Selling Wholesale Locally

[Amber Gold]

About a mile down the street there's an old general store called Calef's and they sell maple syrup from up in Littleton, NH. My wife was in there yesterday and she mentioned that we'd be making syrup and one of the employees thought the owners are interested in buying stuff local and would probably be interested in buying my syrup.

Here's my thoughts:

Good things. The store is very popular and gets a lot of business, so I should be able to sell them a lot of product. Also if buyers ask where the syrup came from they could say it came from down the street and I might get business that way.

Concerns: They are a mile down the street and may detract from my retail business. Maybe not because they already sell syrup. If I was to do it I'd have to come to an agreement with them on what they sell it for...I don't want them sellling my syrup for less than what I sell it for. Also they have their own Calef's jugs so I wouldn't be able to sell them in NHMPA jugs. Would my information need to be on the container when they sell it? If not I think I'd make that a requirement anyways so buyers know where it came from.

Thoughts???

Thanks

Josh

[Haynes Forest Products]

Start with NHs labeling laws its on the web. In Wisc. If I bottle and sell to a retail outlet That makes me the producer and supplier and thats needs to be on the label. Look at the jug they sell and you will know what to do. Plus you will meed tamperproof caps and backlabel (generic)

[NH Maplemaker]

Josh, I'm real sure that your name and address must appear on the jug ! As for them selling cheaper than you ! What you charge them should not be less than bulk price and only a certain percentage less than what you sell for. They will Then in turn mark it up enough to make a good profit making it higher than yours !!

[DS Maple]

From my experience, if they buy the syrup they can put whatever they want on the bottle. We buy in syrup all the time and re-bottle it as our own. If we're really in a crunch, we even bring jugs to Bascom's to have them fill them with their syrup. There's no mention of Bascom's name once it's in our jugs though. On the flip side, there's no reason why the name of the original producer couldn't be on the bottle. It probably just depends on what kind of an aggreement you reach with them.

Keep in mind though that if they already have a custom jug they may not want to change it due to the cost. I have been working recently on slightly changing the design of our jug, and it's going to be expensive. There's one screen for each color, (ours are two color jugs,) and 5 jug sizes. That's 10 new screens at between $100 and $150, so between $1000 and $1500, and even at this price I haven't printed any jugs yet.

Anyway, if they already have the design, but you want some recognition, get some kind of visual display that can go at the location where the syrup is being sold. That way customers can see where it came from, but the cost of modifying the label is eliminated.

[Haynes Forest Products]

You take all responsibility when you exclude the manufacture and supplier on the label. When you sell your syrup to any wholesaler and they test it and dump it into a bulk tank they take responsibility for it and your liability is gone. If you bottle it and sell it the buyer doesnt have control of the contents you do. A customer has the right too know whos product they are buying.

[802maple]

Also I see that you have 3-500 taps. If this store does indeed sell alot of syrup are you prepared to buy more syrup than you make to keep that customer and your price must reflect what you will have to pay for that additional syrup so that you make a profit off that as well.

[Hop Kiln Road]

NH and FDA want the name, address and zip code of the "packer, distributor, or producer" on the containers. You can't buy out of state syrup and put it in a NH container. If you buy someone elses syrup then your label should say, "Packed by, or Packer." The story last year was some consumer complained to NHDA of buying a container syrup with broken glass in the syrup, which of course, was only sugar crystals! Bruce

[Amber Gold]

Thanks guys. I want to make sure I get all my facts in a row before I make the call.

Good point Jerry. I am willing to buy syrup to keep a customer and that would need to be clarified in talking with them. I thinking of something along the lines of the current bulk rate price with a markup. This way I'm covered whether it's my own syrup or if I have to buy it. I also have 1-2 more wholesale accounts in the works.

If I buy bulk from Bascom's, or another local producer, does their information need to be on there or just my information? Does the label have to say "packed by, or bottle by" or can I just use my standard labels with my information?

Thanks

[DS Maple]

Pretty sure you can just use your labels as long as you are comfortable taking "ownership" of the product. From experience, you do have to be careful when buying from places like Bascom's because simply stated their syrup oftentimes tastes different. It is best to find syrup that comes as close to yours as possible, because customers will pick up on a change.

[DaveB]

We've done sales like this to a couple of different customers. When we are selling more than we have available, we usually like to deal with other producers in our local area to keep flavors (and prices) consistant. Keeping your price close to the replacement bulk price + your packaging/reheating costs and transport cost is the way to go. I have found that most retail outlets charge more than we do! So, you wouldn't have to worry about that.

Do you have liability insurance? If you are going to pack someone elses syrup under your label, you're gonna need some protection. No, you don't have to put their name on the label, but as someone else said, you're taking responsibility with the consumer. That does not mean that if there is a problem and you can track it to the other producer that you can't collect something from him, but to the consumer, you supplied the syrup.

I would also avoid larger packers if you're selling to a boutique outlet like a general store, because they often blend everyone's syrup together. Buying from a local producer helps them and gives you a unique product. You'll be surpised what you can find!

Dave

[Amber Gold]

Good points. Yes I do have insurance. Once I saw how big I was getting this year and my horizons started expanding, I went out and got it. Can't afford to lose my house.

[tuckermtn]

there is a local guy here in Andover who used to make 4-600 gals a year- he stopped a few years back but retained his retail customers. He buys bulk from Stetsons in Lempster. the labels on his jugs read : "packaged by...."

For calef's your labels could read: "produced for Calef's by..."

[Dill]

Good points. Yes I do have insurance. Once I saw how big I was getting this year and my horizons started expanding, I went out and got it. Can't afford to lose my house.

However if you are bottling and resell product your insurance agent might need to look a little deeper into it.:) It shouldn't be a huge issue but we'll cross that bridge when the time comes.

Actually everyone who is selling syrup should make sure they have coverage for their farming/business activities.

[Amber Gold]

Just spoke to the store manager from Calef's. They sell well over a thousand gallons of syrup each year...a little out of my league. She told me she sells almost all of her syrup during the holiday season and would be interested in marketing my syrup then as a local, Barrington made product. Also gave me some ideas for marketing. Overall it worked out well.

Time to find another outlet without such great needs...