Ordering tips - wholefood buying clubs
- All the wholefood wholesalers offer a huge range of products including nuts, pulses, dried fruit, flour, and lots of goods in tins and jars, as well as non-food items.
- They are all supplied in bulk but the pack sizes will vary e.g. you may be able to get rice in 5kg bags or in 10 x 500g bags.
- You will save most money by buying things in large packs, and also usually make bigger savings buying organic products.
- But you need to be careful not to buy foods that will go off before you’ve got through them.
- Pulses and grains will last a long time e.g. 12 months or more but dried fruit and nuts will deteriorate in quality sooner than this, especially if not kept in ideal conditions.
- If you are setting up a small buying group it is probably best to start with a few main products lines rather than asking everyone to go through the whole catalogue, which can be a bit overwhelming.
- You could ask members to list the 10 items they eat most often and from that make up a list of 20 items to include on an order form.
- People can then also order extra items from the catalogue if they buy a whole pack and want something specific.
- You also need to decide if you are going to split cases e.g. if someone only wants one jar of jam, and they come in packs of 12 what will you do with the other 11. Normally buying clubs arrange this amongst themselves but would need to buy at least half a case.
