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Most brands send their first manufacturing request as a paragraph: “Hi, we want to launch a protein powder, can you send me prices and minimums?” Three manufacturers reply, the three replies are impossible to compare, and the brand concludes that the market is opaque.
The market is not opaque. The request left twenty decisions open, and each manufacturer closed them differently. This guide is about writing the document properly — what goes in it, in what order, and the one section almost everybody omits.
What an RFQ is actually for
A manufacturing RFQ exists to remove assumptions, not to describe your brand. Every variable you leave open — dose per serving, whether packaging is included, which claims you intend to print, what the lead time is measured from — is a variable each manufacturer will close differently, and that is why the quotes you get back do not match. A usable RFQ fixes seven blocks: who you are legally, the model you want (private label or contract manufacturing), the product, the claims you intend to make, volumes and horizon, packaging, and the documentation you need back. The block almost everyone omits is the claims one — and it is the one that determines whether the formula you are being quoted can legally carry the label you have already designed.
Block 1 · Who you are, legally
Not your brand story. Two or three lines of the facts a manufacturer needs to price and to comply:
- The company that will place the order, and the country it operates from.
- Who will be the operator responsible for placing the product on the market — that is the entity whose name goes on the label and who files the notification. If that is you, say so; if you expect the manufacturer to be it, say that instead, because it changes the answer substantially. In Spain the filing is regional rather than national, and we cover it in EU food supplement registration.
- Your channel: own e-commerce, retail, pharmacy, gyms, distributors, export. This drives packaging and documentation more than most brands expect.
If you are not yet a company, say that too. It is not disqualifying in itself, but it is better raised in the first email than discovered in week three — manufacturing is B2B with industrial minimums, and a manufacturer will tell you straight away whether your situation fits.
Block 2 · Which model you are asking for
One line, and it saves a week of crossed emails:
- Private label — you want to launch on a formula the manufacturer has already developed and validated. Fastest and cheapest to start.
- Contract manufacturing (OEM) — you have your own formula, or you want one developed for you, and you own it.
The two get priced completely differently, and a manufacturer that does not know which you mean will guess. The comparison in full is in OEM versus private label.
Block 3 · The product
The more of this you fix, the more comparable the replies:
- Category and positioning — not just “protein” but who it is for.
- Format: powder in a tub or doypack, single-serve sticks, capsules, tablets. If you are undecided, ask for two formats priced separately rather than leaving it open. The trade-offs are in the most in-demand supplement formats.
- Dose per serving and servings per unit. This is the single most common omission, and it makes prices incomparable, because a 300 g tub and a 500 g tub of the same formula are different products commercially.
- Actives you want present, and any you want excluded (allergens, sweeteners, colours, animal-derived ingredients).
- Flavour: unflavoured, choose from validated flavours, or develop a new one. Development is a cost and a timeline.
Block 4 · The claims you intend to make ← the one everyone omits
This is the block that separates a professional RFQ from a hopeful one, and the reason is simple: in the EU, claims determine the formula, not the other way round.
A health claim is authorised wording with conditions of use attached. If your marketing plan needs a specific claim, the formula has to be built to meet its condition — and if you only discover that after the formula is quoted and the artwork designed, you pay twice. Two worked examples:
- Creatine has authorised claims in the EU, but both are conditional on the product delivering a daily intake of 3 g of creatine, and the performance one may only be used on products aimed at adults doing high-intensity exercise. If your serving does not reach 3 g, the claim is not available to you. Detail in the private label creatine guide.
- Caffeine has no authorised health claim at all, nor do beta-alanine, citrulline, arginine or taurine. On a pre-workout, the claims you can print come from the B vitamins and magnesium in the formula — which means those have to be dosed to meet their own conditions. Detail in private label pre-workout manufacturing.
So in the RFQ, write the claims you intend to put on the front of the pack, and ask the manufacturer to confirm whether the formula being quoted supports them. The framework is in health claims and supplement labelling in the EU.
Block 5 · Volumes and horizon
Two numbers, not one:
- The first order you are willing to commit to.
- Your realistic 12-month projection.
Both matter, and for different reasons: the first sets whether the project clears the minimum for your format, and the projection changes how a manufacturer plans and prices, because a line set up once for a recurring product behaves differently from a one-off. Give a range if you must, but give the horizon. On how minimums work by format, see the MOQ guide, and on how cost is built up, what contract manufacturing costs.
Block 6 · Packaging and artwork
- Primary packaging: container, closure, and whether you have a preference or want the catalogue standard.
- Secondary and outer: box, sleeve, shrink, shipper — say whether the quote should include them, because this is where two quotes silently diverge.
- Artwork status: none, in progress, or print-ready. And who does the die-line and who validates the mandatory label particulars.
- Labelling language(s), which follow from the markets you sell into.
If you want to see how your product will look before committing, our 3D packaging configurator previews real catalogue containers with your own label.
Block 7 · The documentation you need back
Ask for it in the RFQ, not after the first delivery:
- Certificate of analysis per batch, and the specification it is measured against.
- Batch traceability and shelf-life determination.
- GMP certification, and how to verify it — see GMP certification for supplements.
- Anti-doping assurance, if you sell to competing athletes.
- Capacity in writing, if this product matters to your business. The five figures worth requesting are in supplement manufacturer capacity.
How to make the replies comparable
Ask every manufacturer to answer in the same shape:
- Unit cost, and what it includes — formula, primary packaging, secondary, labelling, palletising. Itemised.
- Minimum for this format and grammage, not a generic minimum.
- Lead time, and what it is measured from — order confirmation, artwork approval, or raw-material arrival. These are very different dates.
- Repeat lead time, which is usually shorter and is the one you will live with.
- What is excluded — the most informative line in any quote.
- Formula ownership, stated explicitly.
A price per unit with none of the above is not a better quote than a fully specified one. It is an unfinished quote.
The four mistakes that make an RFQ useless
- Asking for “prices and minimums” with no format or dose. Nothing comparable can come back.
- Omitting the claims. Covered above; it is the expensive one.
- Not saying whether packaging is included. Guarantees divergent quotes.
- Asking every manufacturer a different question, then comparing the answers as though they were the same question.
A skeleton you can copy
Company / country / responsible operator for market placement: Model: private label / contract manufacturing (own formula) Product and positioning: Format, dose per serving, servings per unit: Actives required / excluded: Flavour: unflavoured / from your catalogue / to develop Claims we intend to print: First order: ____ · 12-month projection: ____ Packaging: primary / secondary / included in price? · artwork: none / in progress / print-ready Markets and label languages: Documentation required: CoA per batch, specifications, GMP certificate, traceability Please quote: itemised unit cost, minimum for this format, lead time (state from what date), repeat lead time, exclusions
How to start
If you would rather not draft this from scratch, our quote form is a structured RFQ: it walks through these blocks in order and the reply comes back with the minimums, the lead time and the price for your case. That is also why we ask for so much detail before quoting — a quote built on assumptions is the thing this whole article exists to avoid.
The claims examples in this article were checked on 17 August 2026 against the table of authorised nutrition and health claims published by AESAN, the Spanish competent authority. The authorised list changes: verify against the EU Register of nutrition and health claims before printing labels. This article deliberately contains no minimum-order, price or lead-time figures — those are quoted per project, because they depend on format, grammage and packaging.
Frequently asked questions
What is an RFQ in supplement manufacturing?
A request for quotation is the document you send to candidate manufacturers describing what you want made, in what format, in what volume and with which claims, so that each of them can price the same thing. Its purpose is not to describe your brand — it is to remove the assumptions a manufacturer would otherwise have to make on your behalf, because every assumption they make is a difference you cannot see when you compare the replies.
Why do the quotes I receive never match each other?
Almost always because the RFQ left something open and each manufacturer closed it differently. If you do not state the dose per serving, one quotes a lighter formula than another. If you do not state whether the price should include artwork, primary packaging and outer packaging, some include them and some do not. If you do not state your intended claims, one may price a formula that cannot legally carry them. Fix the variables in the request and the replies become comparable.
What should I ask the manufacturer to give me back?
Ask explicitly for the basis of the unit cost, what is and is not included, the documentation supplied per batch (certificate of analysis and specifications), what the stated lead time is measured from, and what happens on a repeat order. A quote that is only a price per unit is not comparable to one that specifies those things, even when the number looks better.
Do I need to know my formula before sending an RFQ?
No, but you do need to know which model you are asking for. If you want to launch on a formula the manufacturer has already developed and validated, that is private label and you can send an RFQ describing the product category and positioning. If you have your own formula and want it produced, that is contract manufacturing and the RFQ should include the formula or a confidentiality agreement to share it. Saying which of the two you want is the single most useful line in the document.