Originally posted on https://www.sunleaffoods.com/making-sure-you-get-the-cream-of-the-crop-how-to-choose-the-right-frozen-food-distributors-for-your-business/

 

The global frozen food industry is expected to make $306 billion by 2020, continuing the trend of growing profits. Perhaps people prefer the convenience and long shelf life of frozen food, or perhaps they are encouraged by the recent studies that reveal frozen produce to be as nutritious as fresh produce.

Now is a good time to jump into the frozen food market, but it’s difficult to sort out the best frozen food distributors from the mediocre, especially when it comes to products like fruit.

Why? Because any strange flavors or poor quality that result from mediocre manufacturing aren’t masked with seasonings or fats. Pure, natural food needs to taste, well, pure and natural! So what should you look for in a distributor that guarantees high quality, safety, and flavor?

We will talk about how to find frozen fruit distributors that you can feel good about.

Freezing Techniques

The way frozen fruit distributors freeze their products will affect the quality of the fruit. When done poorly, frozen fruit will end up with that unpleasant freezer-burn taste that will ruin even the sweetest smoothies. When done properly, frozen fruit can be eaten on its own and taste like fresh fruit–just a little colder!

The best method a distributor can use to freeze products like produce is IQF, which stands for individually quick-frozen. You may also know this method as flash freezing.

IQF will take produce, and even grains and meats, down to 25 degrees Fahrenheit or lower in a matter of minutes. A faster freeze means smaller ice crystals, which makes a world of difference in both flavor and texture.

The larger ice crystals that result from slow freezing techniques will dilute the flavor of the fruit, and if your storage is less than perfect, those ice crystals may take on a stale or funky taste. Plus, the fruit will end up mushy and unsatisfying once thawed!

IQF is also one of the safer methods on the market. IQF cuts down the time between fresh and frozen, so all that produce has less of a chance to wilt or rot before it’s safely preserved.

Finally, improvements to the IQF method in recent years have made the freezing process more efficient. Frozen fruit distributors who have used these improvements have optimized their use of power and other resources while cutting out some of their own expenses. This can mean a better price for you!

Find a frozen fruit distributor that uses the latest in IQF technology to ensure the best quality!

Storage and Pick-Up

When you’re deciding how to choose the best frozen fruit distributors, you need to consider your own business’s needs. How much do you need to buy and what kind of variety are you looking for? What are your own resources when it comes to storage?

Some frozen fruit distributors will offer a better cold chain program than others. Some distributors will cater more to your storage and pick-up needs, while others may only sell in bulk and require you to store your own products right away.

If you’re in the market for frozen fruits that will be added to other ingredients to create a final product, you may not want to store those fruits as they are for long periods of time. In that case, you will want to find a frozen fruit distributor that will keep your shipment in their own warehouse until you’re ready to assemble your final product.

Whether you’re selling your frozen fruit as is or using it is a component in your final product, it’s important to decide how much of each product you want. While some distributors might require you to purchase full pallets of the same product, others will be willing and able to create mixed pallets. Mixed pallets allow you to get the variety you need in the same shipment.

Before settling on a frozen fruit distributor, look into their cold chain program. Make sure they can meet your needs so that you don’t end up with whole shipments of products you can’t use or can’t store!

Social and Environmental Sustainability

When you’re starting or expanding your frozen food enterprise, ethics may not be the first thing that comes to mind. Ultimately, your focus is on your budget and the quality of your products.

However, 88% of consumers report that they prefer to buy from companies who work ethics into their business model. That means that if you can honestly say that you source your frozen food from distributors that practice social and environmental sustainability, your sales can grow!

In the food industry, one of the biggest concerns is food waste.

Food waste is an environmental issue. When food is wasted, all the resources that went into food production, from the water it took to keep the soil moist to the gas it took to get that food from farm to warehouse, were used for nothing.

Food waste is also a social issue. Approximately 41 million people in America go hungry, an issue that becomes even more alarming when looked at on a global scale. There are tons of people who would benefit from having access to food that would otherwise be wasted.

Frozen food distributors can help with both issues. By donating their excess food that has yet to go bad but can no longer be sold, frozen food distributors can cut back on global food waste.

If you want to find a frozen fruit distributor that you can really feel good about, find out what they’re doing to help their community!

Finding the Right Frozen Fruit Distributors Doesn’t Have to be Hard

Hopefully, we’ve shed a little light on how to find the best frozen fruit distributors for your business! All it takes is a bit of research to find quality products produced by companies that want to work with you and with their own communities.

If you’re looking for a distributor that checks all of those boxes, look no further. At Sun Leaf Foods, we pride ourselves in our quality, customer service, and community outreach. To find out more, contact us today!