Delicious, not difficult.
Contract Manufacturing: Why Ready Foods?
We’re a leading private label food manufacturer committed to creating the best experience to help you be successful.
Thanks for being curious about us! Our team in Denver, Colorado is experienced at providing innovative food service solutions. When you work with us, we’re rooting for you. We become an extension of your team.
As a contract manufacturer, we offer full-service kettle and immersion cooking and recipe development. Learn more about our high food safety standards HERE.
Even if you don't have a recipe ready to go, our skilled R&D chefs will work with you to create the perfect formula. As a co-packer, we create frozen and fresh items in pouches, in our glass-free facility.
Our ideal contract manufacturing partners tend to be part of a multi-unit foodservice brand looking for bulk-packaging for their operations. Unsure if we could be a good fit for each other? Contact us!
We can help your menu stand out from the rest with custom co-packing. Meet our R&D team here.
Part of our Mission statement is committing “to making our community a better place for another 50 years and beyond.”
Our People. If you work with us, know that you’re working with people who care. We care for our teammates, offering opportunities for personal development, a daily free soup and salad bar to fuel our bodies and tuition reimbursement to fuel our minds and support continued education for the employee and their children.
Our Ingredients. Our Supply Chain team works hard to align with vendors that are honest and adhere to our high quality standards. We are continuously improving our raw ingredients to include items that are more sustainably grown or produced.
Our Community. The Abarca family makes it a point to be a positive influence in our local community. We are grateful to have the ability to share our time and resources with local initiatives that align with our values. From simple food donations to work study positions for high school students, we are eager to make a positive impact in our neighborhood and beyond.
LOOKING FOR A LIST OF PRIVATE LABEL RESOURCES? CLICK HERE.
Contract Manufacturing with Ready Foods: What to Expect
We specialize in quick-chilled fresh and frozen food items in bulk packaging. We currently do not make shelf-stable foods. From soups to sauces (We excel at crafting stable cheese sauces!), grains and beans, we have over 50 years of experience making a variety of items. We are
Together with our R&D team, we recreate your recipe at a higher volume, a lower cost and with a better yield. We go through a series of test batches and tastings with you to make sure it is just right before we start producing at higher volumes. Once approved, you are set to take your co-packed food to market or simply to your own restaurant kitchen.
Ready to get started? Contact us HERE.
Check out the steps below. The entire R&D process mapped out below can take 3-6+ months. This includes: New raw material acquisition and supply chain building, R&D samples created by us and reviewed by you, scale-up production, and your product shipped via a distributor.
Our Process
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A member of our sales team will connect with you and map out your objectives and what competitive solutions you are looking for.
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We like to start with an estimated price. Then, at no added cost to you, our R&D chefs will work with your recipe or come up with a new item for your approval.
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Once a recipe has been approved, our supply chain team works together with our accounting professionals to put together a definitive plan for sourcing ingredients and a more comprehensive pricing structure that works for your volume.
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We would love to have you visit our facility early in the process. Once you get to this step, you will certainly join us on site as we make the first scale-up batch of your product. Once this batch meets all of your requirements, you're off to the races! We are ready to work at your pace.
The Value of a Food Co-Packing Partner: Here are the Services You Receive When You Work with Us
The Value of a Contract Manufacturing Partner
The Value of Piece of Mind: Quality Assurance
In 2021, we spent nearly $3 million on food safety and quality assurance measures for our customers. We also spend over 150 hours each year doing our own internal audits and inspections, above and beyond our third party auditors.
Food safety and quality is crucial to your brand. Our QA department is robust. We invest a lot of resources each year making sure it is. Whoever you work with for your project, be sure that they are investing in their quality and safety departments. Check out our QA certifications here.
The Value of R&D
At Ready Foods, we do not charge for our R&D or innovation services. A simple project that our R&D team works on has a value of over $2,400, none of which is charged to the customer. Our R&D team is talented and their knowledge and experience vast, this free service priceless!
In addition to testing your recipe to get it ready for scale-up, our R&D team establishes specs for all items we produce. This includes metrics like consistency, pH, brix and salt, which our Quality team will use as standards to test every batch of your recipe we make. As you are looking for a private label partner, be sure to ask about the cost of R&D work or any limitations on the number of tests they will do. We have a great R&D team! They successfully commercialized a record-setting national LTO from R&D to scale-up. Learn more about our R&D team here.
The Value of a Supply Chain Team
A strong supply chain is important! The good news? We have an entire team dedicated to sourcing, buying and scheduling all of the items we make. If you co-pack with us, you don’t have to tackle this on your own. A full year of sourcing and supply chain services has a value of over $10,000.
Be sure to ask potential co-packers if they offer contract negotiation and buying or if that is up to you to source and get ingredients to their facilities. A supply chain team you can trust will ensure that your finished recipe can get out the door to your customers.
Additional Value: Market Support
Our Marketing department is happy to help you explore the impact of ingredient options and descriptors to better position your product in the targeted marketplace.
Want to setup a contract manufacturing exploratory call or bounce some ideas off of us? We’re rooting for you!
