Custom formulation means we develop a product that does not exist yet, to your brief. That might be a different herb stack, a different extract load, an unusual format, or a composition built around a specific claim you want to be able to support. It is the right route when you have a real gap to fill and the volume to justify it. It is the wrong route when you are simply reluctant to sell the same formulation as someone else.
How development actually works
It begins with a brief: what the product is for, who buys it, what the target price and format are, and any ingredients you specifically want in or out. The more commercial context you give us, the better the result, a formulator who knows your target retail price makes very different decisions about extract grades.
We then propose a composition, cost it against your volume, and iterate until it works on both the technical and the commercial side. Once agreed, we make trial batches, assess them for blend uniformity, compressibility or stability depending on format, and then put the product on stability. Only then is it ready for a commercial batch.
Timelines, honestly
A straightforward variation on an existing formulation, a different extract load, a herb swapped, an added nutrient, is typically four to six weeks before a commercial batch. A genuinely new composition in an existing format is six to ten weeks. A new format we do not currently run, such as gummies or effervescent tablets, is eight to twelve weeks and sometimes longer.
Accelerated stability data takes its own time regardless of how fast everything else moves. If you need real-time stability data for an export registration, that is months rather than weeks, and no amount of urgency changes it. We will tell you this at the start rather than when you ask why the launch slipped.
What drives the cost
Development charges cover formulator time, trial batches and stability. They are typically recovered against your first commercial order rather than charged separately, provided the order goes ahead. If you walk away after development, the charge stands, that is reasonable, and we say so upfront.
The bigger cost driver is usually the composition itself. Named extract grades, standardised actives, premium nutrients like CoQ10 or myo-inositol, and vegetarian substitutes for cheaper non-vegetarian ingredients all move the per-unit cost substantially. We will model two or three versions at different price points so you can see the trade-off rather than guess at it.
Exclusivity and ownership
On a formulation developed to your brief and paid for by you, we will agree exclusivity on reasonable terms, usually a defined period with a minimum annual volume. That protects you from us selling your product to a competitor and protects us from holding a formulation nobody orders.
Be realistic about what exclusivity buys you. A composition is not easily protectable: a competitor who buys your product can have it analysed. What actually defends a brand is distribution, content and customer trust, not a secret formula.