The “fliers” in cheerleading are the girls that fly through the air, demonstrating great acrobatics and agility. They are the highlight of cheerleading-- the life of the party.

But these girls don’t fly on their own. They have four other cheerleaders on the ground, working in perfect coordination to support them and toss them in their air. These four team members are the foundation, the support system that makes everything run smoothly and the flier fly, well… higher.

Think of your business as the flier. And think of your vendors and suppliers as your foundation of four on the ground; the cheerleaders in the background who help you do what you do better. It’s true, your business relies on a variety of vendors to work smoothly, to succeed and to fly high. The better relationship and communication you have with them, the higher you can fly.

As a purchaser, you’re responsible for fostering these vendor relationships, and establishing good communication so that your business can keep growing and improving. Want to keep doing your job better?

Here’s 5 ways to keep improving your relationships with your bulk oil vendors and be even more successful in your purchasing role.

Want to get the best deal on bulk edible oil for your business?  You may not to pry it out of your bulk oil ingredient supplier.  In fact, there's lots of simple things that you can do to help cut your own costs and save money.  Hopefully, your supplier is already suggesting them to you!

Take this list into your next meeting with your bulk oil vendor and try to put as many of these strategies into play as possible.  They will cut your costs, allow your team work more efficiently and best of all, prove your worth as a strategic and skilled purchasing manager.

Have you heard predictions that your bul oil ingredient price will increase because the commodity market is going up? Hearing this news can be frustrating for purchasing managers, because you have no control over the market. You are, however, still responsible for protecting your business from rising costs. So what can you do?

There is, in fact, something that you can still do to cut your bulk edible oil costs in times like this. It all has to do with the global commodity market, where your oils are coming from and your buying strategy.

You wouldn't use a riding lawnmower to mow a tiny front lawn.

Why not? The equipment is too big for that space, which makes it difficult to use. For that sort of job, it's much better to have something smaller and simpler to use.

As a small food manufacturer, you may have experienced this same dilemma already relating to your ingredient packaging. As you begin your edible oil sourcing process, you’ll need to choose a packaging size that fits into your work space and will be easy to use. You don’t want to feel like you’re on a riding lawn mower trying to do a 10 point turn!

You’ll need to choose the packaging for your oil ingredients that fits your production line and matches your available storage space. The best way to decide is to start looking closer at some key characteristics about your space. These details will guide you right to the packaging you should choose.

Last weekend, I went to the grocery store for some ingredients to make chicken wings.  I wanted to buy Frank's Red Hot Sauce to make a homemade buffalo sauce (delicious, I know).

I could buy a small 5 oz bottle for $1.48 (which came out to $0.29 per ounce, if you're doing the math). Or instead, I could buy a larger 12 oz bottle for $2.28.  On this second option, I'd pay more overall for the larger bottle, but I'd end up paying less per ounce-- only $0.19 in comparison to $0.29. Heck yeah! I thought. I took option B.

By opting for the larger packaging size, I could save money on the same exact product.  If you didn't already know, you can do the same thing on your bulk oil purchases to save money: change to a larger packaging size to save money on the exact same oil.  

If you are a new business that's decided to start a food brand, the development of your label will play into your branding.  It will connect you  with your target market, and eventually will affect your total sales. The label creation process is incredibly important.

As important as the design comonent is, it's also key to make sure that you include specific information on your labels; both information that your customers want to see and that the government requires for food sales.

As the key marketing person in our own company, I am responsible for designing and developing our own Bella Vina labels.  Part of this job involves making sure that all of the key components are listed.

Want to make sure that you're including everything on your labels that you should be?  Here are the most important label components so that you can market your new food brand as strategically as possible-- and still meet all of the FDA & USDA labeling requirements.

If you're hoping get a promotion or continue to move forward in the career that you're in, it's helpful to have a good idea of what's "industry standard" in your position and work field.  

It's hard to expect that someday you'll make $100,000 each year when the industry standard is $30,000.  That said, it's also good to get a better understanding of what your peers might be getting paid to make sure you're being paid competitively.

Having an understanding of the average information about your job (and others like it) will also help you make decisions about what you'd like to do more of in the future.

That's why I've compiled lots of salary and job availability information about purchasing and manufacturing jobs to help you get a bit of perspective on your current job-- and make plans for the future.

Trying any new packaging size in an industrial food manufacturing setting can be daunting.  Especially if it's a larger size that your production team hasn't had experience with in the past.

There's a learning curve as your team begins to work hands on with this new packaging.  How they get the oil out and onto your manufacturing line is going to be a new process that they'll have to relearn.

Industrial bulk oil totes, in particular, can be challenging to transition to if your warehouse has never used that large of a packaging size before.

We'd like to recommend our favorite dispensing system; trust us-- it's going to make that transition to totes a lot more straightforward.

If you ate your cereal with skim milk for the last 10 years, you'd notice if you poured whole milk on it one morning by mistake, right? And if you poured heavy cream on instead of your routine skim milk?  Then you'd be in for a real rude awakening.

Why? The way that each dairy product is produced, what it comes from and how it's made all comes together to create unique product traits.  These characteristics make each milk product taste and feel different from each other-- even though they all originally came from the same raw ingredient.

Olive oil works in the same way. Each different quality grade is produced differently; one grade is the “first press”, while others are refined or come from a different part of the olive.  How the grade is made produces a unique oil, and you can taste (and see) the difference between each.

If you need to meet a particular price point on your bulk oil ingredients that may seem unreachably low, you do have a few options.  You can reach your price goals, but you'll have to make some choices, and prioritize what's most important to you.

This discussion is especially pertinant for manufacturers who are trying to reach a particular target customer (which means you'll need to keep your own product within a particular price range) or if you're a co-packer that is packing for a brand that has specific price restrictions.

I worked with a customer in this situation a year ago.  They came to me wanting a "really low price for Extra Virgin Olive Oil".  It had to be Extra Virgin, and it had to be under $1.00 per pound.  Unfortunately, I explained to them, that's just not going to happen.  

So where do you go from there?  Here's theadvice I gave them, on the best ways to drastically reduce bulk oil costs, meet the customers' price goals and move forward with a strategic plan.  

If you're on the search for a new bulk oil supplier, there's some basic questions that you'll need to ask.  These inquiries will be your basic introduction, but will actually build your foundation for years of a good working relationship.  

The answers to these questions will be a vital part of choosing who you want to work with, how you're going to partner together and if they're going to be able to take care of you in times of need.

In fact, these questions are so important that if you're already buying bulk oil from a supplier and you forgot to to ask a few of these questions, you'll probably want to go back and ask anyways.

This will help you be fully prepared to partner together-- the more you know now, the better.  

Here's everything you should be asking your suppliers (whether you've worked with them for years or not).

A Brief Summary

To read the latest olive oil commodity market update, read Olive Oil Prices And Commodity Market Update: Spring 2015.

Olive oil prices have steadily increased in Spain over the last 4 months. Initially, the slight increases were regarded as normal; prices often go up just before the harvest season as world supply is at it’s lowest. However, prices continued to rise when a 50% drop in production was confirmed for the next harvest season due to drought in Spain.

Production in Tunisia, Greece and Italy is all expected to increase this next season. However, prices are still predicted to be higher than last year because Spain is the overall price driver for the market.  

Want to lock in a contracted rate for for your bulk oil ingredients?  As a purchaser buying raw ingredients for a manufacturing company, this can be a very smart thing to do.  

Signing a price contract can give your company stability on your cost of ingredients, and allow you to stategically plan your budget.  In addition, it can provide you with a bit of cushion if the commodity market unexpectedly goes south.

But, if you lock in your rates at the wrong time, you'll be required to pay more than the market price for oils.  It takes a firm understanding of the market and good help from your suppliers to lock in pricing at the right time.

So in the debate of whether to sign a supply contract or not, the definitive answer is yes, go for it-- but only at the right time.  When is it the right time?

You'll need to ask the right questions and the answer will emerge naturally after that.

Everyone has days where they didn't feel like they got enough done.  I completely understand that feeling.

You answer your emails, have a quick meeting, answer some calls, place a few orders, and suddenly-- it's the end of the day.  How did that happen?  And you've still got a long list left to complete!

Well, I've come up with my own personal favorite list of all the productivity helpers that I actually use on a daily basis.  Here are 7 of the best tools, tips and apps to keep you on track and checking things off your to-do list.

Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth.

                                  - Sheryl Louise Moller

This quote struck me when I started reading Eat, Pray, Love a number of years ago.  I still hear it in the back of my concious.

Since I started working for Centra Foods and dove head first into the olive oil industry, I've heard it a lot, replaying in my head.  It's the real reason why I give such candid advice, and why, at the end of the day, I just want to point you in the right direction, teach you something, and answer your questions sincerely.

Many of you know me, you read the blogs that I write, but you still may not have an inside look at the olive oil industry-- the world that I live in day in and day out.  

I'd like to invite you inside now; it's a complex, interesting world in here.