Five Signs It’s Time to Find a New Wholesale Food Supplier

Whether you run a small cafe or UK-wide chain of restaurants, finding a wholesale food supplier you can rely on is critical. If you’ve started having doubts about your current supplier, it may be time to start researching competitors and looking for a company that provides the service you expect – and deserve!

Deciding to look elsewhere can be challenging, especially if you have built up a long professional relationship with your wholesale food supplier. Nevertheless, the service you receive from your wholesalers will directly affect the quality of service you can provide your customers. So, taking the time to source a company dedicated to offering first-rate produce at competitive prices will take you one step closer towards business success.

If you’ve spotted the following five signs, it may be time to find a new wholesale supplier.

Poor quality produce

You may have a great working relationship with your wholesalers, but if the produce they supply isn’t of the highest quality, then it’s time to look elsewhere. After all, the produce is what you’re here for. This is what you prepare and serve to your customers, so it has to be excellent.

Poor quality food could range from fresh items that haven’t been cooked properly to food that arrives in broken or damaged packaging. Additionally, if you are sent out of date food or ingredients that have started to perish, then it’s clear you aren’t receiving the service you have paid for.

Ultimately, receiving sub-standard food products is a sign that your wholesale company doesn’t put much time and effort into ensuring exceptional service. It’s important not to ignore this warning sign and start looking around for a new supplier.

Remember – as a paying customer, you deserve the best of the best! It’s important that you’re satisfied with the food and drinks you’ve ordered. If your wholesale supplier can’t deliver to your expectations, then it’s time to find one that can.

Limited range of foods

A limited range of foods can also be a problem for businesses in hospitality. Being able to get everything from jam to fresh fruit juice from one supplier will streamline the entire process of ordering wholesale foods, so ask yourself: does my current supplier offer everything I need?

Finding a wholesaler with an extensive range of products will make your life much easier in more ways than one. Firstly, you won’t need to liaise with multiple teams to place orders and track deliveries. Secondly, fewer deliveries means less time waiting around, so you can dedicate more time to doing what you do best – pleasing customers!

Late or missed deliveries

On-time deliveries from your wholesale supplier are crucial within the hospitality industry. No matter what type of business you run, making sure you have everything you need to cater to your diners at the beginning of the day is essential. This is especially important if you run a cafe or restaurant, as it’s impossible to run a dining establishment efficiently if you don’t have enough ingredients to cook with!

If on-time deliveries from your current wholesalers are a rarity, it’s time to ask yourself whether you can afford to keep working with them. A late food delivery could cause a whole range of issues and lose your business money, so you shouldn’t allow it to become a regular occurrence.

Great wholesale suppliers pride themselves on their reliability and punctuality, and will always go above and beyond to deliver your order on-time. This will make all difference to the efficiency of your business and stress levels of your employees.

Impolite staff

Every great wholesaler knows the importance of winning customer service – but unfortunately, this doesn’t mean you’ll receive it from every company you work with. Rude or impolite staff can make a business relationship very difficult to sustain, which in turn will leave you frustrated and unlikely to value your experience.

It’s important to feel comfortable speaking to your wholesale food supplier. This is how you’ll make the most from your experience and get the service you deserve. For instance, if you want to change your order or have questions about a new product, you will feel much more at ease calling or emailing knowing they are friendly and helpful!

Luckily, there are many wholesale food supply companies that value customer service and will go the extra mile to make sure you are satisfied with your order. Receiving anything less than this means it’s time to look for a new wholesaler.

Expensive prices

While you can’t put a price on quality food, especially if it’s going to boost your establishment’s revenue, the last thing you want is to break the bank by ordering from your wholesale suppliers. Paying extortionate rates for wholesale food and delivery will make it more difficult for your business to secure a profit and is likely to make working with your current supplier unsustainable.

The key is to find wholesale food suppliers that offer excellent quality food products and first-rate customer service at affordable rates! At Freshways, we pride ourselves on being able to keep customers satisfied without overcharging them, which is why we’ve established a reputation as the UK’s favourite wholesale company.

When the time comes to find a new supplier, we recommend comparing the product and delivery prices across three companies. This will allow you to figure out which prices are reasonable and which are too expensive.

Tips for finding reliable wholesale food suppliers

Once you’ve decided it’s time to hire new wholesalers, the next step is to find a company you can truly rely on. Luckily, you will already know what to avoid!

As leading wholesale dairy suppliers (with a range of other fantastic products!), it’s safe to say we know a thing or two about finding a great company. To help you out, here are three top tips:

Find wholesalers with great reviews

Before placing an order with any company, find out what other businesses think of them. By reading previous customer reviews and testimonials, you can gain valuable insight into the level of service you can expect. It’s a great sign if a company has lots of positive reviews from companies like your own. The simplest way to find out what reputation a company has is to Google them!

Choose wholesalers that provide leading brands

To offer your customers the best of the best, we recommend working with wholesalers that supply products from leading everyday brands. This way, you can rest assured that the food quality will always be fantastic. You can usually see which brands a wholesaler supplies by checking their website but don’t be afraid to call up and ask over the phone.

Call your wholesaler before making a decision

As we’ve mentioned, polite and professional staff will make a world of difference to your business when ordering wholesale food products. To double-check that your chosen wholesaler has a friendly customer service team, give them a phone call to discuss your order before placing it. The member of staff who picks up should be pleased to hear from you and happy to answer your questions in detail.

Freshways: Wholesale dairy products, baked goods and more for delivery across the UK

At Freshways, we’re proud to be the UK’s largest independent processing dairy, with a varied selection of delicious products available for wholesale, including bread, butter, jam, juice and eggs. We work with a wide variety of clients, ranging from large restaurants to small cafes, offering first-rate service every time. Whether you’re looking for wholesale dairy products, baked goods or juice from leading brands like Hovis and Copella, you needn’t look further than Freshways.

To discuss your requirements with our friendly team, or to learn more about our range of wholesale food products and delivery services, please don’t hesitate to contact us today. We’re just a phone call away!