Do it Yourself (DIY) versus Done for You (DFU): PART ONE

Let’s say late last year you were in the process of cleaning out your parents’ attic as they prepared to list the family home for sale.    Enduring the sweltering heat and inch-thick dust you not only discover your grandmothers’ cookbook, but between the worn pages on a scrap of paper was her blue ribbon recipe for cinnamon sugar snickerdoodles.  

You became nostalgic while fingering the fragile paper covered with her distinctive handwriting.  Sitting on your knees you fondly remember the 4^th of July picnics and school lunch boxes featuring those buttery cookies.  

By the time you left the attic however you're no longer lost in the past.  Instead you're planning a future bringing these fabulous cookies to market. 

But first you need to decide who will make the cookies.  Will you go into the baking business and open a bakery?  Or is it time to start a relationship with a copacker. 

Just in case you're uncertain with the role the copacker plays let me define the term and its responsibilities. 

A contract packer (shortened to copacker) is an existing company that manufactures and packages food for their clients.  The copacker works (usually) under contract with the hiring company (you) to manufacture food as though the products were manufactured directly by the hiring company.

Now getting back to the above question; do it yourself or hire it out to a copacker, the short answer is; it depends.  There are advantages and disadvantages to either decision but know it is a big, complicated serious decision to make.  But then what else is new??

As you’re weighing the pros and cons it makes a difference if you're a startup or an existing company looking to expand.

STARTUP - If you're a startup company the first question you ask yourself is why you’ve decided to go into business. 

Hopefully it has something to do with a profitable solution to a problem – in this case you think the world needs another cinnamon cookie.  But there may also be an emotional component that figures into your decision.  For instance on a soul level do you take pleasure in the idea of making the cookie dough, hand scooping it onto parchment-lined sheets in preparation for the fiery ovens?  Honestly would you be interested in the business if time in the kitchen was not part of the promise? 

If taking the bakery kitchen out of the model doesn’t feel good then you're a prime candidate for doing your own manufacturing.

On the other hand does your dream center on sales?  If your vision focuses more on the distribution side as opposed to the manufacturing side you may want to forget the apron and start looking for a copacker.  

EXISTING BUSINESS -If you're an existing business involved in creating strategies for expansion you've probably already fulfilled your need to be elbow-deep in dough.   In other words you no longer need to make the cookies (or the widgets) to feel productive.  If this is the case it may be time to seek outside manufacturing (a copacker.) 

With startup or expanding  you have different issues; different considerations.  This first post was to represent the “softer side” of the issue.  The next post will be a touch more gritty.   

So stay tuned.  In a few days I'll finish this conversation with a pros and cons list that will help. 

In the meantime read E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber if you’re in startup.  The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox for existing businesses especially if you’re considering staying with your own manufacturing.