In the world of infused beverages, whether you’re making a seltzer or non-carbonated drink, turning an idea into a reality involves a complex process.

This journey includes the careful craft of creating a delicious beverage and then bringing it to life.

The core of succeeding in the beverage space is blending creativity, science, and understanding the market. This is true for the regulated cannabis space, or Hemp Delta 8 and Delta 9, CBD, CBN, functional mushrooms, nutraceuticals, you name it! This journey is all about collaboration between the brand and the manufacturer who makes it happen.

It begins with beverage formulation. This is where the right mix of taste, smell, texture, and appearance comes into play. Some manufacturers, like Good Stuff Manufacturing, can offer a slew of preformulated, market tested options for you. But perhaps you don’t need this aspect. It could be a crafty individual working out the details or a whole team of flavor experts, food scientists, and sensory specialists that work together to figure out what ingredients to use – things like natural flavors, sweeteners, and functional additives. They play around with combinations, ratios, and methods. Then, test it to make sure the drink matches what the intended customers want.

Once the formulation is nailed down, the process shifts to beverage manufacturing. This is where science, engineering, and practical know-how come together to turn the idea into a product. At Good Stuff, we have almost a decade of experience working with a wide variety of ingredients and have tested how these ingredients interact with Cannabinoids like THC and CBD. Ideally, your manufacturer will have this substantial experience so they can prevent problems before they happen. Furthermore, a good beverage manufacturer must work closely with the formulators to deal with challenges, make sure the drink can be produced on a larger scale, and find ways to make it efficiently. So, a good manufacturing partner will not only have thorough experience with a variety of ingredients, but they will also have a detailed and thorough on-boarding process.

At Good Stuff, we approach this by having a 3-step on-boarding process.

That process includes a line-by-line review of the formulations to look for potential formulation challenges, as well as executing two product test runs. The first test run is designed to confirm that the flavor is as expected and the second to create final product to ensure the packaging is also on point. We can’t count how many horror stories we have heard from customers who worked with copackers that didn’t follow a stringent multi-step onboarding process.

Once the onboarding process is complete, your manufacturing partner will have a comprehensive grasp of the formulation and packaging so that the magic can happen.

This journey from idea to product, in the world of beverage formulation and manufacturing, shows how important it is to communicate well, share the same goals, and understand the market. As the process unfolds, formulators and manufacturers use their special skills to solve problems, explore new ideas, and improve how drinks are made. The end results are beverages that not only taste great but also make a mark in the industry. In the world of interesting and emerging new beverage concepts, collaboration is a key component that leads to success.