The Non-GMO movement is a hot topic right now. In fact, “GMO-free” is now the fastest growing store brand claim¹.
Whether you’re a producer, consumer or a manufacturer, everyone is discussing the importance of Non-GMO and how the new movement is affecting their work and their lives. For manufacturers and distributors in the natural foods sector, it’s especially important to understand the following:
Continue ReadingDo you buy your oil in bulk? The next packaging size larger than drums and totes is a full truckload of oil, flowing loose in a truck. In fact, your oil will deliver in one of two different types of trucks, and it’s important to know the differences. That way you can be to be fully prepared to unload your oil when it arrives, and it will help you make the lowest cost choice.
Continue ReadingThere are two key points to understanding why Spain’s olive harvest affects your own olive oil prices. Taking these points as givens will help you understand the complexities of the international commodity market.
The price of bulk olive oil changes on a daily basis around the world and it is, in essence, a commodity item.
A commodity is, by Webster’s definition, “a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold.” Many raw food ingredients are considered commodity items; to name a few, wheat, sugar and soybean oil are good examples here in the US. For the most part, commodities are bought in very large volumes (many truckloads or railcars at a time) and contracting prices is common.
One of the characteristics of a commodity is that price can change by the day, hour or even minute. It is affected by things like supply and demand, import and export trade policies, international politics, local and global crop production and many other factors. In the US, many of our commodities are regulated by the Chicago Board of Trade which gives buyers and sellers a baseline for their prices.
Continue ReadingSelecting a new supplier for any ingredient or packaging can be a lengthy process. It takes time to build trust and communication between the two parties, especially if it is essentially a “long distance relationship” which is common in the manufacturing industry.
No matter what you buy, we believe that you should get the following things from your supplier to be able to build a strong, mutually beneficial partnership that will be long lasting.
For bulk shipments that are packed onto a pallet, your order will deliver on a freight truck. If you’re not used to working with a freight carrier, it can take some getting used to the process. Below is a few things that you should know.
A simple definition: Private labeled products are products that are manufactured by one company for offer under a different company’s brand.
Over the last 15 years, demand for private labeled products has grown tremendously. Products across every category are now available with private label branding.
Private labeling is when a company selling a product, be it a grocery chain, food service supplier or wholesale distributor, will label it with their own exclusive brand. Sometimes, the brand may contain the store’s name, sometimes it may not. Private labeling allows the distributor to control the marketing of the product, and all the while, strengthening their company name in the eye of the consumer.
This article is for those small business owners that are interested buying olive oil in bulk. If you have read our initial discussion on making the leap from wholesale to bulk buying, and you’re still feeling like you may be ready for bulk oil, we’ll walk you through the next steps.
In a first consultation with a small business, we ask a number of questions to get a better picture of what and how they’re buying to be able to make a practical recommendation.
As a small business continues to grow, it’s important to improve the efficiency of your buying power to save money on your ingredients and lower your costs. We work with a lot of small business through this transition, but we’ve noticed a difficult trend: many small businesses contact a bulk supplier too soon.
Many consumers wonder what the differences are between Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The difference in price is reasonably large between these two types of oil, but are they really all that different?
Bulk olive oil is, in essence, a commodity item. This means that the global market price fluctuates on a daily basis and is largely dependent on the supply of olive oil available in the world.
Gourmet olive oil and vinegar stores have exploded in popularity in the last 10 years. Consumers love these interactive specialty shops, which allow them to taste each type of oil and mix and match flavors before buying. The success of these shops has prompted many specialty food markets and generic grocery stores to include a new “dispense-your-own” bulk olive oil section.
Buying oil in larger order quantities will reduce both the cost of the oil and the freight. What’s a larger quantity? For this discussion, we’ll look at orders of 6-20 pallets.
Always buy your olive oil in full pallets, if possible. When your oil is being shipped with a freight carrier, it is strapped onto a pallet.
Transportation costs for bulk olive oil can range anywhere from $75 (across town) to $600 (across the country) per pallet. Think about where your olive oil will be shipping from (also known as the FOB point) when you’re determining a delivered cost.
