Before Taking a Distributorship, Ask the Supplier One Question

Most distributorship conversations open with a range list, a price sheet and a territory. The question that decides whether the relationship works is rarely asked at that stage, and it is a simple one: which of these products do you make, and which do you buy in? The answer changes the pricing logic, the documentation, the reliability and the planning for every line on the list — and a supplier who does not volunteer it is leaving the distributor to find out later.

What the answer changes

On a line the supplier produces, they control the specification, the capacity and the lead time directly. A volume commitment on that line is a commitment about their own plant. On a line they source, they are managing a producer: their commitment rests on someone else's harvest, someone else's capacity and someone else's calendar.

Neither model is better. Both are how the trade works. What matters is that a distributor knows which is which, because a range plan that treats a sourced line as though the supplier controlled it will be wrong on exactly that line — usually in a harvest year, a quota period or a processing campaign.

Our answer, line by line

From our own production network: string-and-tag tea bags and tea blends; dried fruit crisps, dried at low temperature; private-label packing; natural soap; rose water; essential oils; and botanical extracts. On these we set the specification and hold the capacity ourselves.

Through verified producers, as a sourcing partner: honey; tahini and confectionery; spices; hazelnuts and pistachios; olive oil and table olives; tomato and pepper paste; pulses; and beverage powders. On these we verify the source, put the specification in writing, collect batch documents and manage shipment as a single point of contact. We do not own the mills, plants, groves or apiaries behind them, and we say so on every commercial page rather than letting the range list imply otherwise.

How a distributor should use that

Plan the two groups differently. Own-production lines can carry firmer volume commitments and tighter specification control, and they are the natural core of a first order. Sourced lines bring the producer's constraints with them — a hazelnut crop shaped by spring frost, a pulse export quota, a tomato paste campaign that runs ten weeks a year — and should be planned with those cycles in view rather than against a distributor's own calendar.

Pricing follows the same split. An own-production price reflects our costs; a sourced price reflects a producer's costs plus our verification and management. A distributor who understands that structure can negotiate sensibly on both. One who does not will push on the wrong line.

Documentation on both sides of the line

Every line, whichever group it falls into, ships with batch-level analysis and export paperwork, and the destination market's particular requirements are identified at the start rather than discovered at the border. What differs is where the underlying data originates: on own-production lines it is generated by us; on sourced lines it comes from the producer and is passed through with the source identified.

A distributor should be able to see that distinction on the documents. If they cannot, the supplier has merged two things that ought to stay separate.

Why we lead with this

A distributorship is a long relationship, and the cost of a fact discovered halfway through is much higher than the cost of the same fact stated at the start. A distributor who learns during a quality query that a supplier's honey comes from a third party has learned something true at the worst possible moment. We would rather it was the first thing anyone knew about us — which is why our own answer to the question is on this page, and on every page where the range is described. Volumes and prices are confirmed at quotation.