Centra Foods receives questions from hundreds of manufacturers each year on the best ways to save money on olive oil.  We have found that some of the biggest factors that can increase olive oil’s price is actually logistics related, including packaging.

Olive Oil can come in a variety of sizes, from 1 Gallon containers to drums and totes, to 6,000 Gallon FlexiTanks.  The general rule is, the bigger the pack size, the lower the cost.  Therefore, you always want to opt for the largest size possible, keeping in mind the restrictions of your warehouse and production line.

Centra Foods receives questions from hundreds of manufacturers each year about the best ways to save money on olive oil.  There are many components that can affect the total price of your olive oil, including grades, packaging, freight, distance of the FOB point and experience of the supplier.  

Click here to go to Part 1 of the series: Choosing the Right Olive Oil Grade

Part Two of the Series:  Choosing the Packaging

Once you’ve settled upon a grade of oil, the next step is to look at the packaging.  It is one of the most important, and easiest components to consider if you want to save money.

Demand for the 275 and 330 gallon Bag-In-Box (BIB) tote is growing in the manufacturing industry. There are many reasons that buyers opt for this packaging, including a cheaper price, easier disposal and additional savings on shipping. This recyclable tote is an alternative to the industry standard, which is a hard plastic tote with an aluminum frame.

One of the most popular questions that we get from customers is, “how do we get the olive oil out of this BIB tote?”If you’re used to the standard hard plastic totes that have a built-in spigot set into the base, this is a natural question.

Here are some of the pros and cons of the two most common pack sizes for olive oil used in manufacturing. Work with your operations team to learn about your warehouse/production restrictions and goals before choosing the right size.

Most manufacturers buy their bulk olive oil in totes or drums that deliver a few pallets at a time. For large manufacturers that use a lot of volume, it is worthwhile to consider a larger bulk size that can save you even more money.

You can significantly cut down on the cost of your olive oil by receiving it in a flexitank or tanker.  This means that a truck would deliver to your facility with about 6,000 gallons of olive oil.  This oil is pumped into a “silo” or “storage tank”, located at your facility.  The question is, how do you know when it’s right to make the switch from totes to flexitanks/tankers?

Bulk Olive Oil Pallet Calculations

If you’re looking at making a bulk olive oil purchase with Centra Foods, it’s important to know that our order minimums are one pallet.  A pallet is a large portable platform that the olive oil is stacked, stored and moved on.  It is typically 48”x48” or 48”x40”.  Items are stacked about 4-5 feet high, depending on which packaging you get.  

As a supplier of olive oil in 55 gallon drums, we work with a lot of new customers looking at this packaging size for the first time.  

One of the most common questions we get is, “How do I get the oil out of the drum?”. This is a great question, because it’s something that a smart business owner needs to prepare for before their drum of olive oil delivers.  

Soap makers that run a small business or work at home want to save money on olive oil-- just like every business owner does. Olive oil is an expensive ingredient, and can significantly affect the cost of your finished product.

Why You Shouldn’t Buy Just 1 Olive Oil Drum From a Large Supplier

Packaging Can Affect Your Bottom Line

We work with purchasers buying bulk olive oil on a daily basis. One of my favorite questions to receive is about bulk packaging. Switching to more efficient packaging size is one of the easiest ways to save money, but it is under-utilized by the vast majority of US manufacturing companies.

The majority of manufacturing companies use 55 gallon drums. My first suggestion is always to consider a larger tote size. These totes are available in both the standard plastic with an aluminum frame, and in a Box-in-Box version (my personal favorite).

Why I Prefer 330 Gallon Bag-In-Box Totes (And Why You Should Too!)

In the bulk edible oil industry, the biggest mistake we see manufacturers’ making is purchasing 1-2 drums of olive oil at a time, instead of ordering full pallets of 4 drums.  

For some buyers, it is a no-brainer always buy full pallets, but others choose to simply buy what they need at the moment.  

Here’s Why They’re Losing Money By Ordering Only 1 Drum: