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Q: Dave,
Great website! It has become my main resource of information in this industry. We have established a hot sauce that has become very popular. Besides registering/trademarking company/product names, logos, and slogans, is there a way we can protect our recipe before making the move to working with a co-packer? Or is this part of the process and, within that, it is protected? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dtrain
A: Hello Dtrain:
Speaking in broad terms, recipe theft is not a major problem in our industry. Most manufacturers are too proud of their own recipe to steal another person’s. Co-packers, to protect themselves and their clients, sign confidentiality agreements where they promise not to divulge your recipe to third parties. You should insist upon this. They also must agree not to pack any other product using your recipe without your permission. If another company wanted to sell your sauce with their label on it, that is called private labeling and might be a good move, especially if it were distributed through a different system than your label.
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