How to Choose a Supplement Manufacturer: 12 Questions Every Brand Should Ask

Most brand owners choose a manufacturer on price and regret it by the second order. The questions below are the ones that separate a factory you can scale with from one that will cost you a reprint, a delay or a listing. Ask all twelve before you place a purchase order — a supplier who cannot answer them clearly is telling you something.

On this page: Questions About Their Actual Capability · Questions About Cost and MOQ · Questions About Timeline and Risk

Questions About Their Actual Capability

1. Are you the factory, or a trading company?
   Ask directly, and ask for the production licence number and the address of the plant. A trading company will often quote a factory price and then subcontract, which means you lose visibility of the batch and the timeline. We operate our own factories in Zhengzhou, and we are happy to show you the licence.
2. Which dosage forms do you actually run, and on how many lines?
   “We do everything” is not an answer. Ask which forms run on their own lines and which are outsourced. A supplier that outsources softgels cannot control the softgel lead time, however good their gummy line is. We run 12 dosage forms across 6 lines in our partner facilities.
3. Can I see batch documentation from a recent run?
   Ask for a redacted Certificate of Analysis and a batch record summary. This tells you more about their QC culture than any certificate on a wall. If they hesitate, the answer is no.
4. What is your factory audit status?
   Ask which third party audited them, when, and against which standard. cGMP, HACCP and ISO 22000 are different things, and “GMP certified” on its own means very little without naming the auditor.

Questions About Cost and MOQ

1. What exactly does your MOQ include?
   MOQ is not one number. It changes with the formula (yours versus one of theirs), the packaging (stock versus custom) and the format. A supplier who gives you a single blanket figure has not understood your project. We publish our MOQ ladder so you can see what each step adds.
2. What drives my unit price up or down?
   The honest answer names the levers: active load, format, packaging, order quantity and whether the artwork is yours. If the answer is vague, the quotation that follows will be too.
3. Are there costs that are not in this quotation?
   Ask explicitly about tooling, plate charges, artwork proofing, third-party testing, and freight. These are the line items that turn a quote into a surprise invoice. Get them in writing before you commit.

Questions About Timeline and Risk

1. What is the lead time, and what does it start from?
   Lead time should be stated against a specific trigger — purchase order, or formula and artwork confirmation. “25 to 40 days” means nothing if you do not know when the clock starts. Ours is 25–40 calendar days from confirmed formula and packaging, excluding Chinese statutory holidays.
2. What happens if the batch fails a test?
   There should be a stated remedy: a re-run, a credit, or a replacement. A supplier who has never had a failure has either not tested enough or is not being straight with you.
3. Who owns the formula?
   If you developed it with them, get the ownership in writing. If you are using one of their stock formulas, understand what that means when you want to move suppliers later.
4. What is your sample policy, and is the cost credited back?
   A factory confident in its own output will usually credit the sample against the first bulk order. Confirm the arrangement before you request the sample, not after.
5. Can I speak to an existing customer?
   Any serious manufacturer can produce a reference in your market or a similar one. A refusal here is the single most useful red flag you will get in the whole process.

Related Reading

Our MOQ guide sets out the ladder in full. For the manufacturing routes themselves, see OEM, ODM and private label.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.