Open Pantry Blog

Understanding Australia's food and beverage landscape means four things: the culinary diversity of its regions and native ingredients, the trends reshaping demand, the local supplier ecosystem, and the food safety regulations set out in the Australian Food Standards Code.

Inventory management in wholesale food distribution does five jobs: it keeps order fulfilment accurate, prevents overstock and stockouts, gives real-time tracking and visibility, supports demand planning with customers, and, once automated, removes the manual data entry where errors start.

Recruiting well for a food and beverage wholesale business means identifying the key roles first, writing job descriptions that show the real work, advertising on digital platforms, showing your culture, paying competitively, keeping the interview process short, selecting against clear criteria, and training people once they arrive.

Technology is changing B2B wholesale supply in four places: automated order fulfilment that removes manual errors, data-driven decisions built on analytics, supply chain visibility through tracking and barcoding, and IoT-equipped smart warehouses that monitor stock condition and equipment.

Order management software makes a food and beverage business more efficient in three ways: it streamlines order processing by automating repeated tasks, it keeps inventory accurate in real time, and it joins supplier and restaurant workflows so ordering, packing, delivery and invoicing run without back-and-forth.

Food distribution generates emissions from transport, waste from single-use packaging, and spoilage across the chain. Wholesale order management software reduces all three by forecasting demand accurately, replacing paper picking and invoices, optimising delivery runs, and making sourcing decisions visible.

Implementing a wholesale order management system starts with assessing where your current process actually hurts, then choosing a system that fixes the most pain points for the least cost. Prioritise end-to-end order automation, real-time warehouse control, and integration with the restaurants you serve.

Pricing through volatile costs comes down to five moves: raise prices gradually so customers absorb them, delay reductions and then cut in noticeable jumps, tell customers about changes in advance, lock a margin rather than a price, and read market indicators to anticipate the next shift.

Restaurant inventory management means recording, tracking and reporting how ingredients and supplies move through the kitchen. Done well it prevents loss and protects margin; done badly it is a leading cause of restaurant failure, with up to 10% of food never reaching a customer.

Melbourne chefs Ishy Patel and Andrew Braham say they choose suppliers on honesty, reliability, quality and provenance, personal rapport, adaptability, ethical sourcing, efficient technology and negotiable pricing. Suppliers who build around those nine values, and use technology to support them, win and keep the work.

Five moves lift a food and beverage wholesaler's margin: replace price locks with margin locks, use technology to cut manual work, sell provenance and branding, carry exclusive brands competitors cannot, and adapt to demand shifts towards online ordering and locally sourced product.

Price a wholesale range by tier rather than across the board: compete hard on fast-moving core items chefs compare, take a reasonable margin on medium-volume lines, and charge a premium on rarely ordered specialities. Separate delivery charges and compete on quality rather than price alone.

Should I charge a delivery fee?

Restaurants choose a wholesale supplier on trust and reputation first, then quality ahead of price, past experience with that supplier, service and communication, packaging, and flexibility. Chefs interviewed by Open Pantry rate honesty about stock and price changes above almost everything else.

Please use our free calculator to help determine what your optimal delivery fee should be and also how to optimise your minimum order value to maximise the profit of your wholesale supply business.

Delve into the success story of Bar Group Hospitality as we explore how the implementation of Open Pantry’s Restaurant Pro Suite (now Restaurant AI Manager) revolutionized operations at their esteemed establishment, Huskisson Hotel.

We asked one hundred chefs in Melbourne to vote for their favorite suppliers in the following product categories. They had to decide based on the price, quality and service offered by each brand.The results provided insight into the supplies that covet the most from all over Australia. Let's see the outcomes for each category

Perhaps you’ve been a chef for years and are no stranger to the unforeseen costs that crop up and leave you feeling underpaid and overworked. Or maybe you’re just starting out and are researching all of the best practices for running your new venue. Either way, we’ve put together our top ten recommended ways to save money, both in and out of the kitchen, to help you run a thriving, successful venue.