How packaging shapes supplement order minimums and timelines

This guide's earlier sections describe packaging shaping minimums and timelines in general terms. In practice, each of DAT's six public commercial formats is reviewed on its own packaging set, not a single shared table: gummies publish PET bottle, doypack and sachet; Powder sachets publish flat sachet, stick pack and outer carton; functional jellies publish sachet and outer carton; oral strips publish wallet, strip booklet and foil sachet; liquid drops publish glass dropper, plastic dropper and spray cap; and pet soft chews publish a stand-up pouch, jar and wrapped piece.

A brand comparing two formats on packaging complexity is really comparing two different, independently reviewed systems — not two variations of the same table.

Alongside packaging, the commercial route a brief takes affects the minimum and timeline conversation this guide already introduces. A private-label route starts from a reviewed catalogue concept with packaging confirmed in the brief. A personalisation route tunes flavour, colour, shape and packaging format on an existing formulation without developing from scratch. A custom development route covers bespoke formulation or a packaging story that needs its own qualification, with volumes confirmed after the development scope rather than pulled from a standard tier.

Regardless of which route or packaging type is chosen, production lead time is confirmed at the universal 8-12 week band once a brief is locked and samples are approved — packaging complexity affects the review steps beforehand, not this production band itself.

Within the gummy format specifically, a reviewed formulation can move between PET bottle, doypack and sachet packaging as part of the personalisation route this guide describes, without restarting the underlying formulation work.

Moving between different formats entirely — a gummy concept becoming a functional jelly, for example — is a bigger change than a packaging swap and is scoped separately, since it means moving into a different format-specific packaging system altogether. Recognising the difference between the two kinds of change up front is what lets a brand plan realistically for a range extension instead of treating every addition as an equally large project.

DAT Supply's served markets are the EU, the UK and the US. Artwork and documentation are reviewed against whichever of these three markets a brief names, which is a review step layered on top of the packaging and working-model decisions this guide already covers — not a separate minimum or timeline tier of its own.

A brand targeting more than one of the three served markets from the same packaging and formulation choice should expect a review pass per market, run in parallel with (not instead of) the packaging-tooling and sample steps already described, so the market count does not push the production band itself past the universal 8-12 week window.

The project brief wizard captures format, packaging, working-model route and target market together, so the minimum and timeline conversation this guide covers happens against DAT's current tiers rather than an assumed figure.

For a packaging-specific deep dive on the gummy route's three packaging types, this guide's sibling doypack resource covers where doypack does and doesn't apply across the wider format portfolio.