55 gallon drums are one of the most common packaging sizes for olive oil.  These drums are commonly plastic or steel (all drums from Centra Foods are currently steel).

Once you’ve used your 55 gallon steel drums, you may be wondering what to do with them.  

Are you a soap maker looking to find a way to buy your olive oil cheaper?

At Centra Foods, we receive many inquiries from soap makers large and small around the country.  Their questions and goals are often the same: they’re looking to reduce the cost of ingredients, including the olive oil they use.  Our advice varies, depending on the grade of oil preferred, the volumes needed, and the other ingredients required.

Here is some basic advice to help you reduce your costs:

As a bulk olive oil supplier to manufacturers, we work closely guiding many small businesses.  Their goal is usually the same: by transitioning from smaller purchases to bulk, they hope to save money and support their bottom line.  

While there are many benefits to making this change, there are also inherent challenges that many business owners don’t really know when they start evaluating.To save business owners some time, we’ll review the ways that switching to bulk purchasing can help (and hurt!) your small business.

Saves Money

By purchasing in bulk, you can reduce your cost by eliminating packaging and receiving volume discounts.  Because of the high cost of shipping, it is necessary to buy in full pallets to make savings outweigh the additional shipping costs.

Buying Bulk Olive Oil vs. Wholesale Olive Oil 

If you’re buying bulk olive oil for your small business, you may be buying it “wholesale” from a superstore like Costco or Sam’s Club.  You probably want to save money on these raw ingredients and (if you haven't already) you will at some point look into buying bulk quantities rather than wholesale.  

Surprisingly for many small businesses, sometimes buying in bulk does not save money.  We're going to review why, and how much oil you need to be using to think about buying in bulk.

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

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: