Questions to Ask a Food & Beverage 3PL

1. Do you rotate stock by best-by date, and stop short-coded lots before they're picked?

This comes first because it's where a general warehouse most often slips. Food should leave first-expired, first-out (FEFO). Each lot is logged at receiving with its best-by or use-by date, and the nearest date ships first, whatever order the lots came in. A lot too close to its date should be kept off the picking shelves. Find out how that hold works. It might be a system block once a lot crosses a shelf-life threshold, or it might be a person reading cartons.

We rotate dated products by the best-by date we record at receiving. Short-coded stock is flagged there, so it can be held back before it reaches the picking shelves. Products with no date can simply ship in the order they arrived, first-in, first-out (FIFO).

2. Do you record a traceability lot code at receiving and carry it to the order?

In a recall you want to pull one lot, not everything you sell. That only works if the lot code follows the stock from the dock to each order it fills. We capture a traceability lot code at receiving and tie it to every outbound order.

The FSMA Food Traceability rule asks covered businesses for lot records like these when food is received and shipped. Even where the rule doesn't apply, a warehouse that can't tell you which orders a lot went into leaves you recalling your whole catalog on a guess.

3. Is your storage dry and ambient, refrigerated, or frozen, and which of my SKUs need temperature control to stay safe?

The answer decides whether there's a fit at all, so raise it early and go through it SKU by SKU. Our warehouses are dry and ambient. We handle shelf-stable food and drink that stays safe at room temperature, and we can't take a SKU that has to be held in a set temperature range. Product that has to stay cold needs cold-chain storage, which carries heavier federal duties. Heat-sensitive items, such as chocolate in summer, are worth raising with every warehouse on your list. Our guide to dry/ambient vs cold-chain food fulfillment shows where the line between the two falls.

4. What is your FDA food-facility registration and FSMA preventive-controls status?

These are two separate things, and a 3PL that knows food will answer them separately rather than with one "yes, we're compliant." For registration, get the facility's registration number. For preventive controls, find out which Part 117 practices the operation follows and how it documents them. At a warehouse that holds food, those practices center on receiving, storage and recordkeeping. Our guide to the FDA-registered food facility explains what each one covers. Put both questions to us when you request a quote.

5. How do you keep freight cost and damage down on heavy cases?

Cases of water, canned drinks and jarred food weigh a lot for their size, and freight is usually the biggest cost on your bill. A warehouse without a plan for dense cases costs you on every order. Our team ships these cases on their real weight, at carrier rates we've negotiated, and packs each one for its weight. Where your stock sits matters as well, which question 8 covers.

Whoever you're talking to, find out whether they price freight on real weight or box size, what carton a dense case goes in, and how they help you decide where your stock sits. Our guide to heavy and dense beverage freight optimization covers shipping heavy cases in more detail.

6. Are you a co-packer, or fulfillment only?

Some brands expect one partner to fill the bottles and ship them, and then learn those are different operations in different facilities. Our work begins once your product is ready to sell. Making, filling, bottling, canning and packing raw product all happen before it reaches us. Our kitting only combines finished, sealed units, for example into variety packs, sampler boxes and subscription boxes. Once you know where a warehouse's work begins, you know which jobs stay with your co-packer.

7. What software runs the operation, and what can I see?

You'll want to watch your stock and orders as they move. Best-by rotation, lot records and scanned picking all run in BestOMS, which handles your orders and gives you a portal to watch them. Deposco runs the warehouse behind it. Dropstream connects your store and marketplaces, and it brings in retailer orders sent by EDI as well. Every pick is checked against its barcode before it ships.

With any 3PL, get the name of the platform, a look at the portal, and an explanation of how your store connects. Spreadsheets and email won't carry a growing brand.

8. Where will my inventory sit, and how fast does an order ship?

Where your stock sits sets both delivery speed and freight cost. You can place inventory across our network of warehouses, which together reach 99.77% of the US in 1-3 day ground. Orders placed before the daily cut-off can ship the same day, and the cut-off follows the last carrier pickup at each warehouse. Each order is picked by best-by date from the warehouse holding your stock nearest the customer. Worth finding out from every 3PL you consider: how many warehouses it runs, how it helps you choose where stock goes, and when its same-day cut-off falls.

9. How do you handle returns of food and drink?

Returned food isn't like returned clothing. A sealed unit that's still in date may be resellable. One that has been opened, or is short-coded, is not. Find out what condition and date check a warehouse runs on a returned consumable, who decides whether a unit goes back into sellable stock, and what happens to one that fails. We'll answer the same questions for your SKUs.

10. Are minimums, fees and pricing clear up front?

Terms can differ from one account to another, so get each warehouse's minimums and fees in writing. With us, your rates depend on your SKUs, volume and channels, and they come back on a quote. Whoever you compare, get each charge listed on its own line. A single bundled number hides which charge is the largest, and it makes two warehouses hard to compare.