If you’re starting a food business or have one that’s growing, you’ll need a way to transport food products from store to store or to get them to your customers quickly and safely. This is where a distribution center is useful. A distribution center is a place where your goods are stored, organized, and shipped out. It ensures that your food products get to where they should, when they should. Here is a guide that will help you choose the right food distribution center for your business.
Knowing the Role of a Distribution Center
Before you start looking, it will help you to understand what, exactly, a distribution center does. Those centers take in products from producers or manufacturers, store them, and then ship them to retailers or directly to consumers. Packaging, labeling, and tracking shipments are also responsibilities for many. Some facilities have a particular focus, like on food goods, thus they will have the proper equipment to keep everything fresh.
Decide What Your Business Needs
Some centers are big operations, collaborating with major companies, and others cater to smaller businesses. To figure out what your business needs, ask yourself the following questions.
- Do you need to refrigerate or freeze the food, or are all products shelf-stable?
- Are you selling regionally, nationally, or internationally?
- How quickly do you need your products to be shipped?
- Do you need assistance with labeling or packaging?
Knowing what your business requires can help you select a center that can service you appropriately.
Look for Food-Safe and Certified Facilities
Since you’re shipping food, it’s obviously essential to find a distribution center that complies with food safety laws. Choose a facility that is FDA-registered, operates under HACCP plans, and has received food-grade certifications, such as the FSSC 22000. These certifications show that the center handles food properly and complies with high health standards.
Online, you may simply find certified distribution centers by:
- Google or business directories
- Websites like ThomasNet.com or Food Logistics
- Industry or food trade organizations
Be sure to read reviews and see if they have worked with food brands before.
Think About Location
Ensure you select a distribution center in a location that is relevant to your business. If a high concentration of your customers is on the West Coast (with a few outliers in the mid-Atlantic), a center on the West Coast can reduce shipping costs (since the average distance to the customer will be shorter) and time. If you’re selling your product nationwide, you’re going to need more than one distribution center to keep up with the competition.
Ask the Right Questions
After you’ve found some possibilities, make contact and ask questions like:
- What kinds of food items do you work with?
- Do you provide cold storage or climate control?
- Do you have facilities to fulfill orders and deliver them?
- How much are your shipping charges, and how long does it take?
- Are you small-business friendly?
By asking these questions, you can see if they’re what you need.
With so many types of distribution centers, this can be difficult for you to find the perfect one for your food operation. When you find a facility that is right for you, is safety-compliant, and is in a good location, you can grow your brand and rest assured that your product is in good hands.