Factors to Consider When Choosing a Wholesale Seafood Distributor

Seafood is among the most consumed food in Australian restaurants and hotels. Whether fried, grilled, smoked, baked, or poached, seafood is delicious and offers numerous nutritional benefits to the body. Serving quality seafood at your restaurant can keep your customers coming back for more. The first step to achieving this is selecting a good wholesale seafood distributor. With so many food service companies in the country, this decision can be quite daunting and engaging. However, with a few tips on what to look for in a good distributor, you can narrow down to a few companies and have your requirements met. Here are some of the key factors that you should consider so as to achieve this.

Seafood selection

Choose a food service with a wide seafood selection that will cater for your restaurant's needs. These include tuna, tilapia, cod, squid, mussels, salmon, lobster, shrimps, oysters, scallops, and krill among others. Assess your client's menu preferences to ensure that you don't get a particular type of seafood which is rarely ordered in your restaurant. However, if your customer's tastes change in the future, you need to be sure that the seafood distributor you choose will be able to adapt to this change without having you move to a new distributor.

Fresh vs. frozen seafood

Various food services supply both fresh and frozen seafood varieties; however, some may specialize in one of the two. Ensure you determine the best option for your restaurant. Normally, fresh fish usually tastes better and is preferred for salads, sandwiches, and burgers due to its fresh taste. Frozen fish should be stored properly to ensure that it does not lose its taste over time. You can have both fresh and frozen fish delivered depending on the menu in your restaurant.

Reliability and availability

There's nothing more important to a restaurant than having a reliable supplier. Failure to avail foods at the required time can cause you to incur great losses. Assess the reliability of the distributor regarding keeping time and responding to urgent orders. If you have a 24-hour restaurant, you want to ensure that the distributor can come to your aid if you run out of seafood towards the night and still need to serve it.

Compliance requirements

Finally, the seafood distributor you choose should be a licensed food service company. Licensing gives an assurance of quality and authenticity of the source of their products. Ensuring this can prevent cases of food poisoning and other health related issues associated with consuming bad seafood. You will not only be adhering to the food safety standards in Australia but also saving your business in the process.

Choosing a wholesale seafood distributor is a necessary step for every restaurant that serves fish and other seafood. Have these factors in mind during the selection process and ensure you choose a distributor that meets the needs of your restaurant.