Batory Foods, a national sales and supply chain management solutions provider of commodity and specialty food ingredients, has undertaken a major supplier source streamlining effort on behalf of a leading U.S. company. The ongoing relationship has provided the company with a single contact to source a nearly limitless portfolio of ingredients, saving money and time, while also opening possibilities for formulation improvements and new product development.

The manufacturer was experiencing several obstacles. For one, its ingredient supply chain was hampered by a lack of efficiency, including the need to source products from more than 20 different suppliers. In addition to a cumbersome amount of paperwork, the sourcing often demanded ingredients to travel long distances, increasing both shipping costs and the likelihood of transport-related product damage.

As a dedicated supplier with strong ingredients partnerships around the world, Batory was able to shrink the company’s sourcing contacts to one: its Batory account representative. In addition to being turnkey, Batory’s built-in networking offers sophisticated supply chain capabilities that, among other benefits, mitigates co-packer nuances for improved process uniformity.

Since the manufacturer has multiple US production and co-packer locations, Batory’s vast supplier network, which comprises over 3,400 SKUs, also allowed it to pair ingredients suppliers with nearby facilities—a “regional matchmaking” that significantly reduced freight costs and diminished transport-related product damage.

There was also true addition by subtraction: For the company, utilizing Batory as a single partner to source ingredients from a deep pool of suppliers across the country was a type of redundancy insurance—safeguarding against the kind of ingredients shortages that impacted some food & beverage companies during, for example, the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Leaning on Batory’s accrued industry contacts provided peace of mind against single-source dependence and, as a bonus, gave the company leverage against sudden price increases.

“Our diversified, multi-source supply chain, exceptional flexibility and optimized logistics allows us to streamline and simplify the entire purchasing and distribution process for our customers,” said Erin O’Leary, vice president of sales at Batory Foods, Inc. “Keeping costs low and efficiency high is our greatest priority as a trusted ingredient supplier.”

For the manufacturer, the resulting savings of money and manpower, combined with the new supplier contacts available through Batory, has helped it realize another goal: product expansion. For several reasons—including an overreliance on its signature product, seasonal demand fluctuations and the need to differentiate its portfolio from competitors—the company had been hoping to expand its selection of offerings for a more well-rounded, evergreen selection. In Batory, the company now has a partner to source a wide variety of novel ingredients toward its goal of new product development.