Electrolyte powders have exploded as a category. Single-serve stick packs and sachets are the dominant format — easy to use on the go, easy to sample, and easy to sell DTC and on Amazon at accessible price points. For co-packing, they're also one of the most efficient formats to run.
Typical Fill Weights for Electrolyte Products
Electrolyte formulas vary widely in fill weight depending on inclusion rates and formula design:
- Minimal formula (sodium, potassium, magnesium only): 5g–8g per serving
- Standard electrolyte blend: 8g–15g per serving
- Enhanced formula (with added vitamins, adaptogens, or amino acids): 12g–25g per serving
- Electrolyte + carb blend (endurance formulas): 25g–45g per serving
Fill weight directly affects throughput. Light fills (under 20g) run significantly faster than heavy fills. At 9g–12g electrolyte fills, Overgang can run up to 20,000–25,000 sachets per day — the fastest throughput on our machine.
Sachet Size Considerations for Electrolyte Formulas
Electrolyte powders are typically fine and light. This matters for sachet sizing — you need a pouch small enough to look premium and convenient, but large enough to accommodate your fill weight with appropriate headspace for a clean top seal.
Common electrolyte sachet sizes:
- 5g–10g fills: 3"x4" to 3.5"x5" typically sufficient
- 10g–20g fills: 3.5"x5" to 4"x6"
- 20g–30g fills: 4"x6" to 4.5"x7"
We always recommend a sizing test with your actual formula before ordering film. Electrolyte powders vary significantly in bulk density based on the mineral forms used — magnesium citrate fills differently than magnesium oxide, sodium chloride fills differently than sodium bicarbonate. A density mismatch between your formula and your pouch size is the most common cause of first-run issues.
What Makes Electrolyte Fills Different From Protein Fills
Protein powders are relatively forgiving in terms of flow characteristics. Electrolyte formulas can be trickier for a few reasons:
- Salt hygroscopicity: Sodium chloride and some other electrolyte salts are hygroscopic. In humid conditions, finely ground salt blends can cake and cause flow issues.
- Crystal size variation: Electrolyte minerals come in different crystal or particle sizes. Blending a formula with both fine and coarse particles can result in segregation during filling, affecting dose consistency.
- Density variation: Some electrolyte minerals are very dense (sodium chloride: ~2.16 g/cm³), others much less so (magnesium citrate: ~0.64 g/cm³). A formula combining them has a different bulk density than either alone.
None of these are disqualifying — they're parameters to understand and plan for. A small blend test before your production run resolves most questions before they become problems on a full batch.
Run Cost Breakdown — Electrolyte Example
Let's model a real electrolyte production scenario: 10,000 sachets at 10g fill weight, single flavor, pre-blended by the customer:
| Cost Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Production run (10,000 sachets x $0.28) | $2,800 |
| Blending (pre-blended — customer supplies) | $0 |
| Changeovers | $0 (single flavor) |
| Estimated ingredients (at $0.08/unit electrolyte formula) | $800 |
| Roll stock film (estimated) | $400 |
| Inbound freight | $150 |
| Estimated total | ~$4,150 |
| Effective all-in cost per sachet | $0.415 |
At a retail price of $1.50–$2.00 per stick pack, that's a 75–80% gross margin at 10,000 unit run size. Electrolyte economics at small-batch scale are genuinely attractive.
Multi-Flavor Electrolyte Runs
Electrolyte brands frequently run multiple flavors — it's a defining feature of the category. At Overgang, running multiple flavors in one day is $139 per changeover, provided:
- The same film size is used across all SKUs
- No allergen cleanout is required between flavors
- Pack size doesn't change between SKUs
A 3-flavor electrolyte run (2 changeovers) on 10,000 total sachets: $2,800 production + $278 changeovers = $3,078 production cost. Per-sachet production cost: $0.31. That's the kind of economics that makes multi-SKU electrolyte launches viable at small run sizes.