The food and beverage industry coined "co-manufacturing" and "co-packing" because "contract manufacturing" felt sterile. Functionally, co-manufacturing is contract manufacturing applied to consumables: a co-man produces the entire product — mixing, processing, packaging — to your spec, in their facility, registered with FDA as a food facility.

Co-packing is the lighter cousin. You ship the co-packer bulk product (or bulk components), and they handle the packaging operation: filling pouches, labeling bottles, casing, palletizing. Co-packers are common in spirits, hot sauce, supplements, and snack categories where the brand wants control over the bulk recipe but needs scale on the packaging line.

Practical numbers: food and beverage co-man MOQs are usually measured in cases or pallets, not units. A co-man running cold-brew typically wants a 5,000-15,000 case minimum. A protein bar co-man needs 50,000-100,000 bars per SKU per run. Hot sauce co-packers can go as low as 2,500-5,000 bottles if you supply the sauce.

FDA registration matters: every facility producing food for U.S. commerce must register as a food facility under the Bioterrorism Act and renew biennially. Verify the registration number before you sign anything.