3 Ways To Protect Your Wholesale Oil Distribution Company

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

Centra Foods supplies wholesalers and food service distributors with olive oil (and other non-gmo and organic oils) in bulk. As a result, we get a lot of business questions from companies in this industry.

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The Top Bulk Oil Inventory Buying Mistake For Small Businesses

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

 

Maintaining the right levels of inventory for all of your ingredients can be a challenge, especially for small and fast growing businesses. Many small businesses want to buy in bulk, but struggle with holding too much inventory at one time.

Buying just one drum of olive oil from a bulk supplier can be tempting. If you’re used to buying just a few cases at a time, it can seem like the next logical step up. However, you’re entering into a whole new world of bulk freight shipping, where your drums are packed on a pallet and shipped on an 18-wheeler, rather than being shipped with UPS or FedEx.

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4 Things Bulk Olive Oil Manufacturers Should Always Be

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

When looking for an olive oil manufacturer, it can feel like fumbling in the dark. It's vital for your business that you work with a supplier who can help take care of all of your needs.

This is why we've compiled a shortlist of all of the things that we think you should expect — as a bare minimum — from your olive oil supplier. This applies whether you are searching for a new vendor or if you've been working with one for years. Making sure that you're working with an olive oil manufacturer who checks off on these four things will help keep your supply chain flowing smoothly.

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Important Information To Include On Any Industrial Food Purchase Order

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

An order you send to any food ingredient supplier is, at the very least, a gentleman's agreement on both sides. To be able to get just what you're looking for you will need to make sure that you include all the necessary details.

When was the last time you were able to order a shirt on, say, Amazon and you didn't have to specify the size you wanted, color, or your shipping address? You are probably thinking to yourself, never.

Let's begin to look at the different details you need to make sure you are giving your supplier on your PO. In the industrial industry, a purchase order is important, to begin with - it's basically your contract. With any contract, you will want to make sure that you specify in writing the details you have agreed on. You will also want to make sure you've covered everything that could affect your order.


Sometimes the details can be a wide range and you may not naturally include certain information because it doesn't directly affect you. That's why we have created a list of all the information that you should make sure you include when you're putting your orders together. This applies to any industrial food supplier you work with.

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The Meaning Of Expeller Pressed vs Cold Pressed

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

It can be hard to know exactly what you may be getting when it comes to oil. Oils are produced in multiple ways. Some are expelled using solvents like hexane, while others are expeller-pressed with a mechanical press that squeezes the oil out.

How the oil is produced isn't always clearly marked either. Sometimes it is described in the title, in full works or abbreviated form, or sometimes you might find that it is only described on the spec sheet. Worse still, some industrial suppliers make no mention of how the oil is made on any documents. It will be in your hands to make sure you ask all the right questions and receive the proper documentation.

Here at Centra Foods, we make it a point to be as clear and explicit as possible. That is why today I will explain what solvent expelling, expeller pressing and cold pressing methods all look like in detail.

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What Benefits Should My Oil Supplier Be Offering?

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

As a purchaser of bulk oil ingredients and olive oils, you will find there are some expectations that should be set forth to your oil supplier.

Your supplier should always — no matter what — consider your company needs and goals FIRST and work to guide you to both the best ingredient for your food product, as well as the best choices for packaging, contracting, and other supply chain details. Overall, it should always be a mutually beneficial business agreement. You should feel like you won a great fit for a long term partner!

Unfortunately, there are many suppliers in the market today that can be unaccountable or let their own desires guide their business decisions. And this doesn’t just happen in the oil industry! Some of the worst things you may see would be if your supplier ignores you, they mis-ship product or quantities, if they don’t communicate on backorders, or — worst of all — if they promote adulterating or false labeling to be able to offer you a cheaper price just to win your business. Working with a supplier like that, you’ll ultimately lose out in the long run.

While you’re in the midst of your vendor search, keep the following list of benefits in mind that you absolutely should have in a long-term supply chain partnership.

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Comparing Ingredient Supplier Models: Which Fits Your Business?

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

Oil suppliers can look very different, each with their own unique strengths and business models. They can be very large or very small, set in their ways or very flexible. They may only supply oils — or even just one type of oil — or they may supply lots of different products.

Each type of supplier will serve your company’s needs differently and bring their own pros and cons to the table. To do a truly helpful comparison, it’s important to first understand the different types of suppliers and how their different business models work.

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Why Food Manufacturing Is A Great Career Choice

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

When someone asks what you do for a living, do you get the usual response, “Oh you work with food, that sounds fun?” They wouldn’t be wrong — working in the food manufacturing world can be very fun and interesting.

There are so many reasons to love your food-industry job. Depending on what you do, there’s many reasons why: one example is that you can be on the forefront of up-and-coming trends in the food world that no one knows about. Other people love that there are many hands-on jobs where you get to make real, tangible products.

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Tips And Tricks For A Successful Trade Show Setup

Posted by Alexa Ketterling

Do you think that showing at a trade show would be beneficial for your company? Do you also find yourself not knowing where to start?

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The Top Leadership Books For Growing Natural Food Brands

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

As a fan of great leadership, I’m always looking to books on business growth, personal growth and leadership to move our company forward. Many natural food brands are in the same situation: they are often young companies, with fast growing teams that need good leadership to succeed.

Because I know many of you have the same interests — growing your company and building a strong food manufacturing team — we may find that the same books can help us grow.

Below is a list of some of the top recommended business and leaderships books. 

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Soap Ingredient Suppliers We Recommend

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

Are you looking for oils to use in your soap production? Depending on how much you buy, it may be cheaper to buy from a soap-making ingredient supplier who can offer all of your ingredients consolidated into one order.

We talk to lots of soap makers on the hunt for a good fit for a supplier, so we’d like to offer some recommendations.

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The Top 10 Features of Effective Supply Chain Managers

Posted by Adam Robinson

The job description of a supply chain manager sure sounds cool, doesn’t it? On this position, you’d be managing all activities for purchasing raw materials, delivering them to the right point across the organization, making sure the organization is producing enough supply to meet the demand of the audience, and deliver the product to the right place at the right time. You’re basically managing the entire journey of the product.

The high salary (it usually ranges between $93,825 and $122,675 annually) is a huge factor of attraction, too. It’s no wonder why so many people are interested in becoming supply chain managers.

This is one of the most important positions in an organization. It carries tons of responsibility, so the hiring managers have extremely high standards when choosing among the candidates. You want to meet those standards? Then it’s best to learn from the best.

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Purchasing Managers: How To Plan And Meet Your Goals In 2018

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

Setting goals is an important step to improving.

There are, of course, a number of different kinds of goals. You have personal goals for your life, and you have professional goals for your job. But they’re always entangled, some taking priority over others depending on the day.

The best way to achieve all of them is to lay them out separately, prioritize them, and then make a plan for how you can achieve every one.

Here’s a smart framework for purchasing managers to complete your goal setting for 2018-- not just for your job but also for your life.

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An Open Love Letter To My Customers

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

Dear Customers,

If I haven't told you yet, I should: what drives me is you. What gives my job purpose is you.

I want to see your young brain-children, your start ups, your little natural brands succeed with all of my heart. You are builders, creating things from scratch, trying to bake a brand-new award winning business-recipe. Or sometimes, you are children taking your parents legacy on, and transforming it, and making it even greater.

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5 Graphic Design Firms In The Natural Food Industry

Posted by Hannah Broaddus

Good graphic designers are key for any B2C company who’s selling their food products on a retail store shelf. Packaging design can be one of the major reasons that new customers give your product a try in the first place, so it’s worth putting your branding in the hand of someone who knows their stuff.

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