare the total price of different jars of mayo rather than the per-oz price. So for instance a $6 6-oz jar of mayo should sell much better than a $13 16-oz jar, not only more units, but more product volume as well, regardless of the fact that the 16-oz-jar is cheaper per oz. Once the manufacturer is settled, I will see what their jar supplier’s size options are, and then make a smaller version of the label. Speaking of which, here is the current version of the label. Feedback is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p><a href="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ugdm8sfnqbqxpg.gif"><img src="https://svbtleusercontent.com/ugdm8sfnqbqxpg_small.gif" alt="payo-label-8.gif"></a></p>