By outsourcing production, Chris Bremerman is positioning SuperFit! Protein Muffins for bigger growth.

Chris Bremerman, the owner of SuperFit! Protein Muffins of Overland Park, has just reached one of the biggest milestones for any food entrepreneur: She no longer has to physically make her own products.

Bremerman recently signed a production and distribution agreement with Marie Antoinette’s Gluten-Free Bake Shoppe, a baker in Wathena, Kan. They’ll do all the baking, freeing her to focus on business development. Bremerman expects to nearly quadruple the number of stores carrying her muffins by the end of 2016’s first quarter.

Before, Bremerman had to round up a team of helpers twice a month, drive to her rented space at the Independence Ennovation Center and log 10-hour days to create enough product for her customers. That was a challenge because SuperFit! isn’t the only business that Bremerman owns—she’s also a personal trainer with her own fitness studio.

“I feel like I got part of my life back,” she said. (Though, like any good entrepreneur, she’s planning to use a good chunk of that free time to build her business.)

‘We Decided to Make it a Real Business’

Bremerman started SuperFit! in 2012. She had been fixing her healthy style of muffins for her family and sharing extras with her training clients—who ate them up and started telling their friends. Soon, she was fielding calls from strangers wanting to order her protein muffins by the dozen.

“We decided to make it a real business,” Bremerman said.

She had been thinking about outsourcing her production for a while—she refined the process for creating her product to the point that it could be taught to a third party. She got the idea to contact Marie Antoinette’s after she noticed their gluten-free cupcakes in the same stores as her muffins.

“Just on a whim, I picked up the phone and called them,” Bremerman said.

Not only was Marie Antoinette’s open to working with her, the other company ticked all the boxes on Bremerman’s wish list for a contract packer, or co-packer. For one, the team there already had a kitchen that was certified as gluten-free, and they’re able to execute the recipe with no drop-off in quality. Marie Antoinette’s also sells its cupcakes to a larger network of grocery stores and shops, and they’ll be able to introduce their customers to SuperFit! muffins.

There is potential for cost savings, too. Because the two products use many of the same ingredients, they could buy in bulk together and receive a discount.

Working with a co-packer also gives her another huge benefit: Bremerman can expand her operations without having to sink a huge amount of money into a building or equipment. (The Ennovation Center, which allows young food businesses to rent space in its commercial kitchens, was a godsend in the early days of her company, she said.)

Finding a Like Company

Before moving forward with a partnership, Bremerman made a point of getting together a few times with Rani and Shawn Force, the owners and operators of Marie Antoinette’s.

Based on the quality of their product and the experience of their team, “I knew they knew what they were doing,” Bremerman said. “We needed to make sure that we meshed.”

They hit it off. And once all the paperwork was in place, including noncompete agreements, the Forces and Bremerman moved quickly to set up Marie Antoinette’s as the co-packer for SuperFit! Muffins.

Bremerman is already starting to see signs of sales growth, with more on the way. It’s all thanks to her finding a partnership that was a great fit for her business.

“I think there really is a benefit in finding like companies in order to expand your business,” she said.