Food ingredient suppliers are integral to the success of any restaurant or small food business. But not all distributors are the same. What your business needs is a food supplier that matches its needs, interests, and personality. How can you find such a partner? Here are a few ways to personalize your choice of supplier.
1. Look for Innovation.
A food supply partner should do more than simply fill your orders as requested. While this is important, they should also be a source of new ideas and information. Are there better options for the ingredients you need? Are there new and interesting flavor choices that you might want to try? Are there better sources for products? Look for someone who can help your business thrive among the competition.
2. Focus on Your Needs.
What the supplier provides to other restaurants has little relation to what they need to do for you. Can the provider get what you need when you need it and in the quality you need it? A vendor who deals in large quantities, for instance, may have prices that only work well if you purchase more than you need. Or a smaller, niche seller may not be able to scale up the items you need.
3. Talk About Special Orders.
You may like to make everything in-house, but it's not always practical or cost-effective with labor and inventory added in. With the right vendors on your team, you may be able to outsource part of your inventory without sacrificing quality. Talk to your suppliers about their ability to provide very specific ingredients and mixtures of ingredients. If you can get both your spices and your special dough recipe from the same service, your load is much lighter.
4. Try to Stay Local.
With supply chains suffering potential problems from the global pandemic, the value of local producers and suppliers has never been higher. The less distance, time, and hands your products must go through before reaching your kitchen, the more you can rely on them. While not all ingredients can be — or should be — locally-sourced, a simple supply chain is a good way to solve problems ranging from delivery time to scalability.
If you look for food suppliers that can help you grow as a business, provide the right ingredients, and ensure a stable supply chain, the relationship will prove fruitful for both of you. And then you can get back to the serious business of making your customers full and happy.
To learn more, reach out to local ingredient distributors.
