You are in the food business.

Perhaps a restaurant? Chef or owner?

Perhaps a retailer selling food items and ingredients? Large? Small? A buyer or manager?

Or perhaps you are none of these but rather just committed to the craft of producing and selling fine food?

You are on a mission to increase your sales, increase your traffic, attract better customers that buy more, or just make a change that will grow your business.

The harsh reality is that most suppliers sell the lowest cost ingredients and the cheapest product in the least expensive way possible. Going through the motions to complete the typical transaction: offer…sell…get paid. Repeat.

Consider a better way. Buy only from organizations that focus on quality first. Organizations where customer success is an objective. Organizations that bundle knowledge and passion with every product sold.

Happy customer…more sales…increased traffic. Repeat.

Consumers are much smarter and much more demanding today than in the past. With immediate access to information they gain knowledge. Use this knowledge as a means to grow your business.

Stop focusing on the lowest cost. Instead, focus on creating value for the customer so the customer keeps coming back. Focus on things that make the customer take notice.

A Caesar Salad made with an inexpensive, low quality, olive oil, goes unnoticed.

Rather, try a single estate olive oil from Spain (at close to $10 per litre) and the Caesar Salad will stand out from the crowd. The customer *will* take notice. The customer will come back.

Is your customer worth 9 cents?

Let’s look at an example. Typically a salad portion has 2 tablespoons of dressing, and we know there are 68 tablespoons in a litre. Suppose you are using an inexpensive olive oil that costs $7 per litre. So, each tablespoon costs 10.3 cents, and the olive oil cost for a serving of Caesar Salad is about 20 cents. Using a better olive oil costs 14.7 cents per tablespoon. The olive oil cost for the Caesar Salad portion is now 29 cents, so the difference for one customer is 9 cents.

Your customer deserves that extra 9 cents. They will notice the difference when a quality olive oil is used, which will get them coming back.

When satisfied and impressed, customers take notice and return. Better yet, WOW them and they will not only come back, they will bring someone else with them.

Take for example the Epicureal line. It has quality ingredients that make a difference. A difference that is noticed by today’s knowledgeable and demanding customer. A difference that will get customers coming back.

Is your customer worth 9 cents? Of course they are!

Your selection and prices are great but what is missing?

When you stock your shelves thinking only of price and variety you are not thinking about the needs of your customer.

Customers come to your store because they are faced with problems in meal preparation, and they are seeking solutions. They need your knowledge and expertise to solve their problem.

Presented with a shelf full of vinegars in many sizes and varieties does not solve their problem, but often confuses and upsets the customer further.

Always stock with quality in mind. A top end red wine vinegar like VINITEAU, which is a chef favourite, is the perfect solution. Even better, consider purchasing VINITEAU Red Wine Vinegar in bulk, and packaging it under your store’s name.

Consider how you can add value for your customers.

Take Dijon mustard for example. It is a gourmet staple. At Qualifirst, we sell it in a reusable preserving jar. Why? Value to the customer. After the mustard has been consumed, a simple washing, and the jar is ready for reuse.

Providing this added value gets noticed, which gets the customer coming back.

Every store has a few linear feet of products that are not pulling their weight. Replacing them with products that offer valuable meal preparation solutions, improves the overall impression of the store.

Brands like Epicureal and VINITEAU support this philosophy; not only meeting, but exceeding quality expectations, and becoming consumers’ go to meal prep solution.