How to Save Money and Recoup Cash on Problem Food inventory
Read time: 2 minutes
When it comes to problem food inventory, the sooner it’s out of the warehouse, the better. Plus, if you can save money and get some cash back on your investment, that’s a huge bonus.
How do you manage that stack of unusable food ingredients sitting in the corner of your warehouse: the rock-hard sweetener, the low-moisture cheese, the nonfat dried milk powder high in scorched particles?
After all, it makes sense to free up the space — get inventory cycling out of your warehouse and into a profitable product. But the disposal process can get complicated and expensive.
You have an easier (more profitable) option: have an ingredient specialist take care of your off-specification or unusable food ingredient inventory:
1. Free up valuable warehouse space
There’s that delicate warehouse balance — of keeping the perfect amount of food ingredients moving through your warehouse.
However, when discontinued or unusable product sits, the movement slows, seizing up your inventory management.
An ingredient recovery service can free up costly warehouse space. They have a vast network and the know-how to move your discontinued and off-specification food inventory. They provide a turn-key service that takes care of all of the details, from document management to transportation and invoicing.
For you, that means less hassle (because they manage the whole process) and more valuable warehouse space for priority inventory.
2. Avoid shelling out more money to dispose of food ingredients
For some, the go-to option for getting food inventory that cannot be used out of the warehouse is dumping it in the landfill.
But landfill fees can get expensive.
As environmental laws tighten and landfill space shrinks, the cost of dumping food waste continues to increase (tough when you need to get rid of food product you’ve already purchased).
The alternative is putting problem ingredient into a new market and keeping it out of the dump. In fact, there are many market opportunities for repurposing expired or off-spec ingredients.
The goal is to move the inventory back into an edible application — that is, find a new way to use the ingredient and recover as much of the initial investment as possible.
Of course, the sooner a problem ingredient is on the market, the more appealing, useful and valuable the new application will be.
3. Recoup non-edible waste inventory
If a food ingredient is not suitable to be moved back into an edible application, it can sometimes be upcycled into a non-food application.
Problem food ingredients such as sweeteners and dairy products do well in these non-edible applications.
4. Save time and make money
In addition to the expense of putting waste inventory in the landfill, it takes time to organize getting rid of problem foods. That includes finding a disposal service with reasonable pricing, decent turnaround and helpful customer service.
It’s also nice to get some money back on your unusable food ingredients. Ultimately, rather than paying to dump unusable food ingredients, you can divert them from overstuffed landfills and put them into a market where they can be resold, recycled or upcycled — for cash.
Take a load off
Food ingredient inventory that you can no longer use is a problem: it takes up space and can be a chore to remove. It may seem better pay to dump it than continue to pay the storage invoice.
But, having someone else take care of your problem inventory — pick it up, sell it, and send you a check — will free up your warehouse space, put money in your pocket and clear the way for
Managing your inventory with precision requires carrying enough product in the warehouse to keep running — and not an ounce more. And the longer problem inventory sits, the more it costs. We help food industry businesses offload problem ingredients and free up costly warehouse space — for cash. Give us a call today: 314-872-8850
