What the first run looks like

A first run has a natural order, and most of the pain people describe comes from doing it in a different one.

Before anything is ordered

Decide the range, and make it narrow. Three or four spices, one or two blends. Decide the jar and closure, and get a sample of each before committing, because the closure constrains the jar and both constrain the label.

Source the spice and ask the four questions: cleanliness certification, volatile oil, treatment method, origin and lot. Design the label against the actual panel dimensions and check what has to be on it: identity, net weight on the front, ingredients, allergens, your name and address.

Then order jars and labels, which have the longest lead times and the largest minimums.

The week the packaging arrives

Check it. Fit a closure to a jar and confirm the finish matches. Apply a label to a jar and leave it a day to see whether the edges lift on the radius.

Fill one jar with your bulkiest material and one with your densest, settle them overnight and look at both. This is when a wrong jar size is still a returnable problem rather than a year of apologizing for a half-empty jar.

Production day

One material at a time, mild to strong, cleaning down between. Grind in short bursts and let the mill cool. Fill to weight with a scale under the jar, check-weigh a sample and write it down. Brush the rim before capping.

Label, and then let the labeled jars sit a day before packing, because adhesive keeps bonding for hours.

The two weeks after

Keep a retained sample of every batch, sealed and cold. Watch the first jars you sold: ask the buyers, and open one of your own at two weeks and four to see what the customer is seeing.

This is when you find out whether your packing room was too humid, whether the closure sifts your coarsest grind, and whether the jar looks right on a shelf. All three are cheap to fix now and expensive to fix after the second order.

References