From cost control to innovation, the right supplier relationship has the power to drive meaningful impact across your operation. But does your relationship with your protein supplier fit this description?
While most protein suppliers follow basic best practices for customer service, shipping, and quality control, there are other protein suppliers that go above and beyond to bring success and peace of mind to their customers’ operations.
This guide outlines a few considerations to help you distinguish between the good protein suppliers and the great ones.
The Risks of Choosing the Wrong Supplier
Before we dive into what makes a supplier great, let’s set the stakes. Choosing a protein supplier isn’t just about the price of your protein; selecting a suboptimal supplier can lead to inconsistencies in your proteins, which can result in many hidden costs due to:
- Lower Customer Satisfaction: If you don’t offer a consistent product to your consumers, they are unlikely to return, costing you repeat customers and revenue.
- Higher Labor Costs: Inconsistent products require more highly skilled (and highly paid) workers in your kitchen who need the knowledge and experience to make recipe adjustments on the fly.
- Higher Waste: Low-quality suppliers may deliver inconsistent sizes or poorly butchered cuts, leading to more labor and material waste in your operations.
That’s why conducting a supplier risk management analysis is critical. While the points provided below are a great way to assess suppliers, we encourage you to conduct additional due diligence on the reputation of potential partners and your own profitability needs.
Good vs Great: Vetting Protein Suppliers
Most suppliers can deliver on the essential needs of your business, but not all protein suppliers deliver the same level of value. The key is knowing where “good enough” ends and where a valuable partnership begins. Here is what you should expect from good suppliers, and how you can identify great ones.
Good Suppliers Cover the Basics
As a baseline, a good protein supplier delivers quality, consistency, and compliance. They provide the reassurance that your products meet regulatory requirements and food safety standards.
1. Product Quality and Consistency
Every supplier should reliably meet your product specifications, marbling level, cut size, flavor profile, etc. They will have appropriate quality control measures in place to ensure products are usable, but may not always deliver the fine-tuned consistency needed to elevate your brand. For example, they may not have the capacity to retool their commercialization process to your exact needs or have a dedicated test kitchen to create unique flavors for your products.
2. Standard Compliance
Good suppliers follow recognized safety systems such as the global SQF Certification Program or the national HACCP program. Many suppliers will simply meet the minimum required certifications to pass inspections and keep you compliant, but not going further than what is mandated.
3. Customer Service
A good supplier will answer calls promptly, process orders on time, and resolve issues when asked. You’ll typically get a designated contact who can troubleshoot problems with you, which is important, but that’s a more reactive than proactive approach when it comes to helping your business succeed.
4. Logistics and Delivery
Every supplier should be able to reliably move their product from point A to point B. They should demonstrate strength in forecasting, raw material sourcing, inventory management, and on-time delivery. Even when overall demand spikes, your supplier should be ready to meet your product needs. They may, however, lack the scale and flexibility to support complex or multi-location operations; perhaps their operations are too small or they don’t have enough variety in their catalog.
Great Suppliers Delivery Strategic Value
The right protein supplier should feel like a natural extension of your team. They will deliver added value, foster innovation, and help you protect your brand reputation. Here are the standards we hold ourselves to at Miniat as we work to be true growth partners to our customers.
1. Risk Reduction Through Elevated Standards
Great suppliers go beyond baseline compliance. They introduce advanced food safety measures and external advisory partnerships to set a higher bar. Miniat maintains an external food safety advisory committee of industry-leading experts in microbiology and quality assurance. Their guidance ensures our protocols don’t just meet standards, but exceed them.
2. Greater Value Through Industry Expertise
Premium protein suppliers leverage their deep industry expertise, economies of scale, and strong supplier relationships to ensure you get the best possible raw material deals. They also skillfully formulate products to maximize your yield and carcass utilization while minimizing your team’s prep. Minat’s R&D team has over 50 years of combined development expertise and we leverage the partnerships we’ve made along the way to stay on the cutting edge of innovation.
3. Innovation Through Collaboration
A great supplier helps you tap into emerging trends to help you innovate your product offerings. For example, Miniat regularly hosts ideation sessions with customers to introduce new technologies, market insights, and flavor profiles to inspire product offering innovation. This enables our customers to proactively lead with ideas, rather than just reacting to the latest fads.
4. Reputation Protection Through Understanding Your Brand
Consistent products and high quality standards help protect your reputation and reinforce long-term customer trust. Miniat understands that every bite reflects your brand. We prioritize food safety, traceability, and alignment with consumer expectations to help guard your brand equity.
5. Differentiation Through Custom Food Manufacturing
The right contract food manufacturing partner will work with your R&D team to create fresh culinary ideas. Miniat’s approach to food product development is rooted in years of practical innovation to help you bring new ideas to life. To get there, we produce innovative proof-of-concepts grounded in your initial idea or request. These will help your team narrow in on where Miniat should focus. Or, if you don’t have a specific menu idea in mind, we can provide inspiration.
6. Trust Built Through Transparency
While good suppliers may answer your questions when asked, great suppliers are proactive and transparent. You shouldn’t have to ask about sourcing practices, food traceability, pricing, lead times, or potential disruptions that might affect your business. Part of being a good supplier is voluntarily communicating these details.
The Bottom Line on Choosing a Protein Supplier
A good supplier meets expectations. A great supplier helps you grow.
When you’re choosing or evaluating a protein partner, don’t settle for “good enough.” By seeking out suppliers who reduce risk, drive innovation, protect your brand, and collaborate to create custom and innovative products, you set your operation up for long-term success.
