Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables can be used to cut the time it takes to make complex dishes, soups, stews and stocks. By using high-quality prepared canned vegetables and frozen fruit, you can offer the very best to your patrons.
Frozen fruits and vegetables come in all food groups from reputable frozen food manufacturers, from broccoli florets to carrot coins to various types of stone fruits and berries. Top canned vegetable labels can fill your shelves to make it easier to make quick desserts, pot pie or soups. Many restaurants and food service businesses use frozen and canned fruits and vegetables in their recipes. When considering what canned and frozen fruits and vegetables to use in your business, you should:
1. Decide on the canned and frozen fruits and vegetables you would most like to have on hand as ingredients to enhance dishes you make most or that you wouldn't use often enough to keep the ingredients fresh on hand.
2. Find reputable canned and frozen fruit and vegetable processors and suppliers to keep you stocked while providing top customer service.
3. Identify specialty frozen vegetable and fruit suppliers for ease and time-saving preparations such as pre-breaded or battered vegetables or cleaned and ready-to-put-in-a-cobbler berries.
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Decide on the canned and frozen fruits and vegetables you will stock in your kitchen
There are literally hundreds of canned fruit and frozen vegetables from which to choose in stocking your commercial kitchen. Consider the recipes you use most, the type of menu you are offering and the changes you can make in the way you buy and use ingredients. Contact other restaurants in your area that have similar menus to ask about the quantities they order and what suppliers they recommend.
I recommend: SYSCO is one of the largest and most well-known marketers and distributors of both canned and frozen fruits and vegetables for restaurants and other food service businesses. SYSCO will deliver frozen food products like fine quality vegetables and fruits. They also distribute their own label canned and frozen foods, or those by top canned food brands like Campbell's and frozen brands like Tyson.
Foodservice.com offers canned and frozen food reports detailing what canned and frozen foods are selling best and which are not selling as quickly. You can also outline different areas of the country and the different canned and frozen fruits and vegetables sold across the US.
Find a supplier of frozen raw vegetables and pre-breaded vegetable appetizers
Using canned or frozen vegetables helps you cut down on spoilage from farm-fresh vegetables. You may also choose to buy pre-breaded or battered vegetables for appetizer trays, saving you time on preparation.
I recommend: Norpac is one of the leading providers of frozen fruit and vegetables. They offer a huge listing allowing you the convenience of one stop shopping.
Windsor Foods offers a wide range of prepared frozen vegetables from tempura-battered, beer- battered or breaded items such as broccoli, eggplant cutlets, zucchini sticks or circles, okra, cauliflower, onions or fresh or stuffed jalapeno peppers.
Find canned and frozen fruit suppliers
Using frozen and canned fruits allows you to have the ingredients you need on hand, ready to use and in bulk quantities, which in turn increases your productivity, sales and profits. Use reputable suppliers to get your frozen and canned goods on time and under budget.
I recommend: Northwest Wildfoods offers wild flash-frozen berries from the Pacific Northwest in a wide variety, including wild mountain blackberries, wild red and blue huckleberries and wild Mt. Rainer blueberries.
Sunrise Growers offers a wide selection of frozen berries in many forms, including whole, sliced, puree or prepared into ready to use toppings and smoothies.
Florida Natural Flavors offers frozen 100% fruit juice in the form of smoothie and frozen drink mixes to be mixed with yogurt for a salad and fruit smoothie-themed food service business
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- Watch your canned and frozen food inventory closely the first couple of weeks. By immediately noticing trends and adjusting orders accordingly, you can save money and reduce spoilage.
- Always remember the "last in, last out" theory of food inventory management. Buy an industrial sized can organizer (like the kind canned food companies use to stock soup on store shelves) that allows canned goods to roll out toward the front from the back where you will load them. Also put newly received frozen food behind older food to encourage you and your staff to always be pulling the oldest food out for use.
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