When you start a restaurant, choosing your food service companies is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make. It pays to take your time, and start evaluating vendors well before your first order. Here are some things to consider as you develop a short list of vendors.
- Who do other restaurants use? As part of your research before planning your restaurant, you no doubt dined in other local establishments. Think back on the best meals you ate, and ask those chefs who they use for their food service.
- Which specialty vendors do I want? You’ll likely have a primary general food vendor for many of your most used items. However, you will also likely have some specialty vendors that you use for certain items in order to get the freshest and best quality food. Consider which types of foods you want to get from specialty vendors, like dairy products, desserts or seafood.
- Who offers the best value? Once you’ve narrowed down the list to two or three in each our category, and begin to evaluate the value, you’ll gain from using each vendor. To determine value, look at cost versus quality. This will give you a good idea of which vendors to try out. It’s important to understand that you won’t truly be able to evaluate value until you’ve used the vendor for a while.
Be certain to carefully evaluate each vendor in the early months of doing business, keeping detailed records of their food quality, delivery reliability, food freshness, and cost. Keep a list of the vendors you considered so that you can try out a new vendor as soon as you see a problem with one you’re using.
Once you find just the right combination, your restaurant will soar with the right food service companies in Buffalo, NY.
