White label cold brew coffee partnerships offer roasters and coffee brands the opportunity to expand their product offerings without investing in brewing, packaging, or branding infrastructure. 

By outsourcing cold brew production to a trusted partner, businesses can focus on their core strengths, like food service operations or branding and marketing, while bringing a premium ready-to-drink (RTD) cold brew to market.

A successful white label cold brew coffee partnership involves many steps, from the initial concept and planning through production, branding, and distribution. 

To learn more, we spoke to Howey Gill, head of coffee at Grind, who offered valuable perspectives on the benefits of these partnerships.

Specialised brewing facilities and trustworthy production

The brewing process is the backbone of any great cold brew product, and the first step in a white label cold brew coffee partnership involves identifying a partner offering high-quality coffee with the expertise and equipment to brew it at scale. 

Cold brewing has traditionally been a slow and complex process, but modern cold brew coffee makers can brew large batches in less than an hour. 

New cold brew equipment offers the user much more precise control over factors such as brewing time, temperature, and health and safety. Finding a partner with access to high-tech equipment will reflect well in your white label cold brew coffee. 

“Cold brewing is hard,” says Howey. “It’s one of those things that gets so much easier with advanced equipment investment and scale.”

“Finding and trusting in someone who’s invested in the space and has the right levels of expertise, certifications, and logistics capabilities allows us to focus on what we’re good at.”

White label cold brew partners will offer their clients a choice of coffees from their range to use under the client’s label. Still, options are typically more limited than in a private label partnership, where a roaster, for example, can use their own coffee and leave the production in the hands of the partner. 

Shorter lead times, lower MOQs, and cheaper overall costs are important factors to consider when seeking a white label partner. In the fast-paced RTD market, quicker production and greater flexibility can make or break retail opportunities.

Packaging needs to be safe, durable, and left to the experts

Once the cold brew is brewed, packaging is the next step. Cans are typically preferred for cold brew products due to their practicality, durability, shelf life, and branding potential. For businesses considering canning themselves, the cost and complexity can be overwhelming. 

“Canning is expensive, really hard, and more importantly, it’s kind of boring,” Howey says. “If you have the space and money, it’s great to have control over these parts of your chain, but I’d recommend trusting in the experts.”

By outsourcing canning to a white label supplier, businesses avoid the significant investment required to purchase and maintain safe, high-quality canning equipment – a supplier with experience in food and beverage manufacturing will have a better understanding of strict regulations surrounding food safety – especially in the EU. 

Compliance with these regulations is critical for ensuring that your product is safe, consistent, and meets all required standards, which can vary from market to market. 

“We’ve worked so hard to make specialty coffee bigger and more visible, and now that it exists in more of a mainstream space, we have to make sure we have everything together to keep challenging the bigger brands,” Howey says. 

“These kinds of safety standards are so important, and again, they’re often things we roasters or operators aren’t super knowledgeable about, so it makes a lot of sense to get help with that.”

Branding: presence on the shelf

A strong, unique brand identity is often what captures customers’ attention before they even taste the product, especially younger consumers, the group most likely to purchase RTD cold coffee like cold brew.

White label cold brew coffee is a concept designed for client branding, not the manufacturer’s. The best partners will offer a solution that fits your brand aesthetic with your colourways, logos, and claims. Hence, your customer base is sure to recognise your products on the shelf. 

“Much as I’d love to think that coffee sells purely on flavour and ethics, in reality, branding is incredibly important,” confirms Howey. 

“Our pink coffee cans have separated us so much from the competition and really kick-started our online business.”

Cans provide an ideal canvas for bold, creative branding, with plenty of space for eye-catching designs. Beyond aesthetics, they also offer practical advantages, such as a longer shelf life, which is beneficial for both retail and distribution. 

A well-branded can of cold brew coffee will not only appeal to consumers in cafés but also draw attention to itself on a supermarket shelf.

“The convenience of cans, I think, is their best point. Longer shelf lives mean they’re easier to sell to larger groups and potentially further afield as you scale,” adds Howey.

Finding the right white label cold brew coffee partner for your business

When considering options, it’s important to look for a company that understands coffee, has specialised manufacturing facilities, and can handle your packaging and branding requirements. 

Moreover, the best partners are collaborative and not prone to shutting their clients out of the process once the agreement has been made. They offer favourable commercial terms like faster lead times, lower MOQs and accessible pricing.

Help in navigating the health and safety regulatory landscape of the markets in which you plan to retail is invaluable, and the capacity to grow as your business scales means you avoid changing partners and the headaches of supply chain management that can present in such scenarios. 

At Hardtank, we’ve built a white label cold brew coffee service on the back of over twenty years in the specialty coffee industry: not only do we understand coffee, but we offer expertise in the manufacturing of great cold brew, building best-in-class cold brew equipment, and market-leading packaging solutions. 

Our clients can start ordering their own privately-labelled cold brew products from just 3,000 units per SKU and can expect them to be ready in less than six weeks. 

Moreover, thanks to our BRC-certified manufacturing facility and stringent health and safety protocols, our clients have peace of mind over quality, safety and capacity – we are built to scale alongside you.

To source your own line of white label cold brew coffee products, visit our website or get in touch with our team. 

If you missed our recent Cold Brew Masterclass webinar, don’t worry; you can access the video recording here!

White label cold brew coffee