Choosing the right wholesale food supplier for your restaurant, cafe, or catering business can be a daunting task. With so many wholesale food suppliers out there, it’s important to consider a few key factors before selecting one. This blog post will provide tips and advice on what to look for in a wholesale food supplier to ensure you are getting the best quality products and service. By following these tips, you can be sure to choose the right supplier and make the most of your business.
Consider your audience
Consider your audience, such as health-conscious customers, cost-conscious shoppers, or convenience seekers. For example, if you want to offer a variety of healthy foods and are catering to a mainly health-conscious audience, then high protein and low sugar options may be good choices. If you’re catering to a cost-conscious crowd who wants more affordable items like canned beans or boxed cereal at an affordable price, then choosing suppliers with competitive pricing is key. Lastly, if you’re catering to customers who need quick access to food that is already prepared such as hotdogs and canned vegetables then convenience is paramount in selecting your supplier.
Consider your budget
Consider your budget, whether you want to buy in bulk, and how much food you will consume. Are you going to be consuming the food as-is or cooking it? How many people do you want to feed? Finally, do not forget about taste preferences.
Consider your menu
Your menu is what you should look at when deciding on a wholesaler. Consider things such as your produce needs, whether or not you will be offering catering, and what type of food your restaurant specializes in. With that being said, it is important to consider your options carefully before committing to a supplier. The more information you have about what is out there, the better off you will be. If there are certain items that are not offered by the current supplier then it might be worth looking into another one. One way to determine this would be to talk with other chefs who work in similar restaurants and see who they use and how their service has been over time. The quality of food is also important to consider so make sure that whomever you choose has a good reputation for freshness and good quality ingredients, otherwise it won’t do any good if all of your clients get sick from undercooked chicken or spoiled fruit salad.
Consider your kitchen staff
Consider your kitchen staff. If you have a large staff, you will want to consider how much work they can do. Do you need more prep people or more line cooks? Do you need someone who can handle everything, or would it be better to specialize? If you are buying a certain type of food and they have only one cook in that department, it may not be worth the investment.
