What are the Different Types of
Restaurant Suppliers?
Seafood
Different seafood suppliers specialize in different types of seafood and each supplier sources their fish either locally or internationally. There are fish suppliers that only sell fresh seafood and others that also specialize in frozen and imported seafood. Most fish supplies come from fish farms today, with different farms specializing in different types of fish. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) about half of the fish we consume is farmed.
Produce
Produce for a restaurant business range from various types of vegetables and fruits. There are a number of ways that restaurants can source their producers. Big food companies to source from include: Sysco, US Foods and Performance Food Group. Restaurants can also source their produce from local suppliers, directly from Farmers, Farmer’s markets or directly from stores. Farmers markets are a great resource for meeting local farmers and apps such as Local Dirt help restaurants find local produce and egg suppliers for restaurants.
Dry Goods
The dry goods at your restaurant can range anywhere from nuts to rice to flour. Restaurant’s can often times purchased the bulk of their dry goods by companies mentioned above, however for speciality items they might have to source their ingredients from speciality suppliers. Companies such as Hider Foods in the UK and Crossing Fine Foods in the U.S sale speciality items to restaurants at wholesale prices. Events such as the London Fine Food Fair or the Fancy Food Show in New York, are great places to meet multiple types of suppliers and discover where you can source various ingredients from.
Restaurants can purchase their beef, poultry and pork directly from farms or through bigger companies that have a selection of farms and butchers they work with. Going through a bigger company often gives restaurants the piece of mind that proper food sensing for harmful bacteria has been done, since these big companies operate on a large scale, they can’t afford to spread food borne illnesses, therefore they invest a lot of money in sensor technology. Obtaining meat directly from farmers or suppliers, means that you can build relationships, get the best quality, and support the local economy with perhaps more sustainable farming practices, however it might be a good investment to hire a third party company to test your ingredients to ensure food safety or to make sure that every ingredient is thoroughly checked before it comes into your establishment. You want to make sure that you ask these questions, before moving forward with any meat supplier.
Coffee
Like other products, there are many different types of coffee to source and many different ways to do it. Unlike other products though, due to the infrastructure of the coffee trade, it’s virtually impossible to source your coffee beans directly from farmers, unless you’re a roaster, however you can source coffee through suppliers that buy their beans directly. In the coffee world there are several different types of coffee based on how they are sourced: fair trade, direct trade, wholesale beans etc… Today around the world there are a number of suppliers that source coffee directly and there are a number of wholesale suppliers. Some examples of coffee roasters that obtain their beans through direct and/or fair trade are Rook Coffee in New Jersey, Rockford Roasting Company in Illinois, SOHO Grind in London, and also Taylor St. Baristas in London.
Baked Goods
Restaurants can source baked goods such as bread and cake from big suppliers or from local bakeries that function as suppliers and create fresh baked goods for restaurants. When it comes to baked goods, if your restaurant doesn’t make them in house, for the best quality, it’s smart to source from a local bakery. Bulk items such as hamburger buns or simple white breads can be sourced from bigger suppliers as well.
Beer
There are several different ways to source beer for your restaurant. You can buy mass produced beer from a big supplier, you can buy craft beer from a more speciality supplier, you can make an exclusive contract with a brewery to carry their various styles of beer, or you can do a combination of different sources. There isn’t one way that is better than the other, it’s based on what type of establishment you have, what clients you have and what kind of selection you’d like to have.
Wine
Wine like beer can be sourced directly from wineries or different suppliers that specialize in different types of wine from different parts of the world.
