Hi ADI, We are working with a contract distillery that has distilled our base product (bourbon), and last year quoted us a bottling labor fee of $2.57 per bottle. This is for a standard 750 mL bottle (about 3,000 bottles), with front label and back label machine applied and tamper hand applied.
Once the liquid was ready and we shipped all our supplies, we were told that quote is expired and the new quote (one year later) is $6.70 per bottle. A cataclysmic price that would totally sink our business.
I would love some perspective from this community -- is this some post-Covid pricing or are we being taken advantage of? Has anyone ever heard of labor costs this high?
And does anyone have bottler recommendations in or between North Carolina and New Jersey, that might have more reasonable costs? We are ready to ship all our liquid, bottles, and bottling supplies, we just need a solution quickly as our product is due in the warehouse by the end of the month.
Would love some perspective from this group. Thanks so much.