Prepared and ready-to-eat foods can be a great fit for Bubble Goods, but shipping these products requires some planning.
Bubble Goods is a dropship marketplace. We do not hold inventory or ship orders from a Bubble Goods warehouse. When a customer places an order, your brand packs and ships it directly to them.
For prepared and ready-to-eat foods, you need to make sure your products can safely travel through carrier networks and arrive at the customer's door within the appropriate temperature and shelf-life requirements.
š¦ Make Sure Your Product Is Ready to Ship
Before listing your product on Bubble Goods, make sure you have a reliable fulfillment process in place.
Depending on the product, you may need:
- An insulated shipping liner
- Gel packs or other appropriate coolant
- Dry ice, if applicable
- A sturdy shipping box
- Leak-resistant packaging
- Packaging that protects the product from damage during transit
If your product needs to stay refrigerated or frozen, your packaging needs to be designed to maintain the appropriate temperature throughout the expected shipping window.
As a general food safety guideline, the temperature danger zone is 40Ā°F to 140Ā°F. Your shipping process should be designed to keep temperature-sensitive products out of this range for as long as possible.
š§ Know Your Product's Temperature Requirements
Not every prepared food needs to be shipped the same way.
Before you launch, know whether your product needs to be:
- Refrigerated
- Frozen
- Kept at room temperature
- Refrigerated after opening
- Consumed within a specific period after delivery
Your packaging, coolant, shipping schedule, and customer instructions should all match those requirements.
If your product has a short shelf life, your shipping process also needs to account for how much of that shelf life is used during transit.
š Plan Your Shipping Days
When you're shipping perishable food, the day you ship matters.
Many Bubble Goods sellers ship orders only on Mondays and Tuesdays. This helps avoid having packages sit in carrier networks over the weekend and keeps transit time focused on the business week.
If your product has a limited shelf life or needs to remain cold, shipping earlier in the week can help reduce the amount of time it spends in transit.
If you only ship on certain days, make sure your shipping settings and customer expectations reflect your actual fulfillment schedule.
š·ļø Label Your Boxes
Boxes containing perishable food should have a "Perishable" sticker or label on the outside.
This helps make it clear to carriers and customers that the package contains food that may require special handling.
Your product packaging should also include the appropriate information about:
- Storage requirements
- Use by or best by dates
- Refrigeration or freezing
- Instructions after opening
- Other applicable handling instructions
š Tell Customers What to Do When Their Order Arrives
Don't make customers guess how to store their food.
If storage instructions are not already clearly printed on the product, include them inside the box.
For example:
Please refrigerate immediately upon delivery. Follow the storage and use instructions on the product packaging.
If your product needs to be frozen, say so clearly. If it needs to be consumed within a certain number of days, make that clear as well.
Using Dry Ice?
If dry ice is part of your shipping process, include instructions explaining how the customer should safely handle and dispose of it.
The customer should know what to do with the dry ice as soon as they open the package.
š§Ŗ Test Your Packaging Before You Scale
Before shipping prepared foods nationwide, test your packaging.
Try shipments with:
- Different transit distances
- Different weather conditions
- Your longest expected transit time
- Your normal shipping days
- Potential carrier delays
You want to know what happens when the shipment takes longer than expected.
A packaging setup that works for a one-day shipment may not work for a three-day shipment, especially during warmer months.
Test your actual product and packaging together rather than relying only on the specifications of an individual box, liner, or coolant.
ā±ļø Pay Attention to Shelf Life
Temperature is only one part of shipping prepared foods.
You also need to consider how much shelf life your product has when it leaves your facility and how much remains when it reaches the customer.
Before launching, ask yourself:
How long does the product last?
Know the actual shelf life of the product and how it changes once shipped.
How long will it typically be in transit?
Build your shipping process around the longest reasonable transit time, not just the fastest delivery.
How much shelf life will the customer have when it arrives?
Customers should have enough time to use the product once they receive it.
šŗšø Know Where You Can Ship
Because Bubble Goods is a dropship marketplace, your brand is responsible for shipping the order from your facility to the customer.
Before launching, make sure you know where you can safely ship your products within the continental U.S.
ā Before You Launch
Make sure you have these pieces covered:
We understand that Bubble Goods is a dropship marketplace and we ship orders directly to customers.
We know the temperature requirements for our product.
We have the appropriate insulated packaging and coolant, if needed.
We have tested our packaging for our expected transit times.
Our packaging is designed to keep temperature-sensitive products out of the 40Ā°F to 140Ā°F danger zone.
We have a shipping schedule that minimizes weekend transit.
We understand our product's shelf life and expected remaining shelf life at delivery.
We can safely ship to the areas we plan to serve in the continental U.S.
Every perishable shipment has a "Perishable" sticker on the outside.
Storage instructions are included inside the box if they are not already on the product.
Ā We include dry ice handling and disposal instructions when applicable.
We have a plan for carrier delays and extreme weather.
š„ The Bottom Line
Prepared and ready-to-eat foods can be a great addition to Bubble Goods, but the shipping experience needs to be part of your product strategy from the beginning.
Customers should receive their order safely, with the right amount of shelf life remaining and clear instructions for how to store and enjoy it.
Test your packaging, know your shipping limits, and build a fulfillment schedule that works for your product before you scale.
Prepared & Ready-to-Eat Food brand?Ā Start Selling With Bubble Goods Today!
