One of Overgang's founders spent years working with large, PE-backed co-packing facilities before starting this company. The experience informed every decision about how Overgang operates — sometimes by doing the opposite of what we'd seen.
This isn't a hit piece on large co-packers. They serve a real purpose at scale. But if you're an emerging brand evaluating your options, here's an honest side-by-side.
Minimum Order Quantity
| Factor | Overgang | Large Co-Packer |
|---|---|---|
| Unit minimum | None — $2,330 flat for any sachet volume up to 8,000 | Typically 25,000–100,000 units |
| Blend weight minimum | None specified | Often 500kg–2,000kg+ |
| SKU minimum | Single SKU accepted | Often requires multi-SKU commitment |
Pricing Transparency
Overgang publishes pricing on our website. Every tier, every add-on, no surprises. Most large co-packers will not give you a number until you've been through a discovery call, a proposal process, and sometimes an NDA — often three to five weeks after your first contact.
We think that's backwards. You should know what something costs before you invest time in a relationship.
Flexibility
| Factor | Overgang | Large Co-Packer |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-flavor same day | Yes — $139/changeover (same film, no allergen cleanout) | Usually separate run days per SKU |
| Formula changes between runs | Easy — small runs make pivots cheap | Expensive when you have 40,000 units of the old formula in warehouse |
| Scheduling lead time | ~14 days from confirmed specs | Often 6–12 weeks |
| Run size flexibility | 2,000 to 20,000+ in the same relationship | Usually requires commitment to consistent large volume |
What Large Co-Packers Do Better
We're being honest here. Large facilities have real advantages:
- Per-unit cost at very high volume. If you're running 500,000 units regularly, a large facility's cost structure will beat ours. We're not built for that volume.
- Redundancy. Multiple machines, multiple lines, larger teams. If one line goes down, another picks up. Smaller facilities have less redundancy.
- Breadth of format. Very large facilities run liquid filling, capsule manufacturing, tablet pressing, and packaging all under one roof. If you need multiple product formats, a large facility might handle all of them.
- Established retail credentials. Some major retailers require co-packer audits and certifications (SQF, BRC, etc.) that take years to build. Large facilities often have these. Overgang is FDA registered — that covers most DTC, Amazon, and emerging retail requirements.
The Question That Matters
The right co-packer isn't the biggest or the cheapest. It's the one that fits your stage.
If you're validating a concept, testing a formula, or proving a channel — a large facility's minimum order requirement will force you to over-commit before you have data. That's a structural mismatch that costs founders real money.
If you're running 200,000 units a month with proven velocity and locked formulas — you've outgrown the small-batch model and a large facility's economics make sense.
Most brands that come to Overgang are in the first category. They stay until they're genuinely in the second one. And when they get there, we'll tell them honestly.
Our honest take
We built Overgang for the stage that large co-packers ignore. We're not trying to compete with 500,000-unit-per-month facilities. We're trying to be the co-packer we wish we'd had when we were building brands from scratch — transparent, flexible, and genuinely invested in whether your product works.