250 units.
No plate cost.
18 days.
Custom food packaging for boutique brands, FBA launches, Kickstarter fulfillment, and seasonal SKU tests. Digital print handles pilots. Flexo handles mid-volume. Gravure spins up when you scale — same files, same dieline.
Three print technologies. Three MOQ floors. One growth path.
Digital print
First SKU launch · variant art · seasonal · sample run
Flexo print
Kraft, recyclable PE, mid-volume retail mainstays
Rotogravure
Full-color premium, gold/silver Pantone, 8c+ art
Five sample SKUs across volume tiers. Quotes itemized in 24h.
| SKU spec | 250 u | 1,000 u | 5,000 u | 20,000 u |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foil-lined bag · 250g · 1c digital | $1.85 | $0.95 | $0.42 | — |
| Foil-lined bag · 250g · 6c gravure | — | — | $0.38 | $0.22 |
| Chocolate foil wrapper · 4c | — | $0.32 | $0.18 | $0.11 |
| Burger / butter wrap · 35gsm · 4c | $0.10 | $0.05 | $0.03 | $0.02 |
| Blister + backer card · foil-stamp | — | $3.20 | $2.10 | $1.55 |
Per-unit USD pricing for art-included reference SKUs. Real quotes account for artwork complexity, finish (soft-touch / spot UV / foil-stamp), and Pantone count. "—" means not economical at that volume on that tech.
From a 250-unit launch to a 50k annual contract.
Pilot launch (250–500 units)
Digital-printed foil, wraps and foil-lined bags. No plate cost. Variant artwork supported on the same run. Best for first-time brand validation.
Test scale (1,000–5,000 units)
Mix digital + flexo depending on stock. Pricing breaks at 1k and 2.5k. Best for Kickstarter fulfillment, FBA test SKUs, holiday SKUs.
Mass production (5,000+ units)
Move to gravure — plate cost amortizes by ~5,000 units. 8-color art + Pantone + spot foil all become economical. Best for proven SKUs ready to scale.
Pilot units shipped retailer-ready — direct to FC.
FNSKU pre-sticker
Apply your Amazon FNSKU sticker during our QC step, not your warehouse's. We laser-verify the barcode on every unit.
Retailer-spec case-pack
12-ct, 24-ct, 36-ct case packs to Amazon's tier-1 cube and weight spec. SIOC drop-test passed.
Pallet build to FBA spec
Floor-loadable LCL containers or pre-palletized direct freight. Pallet caps, edge guards, stretch wrap to spec.
Direct freight to assigned FC
We work with FBA-approved forwarders (Flexport, Xpress Global) to ship directly to your assigned FC — skip your warehouse entirely.
What new brands ask before placing a 250-unit pilot.
Can I actually get 250 units? What's the catch?
Yes. The 'catch' is unit price — digital pilot runs are 4–8× the per-unit cost of a 20,000-unit gravure run. But for SKU validation, holiday tests, and DTC launches that's the right trade. You spend $400–$1,000 on a 250-unit pilot instead of $4,000–$8,000 committing to gravure tooling on an unproven design.
Where does digital print fall short?
Pantone metallic and spot-color fluorescents don't render in CMYK + white. If your brand mark is a Pantone gold foil or a fluorescent corporate orange, digital can't match those exactly — you need flexo or gravure with a dedicated Pantone ink station. Everything else (full-art, photographic, brand imagery) renders just as well as gravure.
How do I move from a 250-unit pilot to mass production?
We keep your digital-run dieline, color profiles, and artwork on file. When you're ready to scale, the same files transfer to gravure with a one-time plate-cost (~$1,800 for an 8-color set). Lead time on the gravure ramp is the same as a fresh order — 22 days. No rework on your end.
Is there a real cost difference between flexo and gravure?
Yes — at 5,000 units, flexo is typically 15–25% cheaper per unit because plates cost less. At 20,000+ units, gravure pulls ahead because it runs faster and uses ink more efficiently. Crossover sits around 8,000–12,000 units depending on art complexity. We'll quote both and recommend.
What's the smallest blister / board pack order?
500 sets. Thermoformed blisters need a one-time mould, so MOQ is driven by tooling and assembly economics. 500 is genuinely workable; we run 200-unit pilots only for clients with a confirmed follow-on order, at ~40% upcharge.
Do you support Kickstarter fulfillment?
Yes — and we like KS projects because the funded order count tells us exact MOQ. We've shipped 800-unit specialty chocolate runs, 2,400-unit coffee subscription debuts, and 1,200-unit FBA launches direct to backers. Send us the campaign URL and we'll spec the pilot.