Bespoke sachet and stick pack manufacturing

What we make as a stick pack manufacturer: types, bases and dose ranges

We develop and manufacture custom sachets and stick packs for premium wellness brands, in-house in Leicester, from formulation to the filled, cartoned product. As a stick pack manufacturer, we make powder sticks and sachets, gel sachets, jelly sticks, honey sticks, liposomal sachets and coffee and tea sticks, each carrying one exact dose, from a 3 g creatine stick to a protein sachet. Every stick and sachet is formed, filled and sealed in one continuous process, with fill weights and seals checked through the run, and every batch ships with its certificate of analysis. Your formula is yours.

Sachets and stick packs sit alongside the other supplement formats we manufacture. A stick fits a pocket and suits sampling, travel and subscription, and single-serve already leads in hydration: single-serve packs took 65.3% of electrolyte powder revenue in 2025 (Grand View Research, July 2026). We take on large, multi-market single-serve programmes with confidence and grow them with your brand across the UK, Europe and the US.

Types

• Powder stick packs: slim single-serve sticks for electrolytes, creatine, collagen, greens, fibre and drink mixes, including direct-to-mouth powders taken without water.
• Powder sachets: flat sachets for larger servings, such as protein and fibre powders.
• Gel sachets: energy and carbohydrate gels, and vitamin and collagen gels, squeezed straight from the pack.
• Jelly sticks: ready-to-eat jellies carrying collagen, fibre or vitamins, a format led by Asian markets.
• Honey sticks: honey-based sticks with vitamins or botanical extracts.
• Liposomal sachets: liposomal liquids, such as vitamin C, filled into single-dose sachets.
• Coffee and tea sticks: instant coffee, tea and matcha blends carrying protein, collagen or botanical extracts.
• Single-dose packs: sticks and sachets packed into cartons, trial packs and multi-product kits.

Liquid shots and squeeze pouches, also made in Leicester, are covered on our liquid supplement page.

Dose ranges

Formulation science for sachets and stick packs

Powder sticks: flow, fill accuracy and moisture

In a stick pack, the dose is one fill, so flow and bulk density decide accuracy. A blend that segregates puts more of one active in some sticks than others, which is why we match particle sizes, premix micro-ingredients and check blend uniformity before filling. Many single-serve actives attract water, electrolyte salts and collagen peptides above all, and a stick's large surface relative to its contents gives moisture more film to cross per gram. Barrier film, humidity control during filling and stability testing in the final pack work together.

Gel sachets: water activity, pH and preservation

Gels are water-based, so they need the controls of a liquid. We set water activity and pH together, add preservatives only where the formula needs them, and build viscosity with gums so the gel squeezes out cleanly without separating. Sports gels often combine glucose sources with fructose, because the gut absorbs them through different transporters, and we balance sweetness, osmolality and mouthfeel at the same time. Challenge testing by our accredited partner laboratories confirms the preservation holds across shelf life.

Jelly sticks: gel strength and safety

A jelly stick has to hold together in the pack and break down easily in the mouth. Konjac is common in Asian jelly sticks, but as of October 2026, UK and EU additive rules bar konjac (E 425) from jelly confectionery because of the choking risk, and they also restrict other gelling agents in jelly mini-cups. European jelly sticks therefore use other gelling systems, set to a soft, easily broken gel, and we confirm each additive's permission for the product's category in every market.

Honey sticks: water activity and authenticity

Honey's high sugar content and low water activity keep it stable, and adding powders or extracts can disturb both, causing crystallisation, separation or fermentation. We test water activity and stability in the finished stick. Honey also carries its own rules. Nothing may be added to a product sold as "honey" in the EU and GB, so a honey stick with actives is named and labelled as a food supplement made with honey. Pure honey sticks follow the honey rules: as of October 2026, for EU blends of honey from more than one country, labels must list every country of origin with its percentage, in descending order, and two-letter country codes are allowed on portions under 30 g (FSAI summary of the honey rules).

Taste in a single dose

A stick concentrates a full dose into a glass of water, or into no water at all for direct-to-mouth formats, so salty, bitter and metallic notes come through. Our flavour and taste masking work sets the flavour system with the dose, not after it. Polyolefin films can also absorb flavour compounds such as limonene over shelf life, a loss known as scalping, so we test flavour in the final pack material.

Ingredients that work in this format

• Hydration: sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride salts, with or without sugars.
• Sports and performance: creatine monohydrate, carbohydrates for gels, and amino acids.
• Beauty from within: collagen peptides with vitamin C.
• Gut health: fibres, prebiotics and spore-forming probiotics in dry, low water activity sticks.
• Everyday nutrition: vitamin and mineral drink mixes, greens, and protein in sachet servings.

The watch-outs are mostly about water and reactivity: hygroscopic salts need barrier film, probiotics need dry blends, and vitamin C needs protection from minerals and moisture. When a product suits another format better, we make that too, all in Leicester: gummies, powders and drink mixes, softgels, effervescent tablets and ready-to-drink functional drinks. We check every ingredient's status in each target market before we formulate, because an ingredient sold as a supplement in one market can be a novel food in another.

How sachets and stick packs are made

Development runs from bench samples, where we fix taste, flow and dose, to a pilot run on production equipment that proves fill weight, seal integrity and yield and starts stability in the final film. From then on, every run follows the same controlled sequence, documented in the batch record.

1. Specify and approve. We agree the specification, film structure and pack format with you. Every material, including the printed film, comes from an approved supplier, suppliers are reviewed every year, and each supplier lot is recorded so every batch traces back to its materials.
2. Prepare the fill. Powders are weighed, sieved, premixed and blended under our allergen management plan, with yellow colour coding for allergens; gels are mixed and checked for pH, solids and viscosity.
3. Form, fill and seal. Printed film is formed into sticks or sachets, filled with one dose and sealed in one continuous process.
4. Check fills and seals. Fill weights and seal integrity are checked through the run.
5. Code and carton. Each stick carries its batch code and date, and sticks are counted into labelled cartons. Label verification on every batch is the critical control point in our HACCP plan.
6. Release. Quality control reviews the batch record and results against the specification before release, and every batch ships with its certificate of analysis and a batch release confirmation.

The HACCP study for each product type is reviewed every year, and any non-conformance is closed with QA and Operations sign-off.

Testing and batch release

Every batch is tested by accredited partner laboratories (ISO/IEC 17025), and batch testing is part of every order. The laboratories issue certificates of analysis you can share with retailers and marketplaces, and quality control releases every batch against its specification. For sachets and stick packs, the panel includes these tests:

• Active content: HPLC for creatine and vitamins, and ICP-OES or ICP-MS for electrolytes and minerals.
• Fill and seal: fill-weight distribution across the run, seal strength and leak tests.
• Microbiology: total viable count, yeasts and moulds, and pathogens, plus challenge tests for gels.
• Water activity and moisture: for powders, gels, jellies and honey sticks.
• Heavy metals: lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic by ICP-MS.

Stability studies in the final film, run with our accredited partner laboratories, set the shelf life and confirm the barrier. Sachets and stick packs are made in our Leicester facility, which is ISO 9001, HACCP and GMP certified by BSI, and FDA registered. Behind every batch sit a HACCP study per product type, reviewed annually; supplier approval before any material is used; label verification on every batch; three retained samples per batch, kept for shelf life plus one year; and a full mock recall, forward and backward with mass balance, in seconds. Our testing and batch release page sets out the full approach, and quality and accreditations covers each certificate and its scope.

Packaging and presentation

The film is the product's first defence and its biggest regulatory exposure. We match the structure to the formula's barrier needs and to your markets. Many sachets are multi-layer laminates of plastic with aluminium foil or metallised film, which mechanical recycling cannot separate. As of October 2026, EU packaging rules require packs designed for recycling to grade A, B or C from 2030 at the earliest, and to grade A or B from 2038. In the UK, 61.8% of flexible plastic packaging assessed in 2025 was rated red for recyclability, and red-rated packaging already pays higher extended producer responsibility fees, rising to twice the amber fee by 2028/29 (Food Manufacture, September 2026).

Where your packaging plan calls for mono-material sticks, we specify the film and arrange barrier and shelf-life testing in it before you commit. Sticks themselves fill well, but cartons and shippers count too. As of October 2026, EU packaging rules cap empty space in grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging at 50% from 1 January 2030, and require a harmonised material-composition label from 12 August 2028, both at the earliest. Cartons are sized to the stick count and printed to your brand, and we ship finished retail units or split shipments across your fulfilment partners.

Labels and claims for the UK, EU and US

The carton carries the full label. Each stick or sachet carries what keeps it traceable on its own: product name, batch code, date and dose. Where sticks are sold singly, each one needs the full label for its market.

United Kingdom and European Union

As of October 2026, these rules shape sachet and stick pack labels in the UK and EU:

• Food supplements carry the recommended daily dose, a warning not to exceed it, a statement that supplements are not a substitute for a varied diet, and the statement that the product is to be stored out of the reach of young children.
• A gel sachet or electrolyte stick can be sold as a food supplement or as a general food, such as an energy gel or sports drink powder, and the choice changes the label.
• Claims come only from the GB nutrition and health claims register or the EU register. The carbohydrate-electrolyte solution claims apply only to drinks that meet set carbohydrate, sodium and osmolality conditions, so zero-sugar sticks use mineral claims such as "magnesium contributes to electrolyte balance" instead.
• EU maximum levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements are on the way, so we build electrolyte sticks with room to adjust.
• Sugar-free sticks and gels sweetened with polyols need the laxative-effect statement once added polyols exceed 10%.

United States

As of October 2026, supplement sticks carry a Supplement Facts panel, while drink mixes sold as conventional foods carry Nutrition Facts, and structure/function claims need FDA's disclaimer and a notification to FDA. A "sugar-free" claim means less than 0.5 g of sugars per labelled serving. We prepare labels, check carton artwork and assemble the documents behind them for each market with you.

Our research and development is a paid stage, and it can be included with an order of the right size. Send us your brief through Start your project and we will come back with the film, format and testing plan for your sticks.

References: Grand View Research, electrolyte powder market (2026); Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (2025); PackUK fee modulation, reported by Food Manufacture (2026); Directive 2003/52/EC (2003); Directive (EU) 2024/1438 (2024); Directive 2002/46/EC (2002); Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 (2012); Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (2011).