5 Aspects to Look Into When Choosing a Food Packaging Supplier
You are looking for food packaging for your restaurant but you don’t know where to start? We talk to you about shape, design, coating, gsm, locking system,… Enough to give you a headache, right? If you are not familiar with these words, you can first read our article which will explain step by step the jargon used by food packaging suppliers. But first of all, relax and take a deep breath because it’s not very complicated to get by when you’re surrounded by the right supplier. All you have to do is pick it carefully. How? That’s what we’re going to find out right now.
In the rest of this article we will study 5 aspects that you should consider when choosing your food packaging supplier:
1. Are they manufacturer?
2. What kind of facilities do they have?
3. What services do they provide?
4. Are they creative and proactive?
5. What is their lead time?
1. Is the Food Packaging Supplier also manufacturer?
This first point is essential. Indeed, there are 2 types of food packaging suppliers. On one side we have the retailers. They buy the food packaging from producers and then sell it. They just act as intermediaries. On the other hand, we have the manufacturers who, as their name suggests, produce food packaging themselves. It is therefore preferable that your supplier is also a manufacturer. If this is the case, you will be able to get better prices than if he is a retailer.
Indeed, the retailer will have bought the food packaging from a manufacturer at a price that already includes the producer’s margin. To this price will be added the retailer’s margin. The final price at which you can purchase your product will therefore include the cost of production, the manufacturer’s margin, the cost of transport to the retailer, the retailer’s margin and finally the cost of transport to your storage location. By eliminating an intermediary, you will eliminate the retailer’s margin and the cost of transport to it.
From an economic point of view, it is therefore more advantageous for you to choose a supplier that is a manufacture but also in terms of reactivity. If you have any questions, modifications to make, specific instructions etc. it will always be easier to communicate directly with those who manufacture your packaging.
2. What kind of facilities do the food packaging supplier have?
If your food packaging supplier is a manufacturer, you should be interested in its facilities. What type of machine do they have? Do they have any specific certifications? Do they comply with hygiene standards? Is the place where they make food packaging a clean place (cleanroom)? Are the workers equipped with gloves, masks, etc.?
All these questions are important to ask to your supplier.
3. What services do they provide?
Next, you need to be interested in the services offered by the supplier. Some allow you to customize the packaging or create them to suit your needs, for example. Some of them have the possibility to create mock ups of your customized packaging for you to try them out in real conditions with your own food.
Are they easily available to answer your questions? Do they have their own delivery service? Etc.
4. Are they creative and proactive?
It is essential for a food packaging supplier to understand your problem and what you are looking for in this packaging. Once they have understood this well, they will be able to offer you their generic packaging or 100% customized packaging.
In the process of creating a customized packaging it is important that the manufacturer has perfectly understood your problem and is able to propose solutions to solve it. To do this, he must be creative and imaginative. It must adapt to your needs, question itself and think out of the box.
5. What is their lead time?
The time between ordering and receiving your product is important. The shorter it is, the better, of course. This shows the reactivity of the supplier but also the fluidity of their production process
You have all the facts, it’s up to you now
