The manufacturers on PartnerSlate are broken out into 3 categories. Below you'll see a description of each. Some manufacturers might fall under more than one category. We have nearly 6000 manufacturers in our network.

Contract manufacturers (co-mans) are manufacturers that produce and package custom recipes for their clients. Most brands that are looking for a 3rd party manufacturer to help produce and package their proprietary recipe are going to be looking for a contract manufacturer.

Many contract manufacturers on PartnerSlate offer additional services in addition to processing and packaging, such as R&D and product development, and sometimes even warehousing and order fulfillment.

Contract packagers are just that, packagers or re-packers. They don't typically produce any food or beverage products, but will often handle finished product. Many contract packagers will receive bulk finished product and then re-pack that product into a different packaging format for a customer.

This is common with products that have multiple steps, or are being paired and packaged with another item from a different facility (such as meal kits).

Private label manufacturers are similar to co-mans in that they often produce and package finished product. The difference is that they typically own the recipe vs producing a custom brand-owned recipe. Private label is the most common amongst retailer owned brands (examples: Whole Foods - 365 Everyday Value, Costco - Kirkland Signature or Kroger - Signature Truth).

These private label brands will typically partner with private label manufacturers to produce products under their own label.

Note: The term co-packer is often used for both contract manufacturers and contract packagers.