Who you should buy your olive oil from is always a big question-- usually one that restaurant owners and chefs approach in an effort to cut their costs.

But who you buy from doesn’t just determine how much you spend. It also affects how easily you can bring inventory in, store it, access it and a whole slew of other affects on your business.

That being said, it’s important to buy your olive oil from the right kind of supplier. One that fits your needs and can provide real value to you-- not just the lowest price.

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.

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).

If you're working on a new product which uses olive oil as an ingredient, the first step is to decide what is the best grade to use in your product. 

There are a lot of factors that tie into this final olive oil grade decision-- many little interwebbed strings that connect this decision with the outer-reaches of your business planning.  Choosing a grade is not only an R&D decision; it ties into purchasing, marketing and new business development.  

To make a decision on the grade you'll use, you'll need to ask yourself questions like:

• How much can I pay for this ingredient?  
• Does a particular grade of oil make or break the taste profile for my product?  
• Does our target market prefer that we use a particular grade, like Extra Virgin?  
• Can we afford to factor their opinions in?  Can we afford not to?

Before you get overwhelmed, I'm going to streamline the decision process for you.  Just follow these 3 steps and you'll be well on your way to making a smart decision for your business.

If you're on the search for olive oil in bulk, you may be coming up against the large confusing mass of directions for where to buy... Otherwise... known as Google.  

The best way to answer the question of where to buy bulk olive oil is to define what industry your business is in and find a supplier that matches with that.  

If we were sitting at a coffee shop, friend to friend, I would first ask you what you did and then I'd be able to point you to the right type of supply company.

So, I will try to do just that.  I have my coffee-- pull up a chair.

To those of you that are new to the bulk ingredient buying world, evaluating and choosing ingredients for your new product can be a bit daunting.  But you're not alone-- small business owners, company founders and young ingredients puchasers have all been in your shoes.  

If you own a restaurant or bakery, you may be wondering what the best place is where you can buy bulk or wholesale oils from.  Restaurants that use a lot of oil often struggle with this; finding competitive sources that deliver easily to your facility can be a challenge.

We’ll tell you the four most common places to order your oil from, and how they may (or may not) fit into your business.

The best tips for small businesses and soapmakers

1. Use a local distributor if you buy just one drum or a few cases. Because of how freight shipments work, you’ll save money by paying a bit more for the ingredients but you will make that up on the shipping cost that you save.

As a bulk oil ingredient supplier, we have an unique vantage point: we get watch food companies grow from their inception into a strong brand name and then, (for the lucky few) become nationally renowned. This is one of the perks of our job: the joy in watching something real and strong grow from just a little seed.

We often work with these manufacturing companies from their start-- as they’re writing their business plan, to comparing how to bring their new ingredients in. And then later, we get to see their finished products flourish. We have the privilege to help them transition from small to large, and watch them grow. Many manufacturers we’ve worked with go on to sell to Whole Foods, UNFI, and other natural grocery chains.

But, most food manufacturers start their journey along the same path. To be able to build a solid foundation, we’ve noticed that they all need to need to learn the same things about the industry and make some key decisions about their new business. These decisions will allow them to really get their feet underneath them and begin growing their brand.

So as a way of paying it forward, here’s what you should keep in mind as you’re starting your new food brand. We hope others’ experiences can help you flourish!

If you're a small business, and you're buying olive oil as an ingredient in your product, I will bet you that you've thought these two things before...

I wonder if I can get this olive oil for cheaper? And then,

I wonder if the best way to do that would be to buy it in bulk somehow?

The answer to your question is yes, you can probably buy it for cheaper.  And yes, it will require buying in larger bulk sizes.  But the answer starts to get a bit hazy when you start looking at how much larger.