Manufacturing hemp beverages is more complex than most brands expect. Choosing the right manufacturing partner is not as simple as finding someone to fill cans. It means aligning recipe development, packaging, regulatory compliance, forecasting, and logistics long before a product ever reaches the production floor.

You have probably heard the terms “co-packing” or “co-man” if you are in the hemp beverage business. It is where the emulsion meets the flavor mix, gets bottled, and becomes a finished product. A co-manufacturing partner is responsible for executing a brand’s recipe in a consistent, repeatable, and financially viable way.

Many breweries have transitioned into hemp beverages as a way to offset declines in alcoholic beverage sales. We caught up with Omar Ansari, founder of Surly Brewery, a Minnesota brewer who made that shift and is now one of the top hemp beverage co-manufacturers in the country.

Are We Good Partners for Each Other?

Right off the bat, Ansari said one of the first conversations a brand needs to have is about volume expectations, what the brand can realistically commit to, and whether the manufacturer can actually support that demand.

Surly is one of the country’s large-volume manufacturers and does not work with startups looking for runs of 100 cases or so.

“Our pricing wouldn’t work for them, because it’s a volume business and we have to meet our goals to sustain the business,” he said.

Not every manufacturer is the right fit for every brand, and understanding that early can save everyone time, money, and frustration.

All of these conversations should happen as early as possible, because if volume expectations, operational needs, or pricing realities do not align, it is probably not the right partnership.

The Recipe Is Not One-Size-Fits-All

Before anything goes into production, Surly reviews a brand’s recipe during the discovery phase to determine whether it actually fits their capabilities, equipment, and production schedule.

Some products require special mixers or tunnel pasteurization equipment. Some brands send premixed product, and Surly adds the water and emulsion. Others want Surly to source and procure every ingredient itself. Ansari said six to seven ingredients are fairly standard, but he has seen recipes with 20 different steps.

Manufacturing is about efficiency. Tanks need to be constantly emptied, cleaned, filled, sealed, labeled, and packed to keep production moving.

“The margins are really slim, so you’re always trying to be efficient and do things quickly,” Ansari said. “And if there are 20 steps, that means 20 things we can get wrong.”

The more complicated the process, the more expensive it becomes, and the more opportunities there are for something to go sideways.

Surly learned this firsthand after following one brand’s SOPs only to discover the recipe clogged filters and caused the THC emulsion to bind to pulp because of how the steps were structured.

There are often ways to catch or prevent these issues early, but only if those conversations happen upfront. Ansari noted that many brands have since moved away from high-solid ingredients for exactly this reason.

Understanding how a formula behaves in a real manufacturing environment is critical before production begins. For brands planning to scale regionally or nationally, recipe consistency is not just about taste. It is also about cannabinoid accuracy, shelf stability, and maintaining repeatable SOPs across multiple facilities.

What to Consider When Searching for a Manufacturer

One of the first questions new brands ask is how to actually get their product into production, and Ansari says it often starts before a manufacturer is even involved.

Most brands begin with an emulsion supplier, and that relationship often leads to everything else. Emulsion suppliers frequently recommend co-manufacturers they trust because if an emulsion is not performing properly or binds with another ingredient, everyone has a problem.

From there, emulsion suppliers may also point brands toward recipe houses and flavor development partners if they do not already have those capabilities in-house.

These specialists help build production-ready formulas, source ingredients, and navigate decisions like sweeteners, non-caloric formulations, and ingredient sourcing.

There really is not much a co-manufacturer can do until that foundational recipe work is done.

As for how products actually arrive at Surly, Ansari says there is a broad spectrum.

The most sophisticated brands may send premixed concentrates in totes, allowing Surly to simply manage product-to-water ratios and run tests.

But that is not the norm.

Most startups are not there yet.

More advanced brands, especially those working with multiple co-packers nationwide, often use concentrated formulas to maintain consistency from one facility to the next.

Shipping water is expensive, and THC beverages are mostly water, so concentrating formulas before shipping makes both logistical and financial sense.

For most emerging brands, though, recipe development, ingredient procurement, and operational planning all happen long before production day.

Navigating Cans and Cartons as a Startup

Ansari breaks can procurement into three options: sleeving a can, digitally printing cans, or buying a truckload.

Sleeving has the lowest barrier to entry. Digital printing offers a polished look in smaller quantities and is where most startups begin. Truckload purchases offer the best economics but require scale.

But according to Ansari, cans are usually the easier part.

The carton is where many brands really get tripped up.

Cartons, the retail boxes cans are packed into, must match the specific machinery and die lines of each co-manufacturer. A carton built for one facility may not transfer to another, which creates major complications for brands trying to scale across multiple states.

Then there is regulation.

The hemp beverage industry still operates under a patchwork of state-by-state compliance requirements, and when a state changes its labeling rules, packaging inventory can become obsolete overnight.

Ansari said Surly has discarded hundreds of thousands of cartons after regulatory changes in states like Texas made them unusable.

Stickering over old inventory may sound like an easy fix, but it adds real labor costs. Surly recently quoted one brand $1.25 per case just for stickering, once labor, overtime, and restacking were factored in.

Volume creates another challenge.

Ansari pulled up a quote showing that a sleek 4-pack carton might cost 54 cents at 10,000 units but only 32 cents at 100,000.

Brands understandably do not want to sit on excessive inventory in a volatile regulatory environment, but ordering conservatively means paying more per unit.

Ansari described one large customer who came in with an order for 50,000 cases, revised it down to two runs of 25,000, then 12,000, then back up to 25,000 in a matter of weeks, largely driven by packaging changes.

When brands suddenly want to scale because sales appear strong, the reality is that manufacturers often do not have extra cans, ingredients, or cartons sitting around. Fulfilling that larger order often means bumping someone else.

Artwork approval is another hidden bottleneck. Cartons take weeks to manufacture, and if artwork is delayed, production slots move.

For many startups, the can gets most of the attention, but the carton often becomes one of the biggest operational and financial headaches.

Federal regulation, Ansari noted, would simplify much of this.

Standardized national labeling requirements would dramatically reduce waste, improve forecasting, and make scaling far more predictable.

Until then, packaging remains one of the industry’s most underestimated operational challenges.

Working With Distributors and Managing Logistics

One of the biggest misconceptions Ansari sees is brands overestimating what distributors actually do.

“Every distributor will tell you how great they are at selling product,” he said. But in reality, their primary strength is efficient distribution.

Selling your brand is still your responsibility.

This becomes especially important when brands look at depletion data.

Distributors often do a large initial load-in, which can make early sales numbers appear stronger than they really are. Brands see those figures and call their co-manufacturer, wanting to double the next production run.

Then reality sets in.

If actual sell-through does not match the initial load-in, brands can get stuck after a co-manufacturer has already purchased ingredients, cans, and cartons based on inflated projections.

Ansari said Surly has been in brewing for 20 years and still deals with this dynamic. It is not just a startup problem. It’s inherent in product manufacturing.

Logistics is another major blind spot.

Distributors are not warehouses, and they do not want to be.

When product comes off the line, it needs somewhere to go.

Surly has a 60,000-square-foot warehouse and works with customers when possible, but many co-manufacturers require pickup within seven days of production.

That means brands need to think through 3PL, warehousing, freight, and storage before the product ever comes off the line.

Even smaller requests add up.

Pulling a few cases to ship samples to a media contact in New York, sending product to a trade show, or handling one-off retailer requests all require warehouse labor, forklift time, and coordination.

Those costs are rarely covered in standard manufacturing fees.

Know your numbers. Understand what your manufacturing agreement covers and what it does not. Stay close to your depletion data. Have a logistics plan before production begins. And most importantly, treat retail relationships as your responsibility, not your distributor’s.

The more a brand has figured out ahead of time, from formula to realistic volume to packaging and logistics, the smoother the process tends to be and the better pricing a co-manufacturer can usually offer.