San Diego Flexible Packaging,
Printed to Order
Custom printed pouches, bags and rollstock for San Diego County’s breweries, snack brands, pet food makers and specialty food companies. Shipped from our California office to your door.
Get a Free Quote
Tell us what you’re packing. We’ll send pricing at several quantity levels.
Trusted by 200+ brands including Kroger, Sprouts, Simple Truth, True Leaf Market, Wild Earth, Miss Jones Baking Co. & Renewal Mill
San Diego Makes the Food. It Doesn’t Make the Bags.
The county’s own employment data shows a food industry with almost no packaging manufacturing behind it.
San Diego County, 2024
345 food plants
About 7,400 people work in food manufacturing across the county, earning roughly $383 million in wages. A serious industry by any measure.
Packaging behind it
Five bag & pouch plants
Federal data lists just five establishments making bags and pouches countywide, plus four in plastics film — all so small that employment is suppressed for confidentiality.
What that means for you
Printed pouches come from elsewhere
Practically every printed stand-up pouch used in San Diego is already trucked or shipped in. The question isn’t local versus non-local. It’s which non-local supplier.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages, private ownership, San Diego County. NAICS 322220 and 326112 counts are establishments; employment in both is withheld under BLS disclosure rules, which itself tells you how few people work in them.
The Brands That Put San Diego on Shelves
Four clusters that run on printed film, from Kearny Mesa to Escondido.
Craft brewing, and what it sells beside beer
The county had around 158 breweries as of 2020, with roughly 3,600 direct employees — down about a quarter from the 2018 peak. Beer doesn’t need our bags. The merch, malt, snack and dog-treat lines built off those brands do.
Avocados and a $1.67 billion farm economy
San Diego County agriculture is worth about $1.67 billion a year, with avocados alone near $99 million. Fresh produce rides in film; value-added versions of it — dried, powdered, snacked — ride in pouches.
Better-for-you brands with national distribution
Chosen Foods, Perfect Snacks, Suja, Bitchin’ Sauce in San Marcos, Solid Gold Pet, My Perfect Pet in Poway. Brands in this tier print multiple SKUs at once, which is exactly where our pricing works.
These companies are named because they’re publicly known San Diego food and pet brands. We’re not claiming any of them as a customer.
Are We the Right Supplier for a San Diego Brand?
There are good short-run and label shops in the county — Pack Lab in San Marcos among them. Here’s the honest split.
Worth a quote from us
Production volume, gravure quality
Our minimum is 5,000 per design, and per-bag pricing steps down again at 10,000 and 25,000.
- You’ve outgrown short-run digital and the per-bag cost is hurting
- Several flavours or sizes printing together
- Artwork needing up to 9-color rotogravure and tight Pantone matching
- Barrier film that has to survive a hot trailer up I-5
Probably not us
Test batches and next-week work
If you’re proving a concept at a farmers market, buy short-run digital locally and come back when the SKU sells.
- Under 5,000 per design
- Anything needed inside 4–6 weeks
- Pressure-sensitive labels only — we print film, not labels
Where your bags are made: by our partner plants in Asia, with us as the California company managing it end to end. Practically no printed pouch used by a San Diego brand is made in San Diego — what differs between suppliers is whether they tell you where the work actually happens.
Freight into San Diego County
Delivered to your dock, with the freight already inside the price.
Miramar, Otay Mesa, Vista or Escondido
We deliver to the dock. Freight is inside the quoted price rather than a line added at the end, so the number we give you is the number you pay.
8–10 weeks, not a shipping window
From approved artwork to bags on your floor. We can expedite part of an order to 4–6 weeks when a retailer moves a set date on you.
If you co-pack in Tijuana
Plenty of San Diego brands fill across the border. Tell us at quote time and we’ll ship to the consolidator or customs broker you already use, rather than splitting your order.
What every quote includes
No surprises at invoice time
- Per-bag price at your quantity, 10,000 and 25,000
- No plate fees — print tooling is in the per-bag price
- Freight to your San Diego dock
- Film structure and thickness in writing
- Free samples and a die line before anything prints
- Recyclable and compostable structures where they fit the product
Bags for What San Diego Brands Sell
Every style below is one we print.
Bars, bites & better-for-you
Snacks
The category San Diego is best known for nationally. Usually a stand-up pouch with a zipper, printed across several flavours at once so the per-bag price lands where it needs to.
We usually recommend
Stand-up pouch with zipper and matte finish
Food, treats & fresh-frozen
Pet
A real San Diego cluster, from dry kibble to gently cooked fresh meals. Heavier fill weights need a gusseted bag with a strong bottom seal and a handle that survives a shelf.
We usually recommend
Flat bottom or quad seal bag with zipper
Dried, powdered & value-added produce
Produce & Ingredients
What happens to avocado, citrus and berries once they leave the grove as something other than fresh fruit. High moisture barrier, and a window if the colour is the selling point.
We usually recommend
Stand-up pouch with high moisture barrier, window optional
Questions from San Diego Brands
Minimums, timing, freight and the border.
Want to talk it through?
We’re in California and work your hours. Tell us what you’re packing and we’ll recommend a style, size and material.
Do you have a San Diego location?
No. Our office is in Sunnyvale and we ship into San Diego County. Practically nobody printing pouches for San Diego brands is in San Diego — the county has only a handful of bag and film establishments, all very small — so the real comparison is between out-of-town suppliers.
What is your minimum order?
5,000 bags per design (SKU). Every flavour or size is its own design. Pricing improves at 10,000 and 25,000, which is where most growing San Diego brands land.
We use a local short-run printer now. When should we switch?
When a SKU reliably sells 5,000 units and the per-bag cost starts showing up in your margin. Short-run digital is the right tool for proving a product; rotogravure at volume is the right tool once it’s proven. Send us your current price and quantity and we’ll tell you honestly whether it’s time.
Can you ship to a co-packer in Tijuana or Otay Mesa?
We deliver to US addresses, including Otay Mesa. If your filling happens across the border, ship-to is usually your consolidator or customs broker on the US side — tell us at quote time and we’ll set it up that way rather than splitting the order.
Do you make beer packaging?
Not cans, carriers or cartons. What we do print for brewery-adjacent brands is pouches and bags — spent-grain snacks, brewery dog treats, coffee from a taproom roaster, merch-side food lines.
What about California’s packaging rules?
SB 54 producer responsibility, recyclability claims and Prop 65 warning placement are statewide rather than San Diego-specific, and we cover them on our California packaging page. City and county single-use ordinances here apply to foodservice ware, not retail packaging.
Are there plate or setup fees?
No. That’s worth putting next to your current short-run quote, which may well carry a setup charge per design. Ours is one per-bag number with the tooling inside it.
Where are the bags made?
By our partner plants in Asia, managed end to end by us here in California. Practically no printed pouch used by a San Diego brand is made in San Diego; the difference is whether your supplier says where the work happens.
Let’s Price Your San Diego Packaging
Tell us your product, fill weight and quantity, or just that you’re not sure. We’ll come back with recommendations and pricing at several quantity levels.