Formulation & Commercialization
Formulas that behave on the line.
Reformulation, scale-up, and rescue work for bars and snacks, from a bench that has helped more than 100 clean-label products through a real plant. Led by Liz Ward, whose formulation credits include IQ Bar, Verb Bar, and Picky Bar.
Liz Ward · Co-founder of BumbleBar · Former Head of R&D, CleanCopack
Glenn Ward · Certified SQF Practitioner & PCQI · On the floor for pilot and first run
Bring the sample, the spec, and what’s wrong with it.
Where It Starts
Four ways a formula becomes an operations problem.
Formula shapes how a product is made, what it costs, and whether the plant will take it. These are the four conversations that open most of our formulation work.
It was great in the kitchen.
The pilot doesn’t match the sample. Texture is off, color drifts by the third batch, the slab won’t cut clean, or the bar won’t hold in the wrapper. The recipe wasn’t wrong; it was written for a mixer, not a line. We rework the formula for the equipment it will actually run on.
The best-seller has to change.
A new co-packer, a discontinued ingredient, a cost target, a protein or clean-label claim. The formula has to move without the customer noticing. Reformulation with the current product as the spec, matched side by side, not from memory.
The functional ingredient tastes like one.
Collagen, plant protein, botanicals, adaptogens, caffeine: bitter, metallic, sour, or chalky, and the clean-label constraint rules out the easy masks. We diagnose which off-note is actually the problem before we cover it. That is how the Prostasis bar got solved after two other benches couldn’t.
Shelf life is still an open question.
Water activity, moisture migration, oxidation, and the gap between a lab result and a product that still tastes right at month six. We build the formula and the finished-goods spec around the shelf-life target, and choose the testing that proves it.
How It Works
Scoped by the round. The sample is the decision.
Formulation is the one thing we don’t fold into a flat fee. Its variability is real: a reformulation can land in two rounds or need six, and a fixed price either overcharges the easy one or shortchanges the hard one. So the work is scoped by the round. You know what a round costs before it starts, you taste the result, and you decide whether the next one is worth it. Blocks of rounds come at a lower rate.
01
The brief
Target spec, nutrition targets and claims, cost-of-goods ceiling, allergen constraints, packaging, and the plant’s equipment. A depositor, a cold-form slab line, an extruder, and an oven each want a different formula. No plant yet? The brief is written so any facility we place with can run it.
02
Bench rounds
Each round is a formulation, samples shipped to you, structured feedback, and a revision. Sensory, texture, and process notes travel with every sample, so the changes between rounds are deliberate, not drift.
03
Scale-up
Batch scaling, process parameters, ingredient specs and approved suppliers, and a finished-goods spec with tolerances the plant can be held to. Then the pilot run on the plant’s equipment with a certified SQF practitioner and PCQI on the floor, because the first run is where a formula proves it.
04
The paper
Nutrition facts, allergen and ingredient statements, label and claims review, spec sheets, and supplier documentation, done before a buyer or a regulator does it for you. You own all of it: the formula, the spec, and the supplier list.
A Fair Question
Doesn’t the co-packer do this for free?
Sometimes, and it’s worth understanding what free means. A plant’s R&D team is good at making a product run on that plant’s line, with that plant’s ingredients, at that plant’s margin. That is their job, and it’s a legitimate one. It is not the same as a formula written for your product, on your spec, that you own and can take to a second facility when the first one raises tolling or runs out of capacity.
We sold our own co-packing facility in 2023. We work for the brand, we’re paid by the brand, and the formula leaves with you.
The Bench
The formulator has run the plant.
Liz Ward started BumbleBar in a rented commercial kitchen on Vashon Island in 1995: the first certified organic, gluten-free snack bar in the United States. She scaled it through co-packers, brought it in-house for five years, then built and ran a 36,000-square-foot SQF-certified plant. Through CleanCopack, the co-manufacturing operation that grew out of BumbleBar, where she was Head of R&D, more than 100 clean-label products went through a real production line. Her formulation credits include IQ Bar, Verb Bar, and Picky Bar.
Most formulators have never run the line their formula ends up on. Liz has run the line and owned the plant, so formulas here are written for the equipment, the lot-to-lot variability of real ingredients, and the operator on second shift, not just the bench.
Formulation Work
Two formulas other benches couldn’t finish.
The off-flavors nobody else could mask
Prostasis · functional nutrition bar. A complex functional blend threw bitter, metallic, and sour notes that two formulation teams couldn’t tame under a clean-label constraint. Tasting work showed the off-notes hit early and didn’t linger, which changed the strategy: palate coating, natural bitter blockers, and a base formulation built to support the mask. Result: a consumer-ready, clean-label bar.
100 mg of caffeine in 100 calories
Functional energy bar. A previous formulator had called the spec impossible: caffeine’s bitterness usually hides behind sugar, fat, and binders, and the calorie budget didn’t allow them. We redesigned the base so the bitterness had less to fight against, chose a cleaner-tasting caffeine source, and rebuilt the sweetener system. Result: a validated prototype at 100 mg and 100 calories or less, with production documentation ready for the co-packer. Second formulator to try it, first to solve it.
“I had been dreaming about this protein bar for months, but it finally felt real when I held that first great-tasting sample in my hands. Liz guided me through the entire process with patience, clarity, and deep expertise.”
Founder · Early-Stage Bar Brand
Who This Is For
If this describes you, bring the sample.
✓ You have a product in market or at pilot, and the formula has to change: a new plant, a discontinued ingredient, a cost target, a claim, or a run that doesn’t match the sample.
✓ You’re an established brand adding a SKU or a line extension and want it manufacturable on day one, not after the second bad trial.
✓ You’re a clinical, pharma, or supplement company putting an active ingredient into a food format for the first time.
✓ You have a co-packer, or the capital for a first run, so the formula has somewhere to go.
If you’re at the idea stage.
A formulation round is not the first dollar to spend on a new brand. Before it, you need a kitchen sample you’d put your name on, a customer you can describe, a price, and the capital for a first run, which for a bar or snack typically means $80,000 to $150,000 all-in. If that isn’t in place yet, we’ll say so on the call and point you to a commercial kitchen, a lower-cost pilot partner, or a co-packer with in-house R&D. Come back when the formula has a plant to go to.
Before You Ask
Straight answers.
Do you develop new products from scratch, or only fix existing ones?
Both, with a bias. Most of our formulation work is reformulation and scale-up for brands already producing, because that is where a formula problem costs the most. New product development works best when the brand already has a plant, a channel, and a first SKU in market. If you’re pre-launch, read the section above first.
Who owns the formula?
You do. The formula, the finished-goods spec, the ingredient specs, and the approved supplier list are yours, documented so a second facility could run them. We don’t hold formulas and we don’t take a royalty.
How is formulation priced?
By the round. A round is a formulation, samples shipped to you, your structured feedback, and a revision. You know the price of a round before it starts, blocks of rounds cost less per round, and you decide when the sample is right. We don’t fold formulation into a flat fee, because its variability would make that fee wrong in one direction or the other.
Can you work with the co-packer we already have?
Yes, and it is often the fastest route. We formulate for the equipment they have, write the spec in the form their QA team can hold a batch to, and stand on the floor for the trial. If the plant’s constraints turn out to be the real problem, we’ll tell you that too.
What categories do you formulate in?
Bars are home turf, cold-formed or baked. Granola, clusters, and other shelf-stable snacks are regular work. Refrigerated, frozen, and beverage: ask on the call, and we’ll tell you straight whether we’re the right bench or point you to someone who is.
Do you handle nutrition facts, labels, and claims?
Yes. Nutrition facts panels, allergen and ingredient statements, and a claims review against what the formula can actually support, before a buyer’s compliance team or a regulator does it for you. Certifications you’re pursuing (organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, kosher) are mapped into the ingredient specs from the start, so they don’t turn into a reformulation later.
Who does the work?
Liz leads every formulation engagement personally. Glenn covers the plant side: process parameters, the manufacturing control plan, and the pilot and first run.
Start Here
Bring the sample and the problem.
Twenty minutes. Tell us what the product is, where it’s made, and what’s wrong with it. You’ll leave knowing whether it’s a formula problem, a process problem, or a plant problem, and what a round would cost to find out.
Already have a co-packer and it isn’t working? Start here. Everything else we do is on What We Do.