If your business is getting ready to launch a big-time food product, obviously your number one concern comes down to the quality of the food itself. This is important, to be sure – but it’s also just one small part of a much larger story.

There are other things that you’ll need to consider to not only make your product as enticing as possible but to also secure the best supply line to ingredient wholesalers (among other factors) that you can.

Food Ingredient Brokers and More: What to Know BEFORE Your Product Launches

By far, the most important thing to be aware of before you launch your big-time food product comes down to all of those people who can step in and lend a helping hand when needed. A food ingredient broker is going to be chief among these people. At its core, a food ingredient broker is someone who will work directly with ingredient supply providers on your behalf. They’ll work hard to help you determine exactly what you need and exactly where you need to get it, all while working hard to develop relationships and deals that allow you to enjoy the highest rate of return that you can.

But beyond that, one of the major things you need to consider is that while there may be a lot of manufacturers who offer the ingredients you need, not all of those manufacturers will be created equally. You need to find partners who align with not only what you want to convey as a brand, but who can also meet your expectations in terms of the specific types of products you’re launching.

This is another one of those areas where a food ingredient broker will come in handy – they can match your products to the optimal manufacturer for each, all while guaranteeing the steady supply of all ingredients that you need to truly help you thrive.

Finally, you need to be able to think about things in terms of the bigger picture – meaning you need to be aware of all of the factors that will impact your product’s success BEYOND simply conception. You also have to make important decisions regarding branding, sourcing, manufacturing, packaging, and even marketing – a roadblock in one area will absolutely impact the rest of the chain. This may indeed be the most important advantage that a food broker partner will bring to the table – they can help you mitigate risk at every single one of these points, creating the most exceptional experience possible, no matter what.

When you’re getting ready to launch a food product, it’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of the event. But when the food industry is so tightly packed with competitors, it’s crucial to give your company the right advantages. Whether you’re competing on value, taste, or sheer novelty, food ingredient brokers can be the key to getting your product in front of the eyes of consumers.

What Do Food Ingredient Brokers Do?

Food ingredient brokers are well-versed in sales, but they are not salespeople. Instead of just following your directions and pitching your brand, they’ll consider the many facets of your new food product. From the pricing to the packaging to the food chain supply, they’ll help you make adjustments that can ensure success. You may need to schedule more demos or make your initial promotion a little more splashy. You may need to emphasize a certain feature a little more, such as the product’s health benefits.

Once the product is ready to compete in the wider market, your broker will negotiate deals with retail decision-makers that will ultimately bring your product to customers. A broker is a partner as opposed to an employee or vendor. When your success is their success, the broker should do everything in their power to improve your bottom line whenever possible.

How to Find the Right Broker

Finding a good broker starts with identifying the qualities you’re looking for and the rates you’re willing to pay. The type of person you need and the work you’ll need to be completed will vary based on everything from your target demographic to your location. Many food ingredient brokers will specialize in niche products, such as organic meats or specialty cookies. The more experience the broker has, the more likely they’ll be to predict the reception to your product.

Getting Ready

Before you even begin reaching out to brokers, it helps to have all of your ducks in a row. This includes listing all the stores you want to be in, all the stores you’ve contacted, which categories your product falls into, how you would like the business to grow, and how your margins will impact your distributors.

When there are so many new brands trying to get their voices heard, the constriction of profit margins has grown tighter with nearly every passing month. When you first meet with a broker, find out how long they’ve been working, who their references are, what kind of commission they charge, and which territories they handle.

Our clients look to us for help in matters large and small. (It’s not uncommon for tiny decisions can make or break your product.) If you want to know more about what we can do for you, book your free consultation with us today to see just how far our expertise can get your product.

Food Ingredient Brokers don’t exactly have an official playbook that spells out how to turn themselves into a success. There needs to be the right combination of skill, ambition, and instinct to be a highly effective professional. 

1. Picking the Right Manufacturers

Trust is the key here. Do you believe that their manufacturers will come through for you?

2. Tempering Expectations

An effective Food Broker knows that new companies can destroy their efficiency if they aim too high. A good and effective food broker will help you keep your wits about you as you set manageable goals.

3. They Tend to Specialize in Certain Products

A good Food ingredient brokers will usually find more success when they specialize rather than trying to broker all ingredients

4. They Keep Your Larger Strategy in Mind

Whether you’re accepting clients or renegotiating contracts, a professional Food ingredient broker will help you make sure each action is building toward a bright future.

5. Research, Research, Research

They work with you to create your sales goals every quarter, keep obsessive records of your sales, and look for ways to carve out a stronger foothold in the industry.

6. Helping You  So You Can Set Your Milestones

Your big success will come in small stages. It doesn’t have to be 100% linear, but you should have milestones that will keep you track.

7. Find Ways to Delegate and Helping You Discover Other Opportunities For Efficiency 

You’re not an island, and you won’t succeed if you’re always trying to handle every little problem along the way.

8. They Understand The Value Your Time

Money is potentially infinite, but your time is not. Don’t let yourself be weighed down with things that don’t matter.

9. Reduce Your Visits

All food ingredient brokers know that face time can be invaluable for them, but unfortunately, it can only be used sparingly when there’s so much else to be done.

10. Shorten Communications

You don’t have to write long emails or have lengthy phone calls. Get to the point and get back to work.

11. Spot the Trends & Making You Aware Of Them

Brokers have to be aware of what’s on the horizon if they want to plan ahead. If you’re too busy putting out fires, you’ll never advance in your career.

12.Knowing How & When To Invest In Marketing

People need to know you before they decide to work with you. Marketing is all about persistence, so you really need to invest both your attention and money to help leads become aware of you. A good Food Broker, with the right experience can help guide  or consult with you about the timing and strategy 

13. The Help Create & Foster Strong Relationships

Reliable, honest, professional: it doesn’t take more than the basic principles to earn a reputation that reassures your clients you’re the real deal.

14. They Can Help You Build a Strong Culture

Do you take accountability for your mistakes? Are you always trying to go the extra mile?

15.They Will Always Help You Remember the Bigger Picture

Food ingredient brokers are so much more than salespeople. They need to have a greater mindset to outlast their competition.

The right food industry consultants can be the key to saving your sanity. The Greater Goods can help you with any of the above, making it easier to conquer the trials and tribulations you face every day.

Do you find yourself spending a crazy amount of time trying to find those unusual ingredients you need for your innovative menu items? Are you frustrated that as soon as you find a source it dries up or becomes prohibitively expensive? You may have considered outsourcing this task, but are confused about what type of business to work with, a food broker or a food distributor. We understand the terms are somewhat similar, but there’s a distinct difference between these two types of food companies.

What is a food ingredient broker?

A food ingredient broker works directly with a number of food brands, farms, and manufacturers to connect their products with restaurants, chefs, grocery stores, and other retail outlets. Many of the companies and farms that work with brokers are relatively small and offer ingredients you might not find from a large food distributor. Some brokers specialize in a particular type of food; others are more diversified. Unlike distributors, brokers don’t usually warehouse products. Instead, they facilitate the connection between the food producer and the restaurant or other purchaser. They generally charge a fee to the food producer for their services. Some advantages of using a food broker include being able to use the broker’s many industry connections to source difficult-to-find ingredients and saving time you’d usually spend on researching food sources and making food purchases.

What is a food distributor?

The big difference between a food distributor and a food broker is that the distributor purchases the food products from the farm or manufacturer upfront and then sells them to restaurants, grocery stores, and other retailers. Since food distributors invest in inventory and then sell it to customers, they are generally less likely to stock more usual, less commonly-used ingredients, such as organic items and those from overseas. Some advantages of using a food distributor include being able to take advantage of cost savings associated with the distributor’s large purchasing power. For chefs, restaurant owners, and kitchen managers, finding the menu ingredients you need for the right price can be a challenge. While both can help you outsource your food purchasing and free up time for you to spend cooking and interacting with your guests, knowing when to use a food ingredient broker and when a food distributor might be a better choice can help you obtain reliable, affordable sources of all the food you need.

Have you ever been frustrated that you can’t find a reliable source for the key ingredient to a fabulous new menu item? Do you stress about an inconsistent price and quality of your ingredients? Are you looking in vain for products and purveyors with organic and other certifications? Do you find yourself spending as much time looking for ingredients as you do cooking and managing your kitchen? Working with a food broker can alleviate many of these issues.

What is a Food Ingredient Broker?

A food broker can help you navigate these many issues associated with finding the ingredients that make your restaurant’s food so special. A broker works with a number of food manufacturers, distributors, and growers, and can help you negotiate excellent pricing as well as find ingredients you may have had difficulty procuring. However, securing a reliable source of all the food items you need for your menu is just one of the many benefits of working with a food broker.

The Benefits

1. We give you back time for your other responsibilities. The time we free up sourcing your ingredients for you allows you to concentrate on managing your business, interacting with your guests, and being accessible to your employees.

2. It’s more cost-effective to outsource your ingredient shopping. Sure, you can hire a person or a team to handle finding and purchasing all the unique ingredients for your restaurant. However, the broker’s fee is almost always less expensive than hiring an in-house purchasing agent.

3. Food brokers know the right people. A food broker’s sole focus is buying and selling food. That means he or she knows a lot of food people and can often find consistent, reliable sources for ingredients you’ve been having trouble securing.

Challenges to working with a food broker

1. You have to relinquish a little control. Giving over the responsibility of finding and purchasing your ingredients can be a little stressful to chefs who are used to being in control of everything in their kitchens. However, the results and with all the found time you’ll have will likely make you forget your control issues.

2. The broker may not be as passionate about organic foods or other values. If you’re the type of chef who will walk to the ends of the earth to source a rare, organic ingredient, working with a food broker may not be the right choice for you. While we have multiple, reliable sources for quality, affordable ingredients, even some rare ones, we probably won’t send a ship to Patagonia to pick up those Chilean peppers you need for your salsa.

Finding the ingredients you need to keep your restaurant solvent and still producing innovative, delicious dishes doesn’t have to be an impossible task. A food broker can help you source the ingredients you need and give you extra time to spend with your customers and staff.

Highlights

• 50% ingredient cost savings 
• A slam dunk success!

Situation

Patricia Di Chiara, a graduate from the entrepreneurial program at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario, won a prize for her business plan for a new kind of chocolate spread. After reading an article about it, we reached out to her. The mother of two and recent émigré from Italy let us sample her product, which was delicious.

Months before, Patricia had sent her kids to school with Nutella on bread, as she would do in Italy, and got a letter back from the Principal. Naturally, she went looking for a replacement product, with no success. Bingo! The idea behind Luisella Chocolate Spread was born.

Patricia is also a chef, so with some experimentation, she whipped up a batch made with sunflower butter. Luisella is not only nut-free but also palm kernel oil-free, so it’s more nutritious and better for the environment. With a winning recipe in hand, Patricia set out to source ingredients. She first sourced ingredients through a food services distributor that the College used, which was expensive.

Solution

When The Greater Goods came on board, we were able to source ingredients and reduce costs by approximately 50%. We source all the raw materials, negotiate pricing with the vendors, and forecast availability and pricing to safeguard production. 

We also helped with the formulation. Patricia was using real chocolate for the recipe, which tasted fantastic. But nut butter and chocolate have different types of fat, which tend to separate and cause blooming (a white colouration). So we brought in a food science consultant who solved that problem.

Next, we helped sort out manufacturing. Patricia had found her own manufacturer, but after a few conversations, the manufacturer admitted they were not willing to make the necessary
investments in their production line. Leveraging our network, we found a manufacturer who was a perfect fit and very cost-effective. 

 
For sales, we connected Patricia with an international broker to export, and are helping her to get ready for a big-box retailer in Canada & the US 

Results

Production has begun and sales are clipping along briskly. The ingredient supply chain is secure and costs are low. The manufacturer is performing swimmingly.