Grow your business mistake 2:
Ask for the food safety standard.
Grow your business mistake 2 is not getting hold of the potential customer’s food safety standard. Some businesses make these freely available to download,. Others will only share once you have started negotiations. If at all possible get hold of a copy as soon as you have decided to target the potential customer.
Why? Because this will allow you to decide if the relationship will be advantageous to you both.
If you have to pay for a lot of additional people and equipment, as well as make fabrication changes the outlay may mean that the contract will not be a profitable one.
You may also like to find out if the customer requires accreditation, and what they will accept. For example: BRCGS accreditation can be expensive to implement and maintain. However, retailers may insist that you have it.
Case study for Growing your business mistake 2
When I worked for Sodexo, there were some regular reasons for non conformances in site audits. One of these was the business being audited not being aware of the banned foods list that Sodexo published. The list required businesses not to supply anything from the banned list, even if ordered by a Sodexo site. Each customer is unique and will have their own requirements. These may be additional to any other customer. Be aware that this may be an issue and plan for it, is my advice.
If you need help with any part of the customer approval process, get in touch for a free 30 minute call. Having written a supplier approval standard, and being a qualified lead auditor for BRCGS and a Registered Professional Food Auditor and Mentor, with the IFST, if I don’t know the answer, I will know someone who does. Get in touch and let’s talk.
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