This article was originally featured on Rachel Zemser's website, The Intrepid Culinologist, and is published here with permission.

The Fancy Food Show was in town this January! I love wandering around the show, checking out the trends and secretly searching for false claims, labeling violations or stuff that is just misleading. That’s what food scientists do-- and then we pick up the phone, call the FDA and make sure violating entrepreneurs are BUSTED!!

The reality is, there are just way to many products out there for the FDA to inspect for compliance and unless your product is under USDA jurisdiction.  Plus, you don’t even have to have it inspected or approved before putting it on the shelf.

This is all the more reason to do your diligence and make sure you don’t accidentally lie, mislead or omit any important information.

Buying in bulk has always been thought to save money. Buy more volume and bigger packaging and save more money. That’s true, BUT, to be able to buy in bulk, a whole bunch of conditions need to be met on your business side of things to have the decision make sense.

On the flip side, there are plenty of times when a small business or restaurant shouldn’t buy from a bulk supplier. If your business sounds similar to the factors below, you should actually stick with your local distributor or food service provider.

This March, I (excitedly) attended Expo West for the first time. I would agree with many that this show is an absolute must for anyone in the natural food sector.

All kinds of brands exhibit, from the smaller budding names to the top dogs. All of the delicious samples made me excited for some new products that I will be able to get at the grocery store this next year.

Walking around, it was quite clear that there were a few very popular trends, repeated aisle after aisle. Young and old brands were climbing upon the trend bandwagon, staying on top of the latest and greatest.

And you… how will you stay ahead of the game? Well, to start, you should know the emerging trends! Here they are, in no particular order.

The following is a review of the 2014 trends in olive oil imports, including the most popular grades and where they’re coming from.

As you’re reading, here’s what directly affects your manufacturing / distribution company:

• Olive oil imports continue to grow, and
• Most imported olive oil is coming from Spain or Italy

Olive oil imports continue to grow

The popularity of olive oil is still on the rise, and has been for over 25 years. With the growth of gourmet retail shops across the US and much more conversation about olive oil quality and origins, consumers are likely to have an increase in demand for olive oil in the future.

This article was originally featured on the K3S blog and is published here with permission.

There’s a saying in purchasing that when the inventory in the warehouse is lean, sales is doing a great job. When the warehouse is overstocked, there must be a problem with purchasing. That’s the world we live in.

Running a profitable company in this economy is as much about keeping inventory lean as it is about boosting sales. 

“What are the top 5 factors you consider when deciding to partner with a supplier?”

Procurious, a online community for procurement professionals, recently posed this question to your peers in one of their forums.

Procurement personnel from all over the world answered with their top factors that they use to decide upon suppliers. Interestingly enough, the discussion was weighted pretty heavily on one factor — trust. Trust, of course, encompasses a lot of different things, but there were almost 3x as many answers for this one factor than any of the others.

All of these responses could be grouped into about five different main priorities.

Sometimes — well actually most of the time — I get calls from start ups asking me how they can scale up their recipe to industrial size. The first thing I always ask is,

“Is your formula in percentages? Because that's what manufacturers need to see it in.”

Crickets chirping in the distance— silence on the line…

The client usually says, “I measure my liquids with a measuring cup and I use teaspoons to weigh out my salt and sugar— is that ok?”

I answer NO!  

 Want to advance your career?  We all do.

Part of growing and advancing to your next role requires learning.  Go to school, master a new skill.  Naturally, the more experienced you are, the more valued you become-- in your current job and in your next.

The other part of professional development all comes down to networking.  When it comes to landing that perfect job, sometimes what matters more is who you know, not what you know.

Whether you're on the job hunt or just looking to continue to grow professionally, these resources are a must for anyone in the procurement field.  

Learn what you want to know and connect you with who you want to know.

... Why Leaders Lack Emotional Intelligence

... What I Have Learned About the Demand-Driven Journey

... How Starting a New Job Is Like Dating

Of course I’m interested in those articles! They all are in my field, they help me do my job better and manage my time in the work place.

They also were all served up to me on LinkedIn Pulse, because LinkedIn knows exactly the topics that I want to learn more about. And just how do they know? Because I’ve followed the right LinkedIn Pulse channels.

Today, I want to help you find and follow articles on LinkedIn that you’re going to love reading every day.

35 lb. containers are one of the most common edible oil packaging sizes. Also known as jug-in-box containers or carboys, they’re ideal for small manufacturing plants and restaurants. Anyone using hands-on production or who has limited storage space will find that they’re an ideal size.

Many customers ask us about the best ways to dispense from this packaging. Each box has a screw-on lid (about 2” wide) that, once removed, reveals a hole you can pour out of.

But sometimes that can be a messy and awkward way to get the oil out, so many use some sort of attachment to dispense from.

Here’s our two favorite ways to dispense from these 35 lb. containers, depending on what you’re doing with the oil.

Ask any food scientist what they do in between their new product development projects and they will typically answer…. “cost reductions”.

Food manufacturers are under constant pressure to lower their ingredient, packaging and processing costs and the responsibility usually falls over into the R&D group. Cost reductions are challenging because the goal is usually to keep the product tasting the same, keep the ingredient statement the same, preferably keep the “order” of the ingredients the same — but at the same time, make the product less expensive.

Earlier this week, we reviewed 7 Popular Industrial Manufacturing Blogs. But, since most of our customers are in the food manufacturing industry, I wanted to weigh-in with my favorite food and beverage manufacturing blogs.

These are the daily subscriptions I get delivered to my inbox every day, so that I can keep up to date on the industry.  I think you'll enjoy them as much as I do!

As a marketing manager, I’m always on the lookout for information and education that I think would be worthwhile to share with our manufacturing customers. I scour the web every day to be able to share information from experts that can make your manufacturing run smoother and even make our own manufacturing line better.

Today, I’ve pulled together the most popular industrial manufacturing blogs for you to peruse. As a manufacturer ourselves, these are the blogs that we know help us— and they can help you too.

Olive Pomace Oil is a much debated topic in today’s increasingly health-focused food industry. Is olive pomace oil good or is it bad?

Before you make any final decisions either way, you should look at both sides of the debate. Understanding the pros and cons of olive pomace oil will help you make a decision that’s right for your product.

As always, it’s also helpful to survey your target market to see if they have any strong feelings either way about this ingredient. It will affect your marketing as well as your procurement search process.

I’m going to start with the cons of olive pomace and and work our way to the pros.

When I was little, I remember grocery shopping with my mother. I always wanted the small bags of pre-packaged crackers, perfect for boxed lunches. But she taught me quickly – “See this little box? It’s $2.00 per ounce. See this big box? It’s $1.00 per ounce for the same exact thing.”

Surprise, surprise… We bought the big box.

Many of us have memories like this. And as adults, if we want to lower the cost of ingredients for our company, what’s the first thing that you think comes to mind? That’s right. We want to save money by switching to a larger packaging size.