Starting, Owning and Marketing A Restaurant Blog|Starting and Owning a Restaurant - Construction, Planning, Marketing, Opening and Managing a New Restaurant

As you get within a few weeks of opening a restaurant, you must choose your primary food supplier carefully. Price and service are the key elements. One is important as the other. For instance, a supplier that has the lowest prices may not get deliveries consistently on time. Having the product when you need it is a customer service issue that is more important than price.

One of the other critical comparisons when it comes to price is to use the top 20%, by dollar volume, of your purchases. You may be buying ten cases per week of potato chips. That may seem like a lot. However, those two flats of fresh strawberries per day cost a lot more. The minimum invoice for deliveries is another factor that can go into your decision.

Most of the major suppliers like Sysco, US Foodservice, PFG, GFS and many more have services such as:

• Menu development help.
• Product samples.
• Chef assisted recipes.
• Various reports on your ordering habits.
• Regular food shows to highlight new items and product variation options.

If you run a restaurant that has an extremely high volume of a particular item, you may be able to negotiate a contract price through the processor or manufacturer’s representative. Another possibility is to buy a large quantity of an item and have the wholesaler store it until you are ready for weekly delivery.

Your relationship with the food supplier is critical to your growth and operations. They can keep you up to date with trends, new ideas and an insight to what is working for other suppliers.

As good as the large major food wholesalers are, my experience has been that their produce is generally sub-par. In most markets there are companies that specialize in fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs that extend beyond what the large companies supply. When you are looking for that purple fingerling potato or that true Japanese wasabi, you will have to find a specialist. The small companies rotate their inventory faster and have quick access to unique items. Many are buying from local producers native to your area of operation. Make sure produce suppliers deliver in refrigerated trucks, have basic products that allow you to order things like mayonnaise, eggs and dairy items along with fresh produce.

Other suppliers may include fresh seafood companies, paper companies, specialty meats, bakeries and others. Remember two things - you can use them as a source of information and stay a step ahead of your competition by keeping reliable lines of communication open. However, you are still the customer. Your needs flow directly to customer service issues. Service is essential to the relationship.