When it comes to the bottom line, a lot of businesses ignore the impact of consumables. Consumables are a tricky market whether you are a deli in the Kamloops area or a coffee shop in Kelowna. You use consumables to package your products every day but it's likely you don't pay too much attention to their cost.
Businesses like a Kamloops pub or a Penticton coffee shop ignoring the details of consumables is something that a lot of big companies rely on. A food based business such as a Kamloops coffee shop, for example, is likely paying more attention to food costs than other goods purchased. Time and again I have found as I visit pubs in Kamloops that they are paying way too high a price for the same goods - and by the same goods I mean exactly the same - sold by Stemel Supply Inc when they purchase those goods through Sysco or GFS as part of their regular food order. Two cases in point are garbage bags and baking sheets. When I first purchased a partnership in Stemel Supply Inc, I also owned a quick serve restaurant in the Kamloops area. I purchased everything through Sysco, believing they had the best prices. They were certainly better priced on consumables than the local suppliers I was was aware of, mainly The Grocery People. Imagine my shock when I saw the retail price on garbage bags from Stemel Supply inc. Whereas Sysco was charging my Kamloops restaurant $62 for a box of 30 x 38 garbage bags with 200 bags in a box, Stemel Supply Inc was retailing those same bags in the same quantity for $29. Sysco was marking up garbage bags for food service businesses in Kamloops 100% over what Stemel Supply Inc sold for. Switching my Kamloops restaurant to garbage bags from Stemel Supply over garbags bags from Sysco saved me $180 a year and all that money went straight to the bottom line for my Kamloops restaurant. Another example is a local Kamloops pub where I frequently eat as well as clients of mine. I was looking over an invoice from Sysco they had and was floored to see the price of the baking sheets they used for cooking wings, etc on. Again, these sheets were the same brand, size, and quantity as the baking sheets sold to Kelowna bakeries and Kamloops restaurants by Stemel Supply Ince but the big delivery companies were selling them for $60 more per case. Assuming a usage of 1000 16 x 24 wax baking sheets in 2 months for this Kamloops pub, the savings add up to $360 per year. Using only 2 different consumables as examples, a Kamloops restaurant or Kamloops coffee shop stands to save $540 per year by switching consumable purchases from a company like Sysco or GFS to Stemel Supply Inc. Add to that more of the 3000+ items Stemel Supply Inc sells and you can see how a reliable local Kamloops supply company can make a massive difference to the bottom line of a Kamloops food service business.
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If you own a coffee shop in Kamloops or a deli in Kelowna, you may wonder about the advantages of buying your vacuum sealed bags or 12oz coffee cups from a local supplier. What advantages does a smaller supplier have over those with a bigger footprint? Here are a couple of reasons why a local supplier such as Stemel Supply Inc might be a better option for your Thompson Okanagan business.
1) Competitive pricing: Many Kamloops restaurant owners think that bigger businesses offer better pricing on consumables, but this is not the case. I was recently in a Kamloops quick serve restaurant for a quote, and was a bit shocked to see that the garbage bags they were purchasing from their food supplier were priced three times higher than what we offer. Bigger companies have more purchasing power, but that advantage is more than offset by their overheads as well as the need to exponentially increase sales each year in order to please shareholders. 2) Personal attention. A pub in Kamloops looking for napkins simply doesn't receive the same care from bigger Vancouver based suppliers because volume is the name of the game for those suppliers. Chain accounts are their focus and the chains are who will be served first when it comes to supplies. 3) Quick turnaround. Every business experiences situations where they need supplies as soon as possible. A Kamloops coffee shop may suddenly realize they forgot to order take out lids. If you're using a big supplier, this means you will have to follow their schedule. This also means those supplies are going to cost you a lot more than they should, as a delivery fee will be applied. 4) Local supplier, local customer. As with any local business, using a local supplier means supporting your own customer base. |
AuthorA supply-chain and restaurant business expert. 25-year history of providing supplies to the BC Interior. ArchivesCategories |
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