How NB Restaurants Can Cut Packaging Costs by 20% This Month
Food costs get all the attention. Packaging quietly absorbs 3–6% of revenue while nobody looks at it. Here's exactly how to cut that by 20% — without changing a single menu item.
Find out what you're actually spending
Most restaurant owners don't know their packaging spend down to the SKU. Pull the last three months of invoices and add up your total monthly spend, cost per case for your top five items, and cases per month. It takes 20 minutes and it's the most valuable 20 minutes you'll spend on your supply chain this year.
Know what wholesale actually costs
Here's a benchmark for common NB restaurant packaging at proper direct-import wholesale pricing. Here are the staples most NB kitchens reorder every month:
- 16 oz deli containers — 240 per case
- 9x9 bagasse box — 200 per case
- Kraft carry bags — 250 per case
- Black nitrile gloves — 1000 per case
- 2 oz portion cups — 2500 per case
Why you're overpaying
The pricing gap comes from how the supply chain is structured. By the time a deli container reaches your kitchen through a national distributor, it has passed through a factory, a national importer, and a regional distributor — each adding 20–35% markup. Direct-import wholesale cuts that to two layers at most: factory to importer to you.
Get a free comparison quote
You don't have to commit to anything to find out what you'd pay elsewhere. Photograph your last Sysco or GFS invoice, WhatsApp it to a direct-import wholesaler, and ask for a line-by-line comparison. If the savings are there, switch. If they're not, you've confirmed you're getting a fair deal — which is worth knowing.
Consolidate and buffer
Every extra supplier means another invoice, delivery window, and minimum to hit. Consolidating to one or two suppliers covering 80%+ of your packaging cuts admin overhead. And once you've found better pricing, buying a 2–3 week buffer of your top items at case pricing costs almost the same as one week at retail — but means you never run out mid-service and pay convenience-store prices.
The numbers
For a typical mid-size NB restaurant, packaging runs around 4% of revenue at Sysco-range pricing. Switching to direct-import wholesale usually trims that bill by 15–25% — money that stays in your business instead of going to a distributor's head office.
Get wholesale pricing for your restaurant
Send your current supplier invoice on WhatsApp and we'll send back a line-by-line comparison within the hour. No account, no minimum beyond one case, same-week delivery across New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI.