Manufacturing Mayonnaise

For previous posts about Payo, see the Kickstarter updates page.

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.

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!