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When it comes to running a restaurant, there are a lot of different people and systems which need to come together in harmony to keep the restaurant operating smoothly, successfully, and profitably. In terms of allowing a restaurant to offer consistent culinary offerings, food vendors are of particular importance. After all, it’s the food vendors who supply all of the raw ingredients from which the chefs create the restaurant’s salable food fare. In this way, a restaurant’s offerings are really only as good as their food vendors’ supplies.
This leads to an important subject: how is your relationship with your food vendors? Are they able to supply your restaurant reliably, with quality products? Or are they inconsistent and hard to work with?
This post is dedicated to helping your restaurant to cultivate the best possible relationship with your food vendors, so that you can avoid common food vendor issues.
Do your homework. Before you take on a new food vendor, be sure to do your “homework” in researching them. First, be very thorough in figuring out if their products are well-suited to your restaurant, both in that they are high quality and in keeping with your restaurant’s concept. Be sure to try out their products, and inquire about availability, delivery times, and order minimums. If possible, you should even try to visit their facilities.
Rather importantly, seek out the opinions of some of their customers. Ask the potential vendor for references from existing or previous clients, and check the references to see what customers have to say about the vendor’s performance.
Negotiate the best deal and terms. Remember, the vendor needs you just as much as you need them. This means that you shouldn’t just agree to their terms and conditions if they don’t suit your restaurant. Be sure to evaluate what their rates, billing, delivery, and order minimum terms are, and how they will work with your restaurant.
Before you begin to work with a vendor, be sure that you establish and agree upon terms so that there is no grey area in the future if there are potential issues. While few people enjoy that back-and-forth that comes with business negotiations, it’s well worth the effort, as it can save you time and money in the long term to negotiate the best terms possible from the beginning.
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Don’t take on too many vendors. The more vendors you have, the more people you have to deal with, the more deliveries you have to coordinate, the more customer service it requires, and the more separate invoices you’ll be receiving. To make your life easier, try to reduce the number of vendors in your repertoire whenever possible.
No, this doesn’t mean that you can’t take on that great local vendor of lettuce. But say it’s a matter of a vendor with great local lettuce versus a small local farm which offers lettuce as well as other vegetables, you might get a little more “bang for your buck” by taking on the latter vendor.
Check incoming orders. It can be time consuming to check every incoming order from food vendors, but it is an important task. Be sure that your deliveries are arranged early enough in the day so that an employee can receive them and check all of the items received. This is not only to ensure that the invoices match what is delivered, but to check the stock that you’ve received. It’s far easier to do this immediately so that you can deal with any problems right away.
For example, say you receive an order of fresh produce and you don’t check it. If the blueberries have mold and you don’t notice, before you have a chance to report it to the vendor, the mold could spread to other fruit you have and cause you to lose stock. In this way, making sure that you check incoming orders can actually help keep food costs down.
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Try to condense your deliveries. When possible, try to streamline your deliveries. This can be achieved in a few different ways, depending on how many vendors you have and what your delivery needs are.
For instance, If you have a number of different vendors, streamlining / condensing your deliveries could mean asking that multiple vendors deliver on the same day or within the same window of time. This way, you can check all of the orders at one time, which can help you maintain a more efficient kitchen.
On the other hand, it could mean reducing your deliveries to weekly or bi-weekly versus receiving them daily. While this might not work with perishable items, but with nonperishable items like canned vegetables, or pantry items like flour and sugar, you probably don’t need to be receiving deliveries quite so frequently if you’re keeping good track of your inventory.
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Be responsible with your inventory. This tip goes hand in hand with the previous one, because it is vital that you keep close track of your inventory to be able to condense your deliveries. Being responsible with inventory means having a system of identifying when something needs to be ordered before it’s a 911 situation, which can throw a wrench in everything; a food vendor may not be able to make a delivery on short notice, and this can cause bad feelings for both parties.
By being responsible with inventory and knowing when to order on your end, you can ensure that you are able to order in a relaxed, non-rushed way.
Maintain a mutually respectful relationship. Remember, while this is a business agreement, your vendors are real people, and they deserve respect for the work that they do. Like your restaurant employees, your food vendors deserve and will provide better service when you show your appreciation for them.
Like any other relationship, that of the restaurant and food vendor is based on communication. Having a clearly negotiated system and living up to your end of the bargain is a huge part of this.
Being in regular contact is beneficial, too. Have periodic meetings, either in person or on the phone. Stay abreast of updates or new offerings, and speak with them when issues do arise. In the long run, this will keep you in a respectful and healthy long term relationship which will offer mutual growth and gain.
Conclusion: Restaurants and food vendors work in tandem: you can’t have one without the other. It’s important to establish a good working relationship built on the mutual respect of both parties. By taking the time to establish clear communication and putting systems in place, you’re far more likely to enjoy a thriving and positive relationship which will benefit both of your businesses.
How is your relationship with your food vendors?