Question for fellow food business owners

Open Forum
1

What's the actual protocol or best practice when it comes to switching kitchen ingredients to sourcing from official suppliers?

I'm currently trying to scale up and source certain ingredients, like whey protein isolate, from wholesale or commercial suppliers rather than buying small retail quantities. But even after multiple Google searches, I'm hitting a wall. It's not as straightforward as I thought, and I feel like there's a step I'm missing.

- Do I need to contact manufacturers directly?
- Are there specific directories or platforms food businesses use?
- How do you vet or discover reputable suppliers for specialty ingredients?

If you've navigated this or have tips on where to look, I'd love to hear your advice.

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2

Hi Salena,

Often going from wholesale to commercial might mean an intermediate step; look for an Ingredient distributor - a couple below:
BCI: https://bcimporters.com/ingredients/

Sysco: https://www.sysco.ca/products/dairy

Hela Spice: https://www.helaspice.com/na/

Hope that helps!

Chris

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Hi Salena,

I have a founder friend who's developing a platform (LAIBL) that may be helpful for this. I think it's completely focused on ingredient sourcing for manufacturers. They are testing now, might be worth a peak.

https://laibl.co/

Let me know if you'd like an intro, they'd probably work with you hands on just to get some user feedback. Good luck!

nick@fertender.com

4

I handle anything from a case to full truck loads, reach out and we can discuss

5

Hi Salena,

It will likely be a mix of both direct order from manufacturers and using distributors. Manufacturers are often the lowest cost per kg, but sometimes their MOQs are too high to be feasible. I once reached out to a manufacturer to buy a few kilos of citric acid and was told their minimum order was 24,000 kg! But they can often direct you to a local distributor also.

With a distributor you'll pay more but generally the MOQ is much lower and they can often provide multiple ingredients. Industry associations or publications can be a good resource for finding distributors (e.g. in the Maritimes we have Food and Beverage Atlantic, and on PEI we have the Food Island Partnership).

For specialty ingredients, suppliers/distributors should be able to provide sample material and some sort of specification sheet / product data sheet / technical data sheet. There may be a small cost for samples.

In my experience with larger suppliers, it's generally better to call and try to speak to someone; the 'submit an enquiry' forms on websites is hit-or-miss and they often go unanswered.

There may be someone in the BC Food Hub that can offer some guidance specific to your needs. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/agriculture-seafood/growbc-feedbc-buybc/bc-food-hub-network

TJ

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6

Hi Salena,

We're in the same boat - switching from amazon, small batch purchases to wholesale. We have found luck reaching out to the brand directly - i.e. ask the whey protein isolate brand you like for wholesale deliveries. Distributors have been mentioned by others but we haven't any luck with them for lower MOQs. Also check Faire.com for wholesale orders of unique brands or speciality products.

We've used our intuition to vet. What questions do they ask, what processes do they follow for quality, escalations, delays, etc. We ensure we speak to everyone for a lengthy discussion sometimes meet in person several discussions till we gain trust in the brand.

7

Hi Salena,

As a food distributor, the main issue I see is customers struggling with Minimum Order Quantities (MOQ). Typically, our MOQ is a pallet, especially when the ingredient is not in stock. I understand that jumping from a couple of bags to a skid size is challenging; but from our perspective, bringing in a product, opening the skid, and then having unsold stock is not ideal and becomes a warehouse headache. If you can store products and use long shelf-life ingredients, that's a huge step toward building relationships with larger businesses.

One solution for small companies I've seen recently is to buy skids together, being one of the companies dealing directly with the distributor, and then dividing the skid. This collaborative approach can help meet MOQ requirements without the burden of excess inventory.

To determine if you can trust a vendor, check the bottom of their webpage for:

  1. Certifications: Look for SQF, ISO, Kosher, organic, etc.
  2. Distribution Partners: See who they distribute for, big brands only work with reliable vendors, and they make sure their name is not going to be affected for a third party.

Let me know if I can assist with ingredient sourcing.

Best regards,

Sebastian Velandia
Ingredient Specialist
Blendtek Fine Ingredients

8

Hi Salena,

Procuring ingredients through suppliers directly or through a distributor can be overwhelming. As a food scientist, I know one of the most important aspects is finding the right ingredient for your product that matches your physical and chemical profile. For example, % protein, colour, flavour in your example. Reliable ingredient suppliers will often work with their customers on providing the right ingredient for the customer's needs. This is where product specification sheets and certificate of analysis are useful; it's one step towards setting up standards for your product as you develop for scale up.

Lavina has highlighted useful sources for local distributors; the challenge to start is typically scale and MOQs so distributors are a great place to start.

I offer consulting services in research and development and can help you navigate through this and other milestones during the product development phase and lead you to commercialization.

Please take a look at my website www.koraconsulting.ca to learn more and feel free to reach out to discuss further at sharon@koraconsulting.ca

Regards,

9

Hi Salena,

Do you have a co-packer lined up yet? If you're planning to move from retail to an industrial ingredient format, that's something a co-packer can help with-they usually have established supplier relationships and preferred ingredients. That can save you from getting too attached to specific ingredients in your R&D phase, only to find your co-packer isn't willing to stock them. Most won't want to bring in 10 new ingredients just for one product. You'll likely need to reformulate anyway, so it's useful to define the specs that really matter-like needing a 90% whey isolate instead of just any whey protein.

A helpful resource is Food in Canada's Buyers Guide-it has a section on ingredient suppliers with hundreds of listings. Like others have mentioned, distributors are a great place to start. Univar, Quadra, Caldic, BCI, Snowcap, Brenntag, Blendtek, Foodtec,

To save yourself time and frustration, consider hiring a food product development consultant-there are lots on YODL who can help you navigate sourcing and reformulation.

A few practical tips: expect to pay for samples and/or shipping, especially if you're a new customer. It helps to have your own FedEx or UPS number to speed things up. Always ask for specs first and only request samples if the documentation looks aligned with what you need-that alone will save you a bunch of time and money.

Also, try to attend a supplier tabletop show if you can. CIFST runs them in BC, Ontario, and Quebec, and they're a great way to discover ingredient suppliers. If you can't make it in person, check out the exhibitor list or show catalog. Bigger shows like IFT and SupplySide West will have floor maps and show directories.

Finally, when you're vetting suppliers, dig into their documentation. Do they clearly state RTE status? What about their micro specs and thresholds? Is there a full allergen matrix-not just what's in the product, but what's on the same line or in the facility? Is the country of origin listed transparently? This is where working with a food scientist or someone experienced in commercialization can really pay off. Check out BC Food and Bev's Growth Hub, there are some modules on commercialization.

I see that we have a meeting scheduled for later this week, happy to dig into this more with you!