The short answer
When founders ask for "custom gummies," most picture a manufacturer building a gummy base from scratch, uniquely for their product. That isn't how commercial gummy manufacturing works — and once you understand why, it usually makes your product better, faster, and cheaper to launch.
At MHS, gummies are built on commercially proven base systems. Each base arrives roughly 90% complete: a stable blend of gelling agents, sugars, and carriers already optimised for texture, water activity, and shelf life. Your customisation happens on top of that base — your actives and dose, your flavour, your format, your packaging and brand. The base chemistry stays fixed, because that is the part you want to be predictable, not experimental.
So "custom" is real, but it sits at the formula and ingredient level, not the base level. This article walks through the three decisions founders actually make — base, flavour, and mould — and what each one costs in time and money.
Why this matters before manufacturing
A from-scratch base means unknown water-activity behaviour, untested texture under your actives, and no commercial track record. That is where reformulation loops, failed stability, and blown timelines come from. A proven base means your first sample run behaves the way your production run will. Knowing which decisions are genuinely yours to make — and which are fixed for good reason — lets you brief accurately, budget correctly, and avoid surprises at quote stage.
The base: what's fixed and what you choose
You don't formulate the base, but you do choose which base system fits your product. The choice is driven by active loading and whether you need a vegan or sugar-free position:
| Base system | Active loading (approx.) | Vegan? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gelatine (uses sugar) | up to ~2 g per gummy | No | Higher active loading |
| Gelatine/Pectin blend (uses sugar) | Intermediate | No | Some gelatine texture + broader inclusion |
| Pectin (uses sugar) | up to ~250 mg per gummy | Yes | Vegan, lower loading |
| Prebiotic Fibre Pectin (sugar-free) | up to ~250 mg per gummy | Yes | Vegan + sugar-free, fibre claims |
The flavour: standard library vs custom development
There is a defined standard flavour library across the sugar-based systems — 17–18 options including Strawberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Mango, Peach, Watermelon, Pineapple, Lemon, and more. The sugar-free Prebiotic Fibre Pectin base carries a smaller standard range: Blueberry, Mango, Pineapple, Watermelon, and Unflavoured.
Three things founders consistently underestimate:
- Some actives have strong taste profiles that need masking. This affects which flavour approach is achievable, and it's far cheaper to know at brief stage than at sample revision.
- A few colours are heat-sensitive. Blue Raspberry, Pink Lemonade, and Green Apple shift colour at depositor temperatures. They're still available — the fix is matching sanding sugar applied post-production, which adds a finishing step, not a problem.
- Custom flavours are possible using liquid flavours with an unflavoured base, but they add development time and cost. If you have a specific flavour in mind that isn't standard, raise it early.
Locking your flavour direction at brief stage is the single easiest way to avoid reformulation loops later.
The mould: standard shape vs custom tooling
This is where expectations and reality most often diverge. There is one standard mould shape: a 5 g cube. No bears, rings, bottles, or letters in the standard offering.
You can have a custom shape — it requires tooling, from approximately $2,000 as a one-off upfront fee (per shape, not per batch). Custom tooling also adds lead time to development.
The honest question to ask yourself: does your product need a distinctive shape to succeed commercially, or does it need to get to market, prove the formula, and gather customer feedback first? For most first runs, the 5 g cube is the right call — lowest cost, fastest path to a real product. Once you've validated demand and have repeat orders, custom tooling becomes a sensible investment that amortises across multiple runs.
Practical checklist: brief your gummy accurately
Before you contact a manufacturer, have a view on each of these — it's what turns a vague enquiry into an accurate quote:
- Active and dose per gummy
- Vegan and/or sugar-free?
- Flavour direction
- Heat-sensitive or strong-tasting actives
- Shape (5 g cube or custom tooling ~$2,000)
- Packaging format
- Launch timeline
How this connects to your manufacturing pathway
If you're still shaping the concept, the formulation pathway helps you pin down base and active feasibility. If you broadly know the product and want to move toward a quote, the gummy manufacturing service page is the right entry. Either way, the more of the checklist above you can answer, the faster you get a specific, accurate response rather than a general one.
When to speak to MHS
Reach out once you can describe your active and rough dose, whether the product needs to be vegan or sugar-free, and your flavour and shape direction. You don't need a finished formula — but those few decisions let the team tell you quickly whether the concept is feasible as a standard gummy and what it will take to make it.
Frequently asked questions
No. The base is a commercially proven system; you customise the actives, flavour, format, and packaging on top of it. That's what delivers predictable texture and shelf life.
17–18 standard flavours across the sugar-based systems, and 5 standard flavours for the sugar-free pectin base. Custom flavours can be developed for additional time and cost.
Custom mould tooling starts from approximately $2,000 as a one-off upfront fee per shape — not a per-batch charge. The standard 5 g cube has no tooling cost.