Sandwich manufacturing/preparation

Happy_Harry

Does anybody know where Centra , Spar and petrol stations etc. get their packed sandwiches from ? I couldn't find any sandwich manufacturers in the Republic, only up North. Reason I am posting it here, is I am thinking of starting something up in this area and wondering who I could talk to.

darkskol

I know a few places that get their packed sandwiches and wraps from freshways.

Happy_Harry

Thanks...Yes of course..duh.. Freshways must be one of the biggest suppliers.. you see them everywhere. You wouldn't happen know what the margin for the retailer is ?

Bandara

Freshways are by a long way the only decent supplier out there, owned by Kerry Foods, there main office is in Finglas 01-8648000

There's a few others but their quality is very poor, Mommas Kitchen etc.

The margin to the retailer is 30% based on the rrp that freshways print on the sandwiches, however you can request them to deliver them unpriced to allow you to charge your own price, I'd advise against it though as there is already a premium price on them and you'll make them too dear if you ramp the price up.

Obviously the huge disadvantage of them is that they take away from your cold deli (if you have one) which if you keep your eye on it is going to run at 45% margin.

However they are a good alternative to have for when you deli is closed or has a big queue that people won't wait on, make sure you insist on getting full returns on any unsolds/out of date stock, you can't lose. Freshways also do other products such as fresh fruit pots, breakfast museli pots etc etc.

As an aside, if your business is consistant enough have a looks at buying yourself a setup to allow you to produce your own pre-packs, you'll bang them out on average for about 1.20 per sambo and there is a printer out there that will print really ncie colour labels for you with the ingredients etc and under your on brand name. I think the cost is about €900 for the setup. If your doing more than 70 prepacks a day I'd definietly look at it.

Sorry about the long reply, I'm a bit of a deli nut.

Good luck.

p.

Culchie

Hammertime wrote: »

Freshways are by a long way the only decent supplier out there, owned by Kerry Foods, there main office is in Finglas 01-8648000

There's a few others but their quality is very poor, Mommas Kitchen etc.

The margin to the retailer is 30% based on the rrp that freshways print on the sandwiches, however you can request them to deliver them unpriced to allow you to charge your own price, I'd advise against it though as there is already a premium price on them and you'll make them too dear if you ramp the price up.

Obviously the huge disadvantage of them is that they take away from your cold deli (if you have one) which if you keep your eye on it is going to run at 45% margin.

However they are a good alternative to have for when you deli is closed or has a big queue that people won't wait on, make sure you insist on getting full returns on any unsolds/out of date stock, you can't lose. Freshways also do other products such as fresh fruit pots, breakfast museli pots etc etc.

As an aside, if your business is consistant enough have a looks at buying yourself a setup to allow you to produce your own pre-packs, you'll bang them out on average for about 1.20 per sambo and there is a printer out there that will print really ncie colour labels for you with the ingredients etc and under your on brand name. I think the cost is about €900 for the setup. If your doing more than 70 prepacks a day I'd definietly look at it.

Sorry about the long reply, I'm a bit of a deli nut.

Good luck.

p.

Nice post Hammmertime.

I would have thought that these delis worked on a higher margin than 45% .... I just presumed they would be up in the 75/80% range. I guess I don't factor in the middleman supplying the delis.

(It's not an area I know much about, but I'm always trying to suss out other businesses, sad me:o)

Bandara

Culchie wrote: »

Nice post Hammmertime.

I would have thought that these delis worked on a higher margin than 45% .... I just presumed they would be up in the 75/80% range. I guess I don't factor in the middleman supplying the delis.

(It's not an area I know much about, but I'm always trying to suss out other businesses, sad me:o)

Culchie

My cold deli runs at 49%, hot deli runs at 54%, thats a very accurate figure that I can stand by, this is good for your average store mainly becuase I take a large interest in it and make sure its spot on. However you find a lot of places fool themselves with their margins and pat themselves on the back without really having a knowledge of how it fully works. I could make more by using cheaper produce but I personally hold a lot of weight in quality food brings people back again, no one is fooled these days by a sh!tty sandwich with the cheapest meats or cheeses etc

The amount of places I've helped out where they ignore wastages and have no real handle on how much their deli staff are making and what days they make certain things on (for example slicing a large bowl of chicken breasts on a friday morning even though they have to be throw out on Sunday evening if they are unused, the vast majority of stores are much quieter the weekend and half this bowl is going to go in the bin, thats a minus of €25 straight away.) Even the way food is prepped makes a huge difference in how much you can use.

My rule of thumb is a max of 4% of the total retail sales figure for wastage is acceptable, any more and your throwing money away, any less and it may be possible that your not maximising your potential sales, i.e. the counter is half empty too early in the day and is not tempting for customers to purchase from.

All that said you can squeeze a few more precent out of the margins by making everything yourself from the ground up, imo this is a false economy as if you are diligent with buying at the right price the difference you save by buying the raw materials and doing it yourself is a few %, add in the additional wage cost of staff prep time and it makes no sense.

Hope this fill in the blanks ! Like you I'm always interested in other business and how they work etc

jetsonx

Hammertime wrote: »

Freshways are by a long way the only decent supplier out there
p.

I loath to see their practically embalmed (extra-long shelf-life) sandwiches on shop shelves.

Their sandwiches are dry and tasteless and their ingredients sticker reads like
a chemistry book.

Freshways give the word "sandwich" a bad name.

Foul.

Bandara

Even a plank of wood looks like a lifeboat in a sea of sh!t.

Happy_Harry

OK, well I am learning a lot here, thanks for that. Does anybody know who supplies Aer Lingus with sambos ? They are actually very nice for pre-packed sambos, as opposed to the not so nice sandwiches some other Irish airline is selling ( At least that is my personal opinion and taste).

Having thought about good business ideas for the past 10 years, I think I might finally have gotten myself a feasible idea, that involves selling sandwiches. No intention (yet anyway) of becoming serious competition for Freshways, actually not even sure whether I should make them myself or by them unbranded.

Buying them means no hassle in terms of food preparation legal requirements (or at least a lot less),less investment in equipment and premises, less personal and -what I think you are saying - if I manage to get a good deal no risk on wastage.
On the other hand , making them myself I could actually make nice (organic) sandwiches and brand them as home made, organic or whatever it is that people actually want. However I have no idea what it takes to mass produce sambos. Now I am not talking about 1000's more like 100's a day, where could I find out more ? I was thinking of going to the UK and see if I can find anyone willing to show me ( as they would hopefully not consider me competition, as opposed to the Irish industry.

0utshined

Kudos to Hammertime for some quality posting in this thread. Didn't know much about this area but it made for some interesting reading.