Industry Intel with David Miller, President of NC Custom
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Interview with David Miller, President of NC Custom
How long have you been in the food industry?
Chocolate Inn/Lanco has been a food manufacturer for over the past 40 years. This has provided us with unique and experienced insight into compliance expectations, the food industry, the food supply chain and the ensuing vendor channels.
Can you expand upon compliance?
We are SQF certified and all of the vendors that we utilize for our ingredients and for our distributed products are also SQF certified. SQF = Safe Quality Food and is the global standard for quality and safety in the food industry. In our retail division…Whole Foods, Sams Club, etc will not even let you in the door as a proposed vendor if you are not SQF certified. We are audited semiannually by some of the largest food retail chains in the country towards making sure our facilities, supply chains, packaging standards, GMP’s, etc are exemplary.
What are the relationships that Chocolate Inn/Lanco has in the Gourmet Food marketplace?
We are very well known in the food industry and over the years have formed many exclusive relationships….Godiva, Lindt, Jelly Belly, M&M, and Mrs Fields are just a few of the very well know global food brands that have formed exclusive relationships with us and have the confidence to allow us to exclusively represent their brands in the promotional marketplace. These global food brands also allow us to create, utilize and supply their products in custom imprinted proprietary packaging that is only available thru us. This adds another level of intrinsic value to our distributor customer’s when their clients can only procure these products thru their promo products distributor. These products are not available thru Goldbelly, Retail, or any other direct B to B or B to C channels.
Does seasonality play a role in the products that you offer?
Temperature and perishability always plays a role in what we suggest. Why spend more money on shipping than the product itself? If the products are shipping to a hot climate or are perishable we suggest Jelly Belly, Mrs Fields, or M&M ( we offer special shipping rates to further support this high end brand). We want the distributor’s customers to spend money on the product not the shipping.
Describe the relationship with Nassau Candy?
Nassau Candy is the parent company of Chocolate Inn/Lanco. They are the largest privately held distributor of food products in the country. What does this mean? Buying power in which the low cost is passed on to the distributor, Vendors that are SQF certified and are strictly vetted by our compliance dept, Deep inventory even in this current environment when supply channels are challenged due to the pandemic, and inventory that is constantly turning to avoid any expired product.
