Procurement of Potato Salad Part I

December 28th, 2018

You are probably wondering what any of this has to do with procurement?

 

Today’s post is written by Heather Powell, Director of Major Accounts and Special Projects at SafeSourcing Inc.

Procurement of potato salad? How many types of potato salad can you name? What are your favorites? What ingredients make the potato salad your favorite?  Do you walk up to a deli counter and get overwhelmed by the sheer number of potato salad behind the glass? Do you spend your valuable time to make your own potato salad?

The types and number of potato salad is limitless. Every region and continent has their type of potato salad. If you can imagine an ingredient to be included into the potato salad, then a recipe or manufacture has probably created it. There are varieties of potatoes that can be used for potato salad, as well as, the various types of “sauce”. There is even a debate if potato salad can be served hot, such as the German potato salad.

This author’s mother would often make her own potato salad, but in her later years she would buy cheap potato salad and “doctor it up” by adding additional ingredients like more mustard or celery seed, eggs, onion, or whatever else she could imagine. This often created some very tasty salads and only one time in this author’s memory can remember a not so great potato salad with an overzealous garlic powder version of potato salad.

You are probably wondering what any of this has to do with procurement.  I often use potato salad to explain to family, friends, and even strangers what procurement is and why it is important. Potato salad has so many facets of purchasing requirements, whether the salad is pre-made by a manufacture or homemade. Where do the potatoes come from? How are they processed? Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip? Yellow Mustard or grain mustard? Eggs? Spices? Celery? Even bacon?

Why there are three to five different types of potato salad behind the glass at the deli counter and why do the price per pound vary so much if the potato salads visually look similar? How would you choose which one to purchase? In explaining what procurement is, it is also important to explain why sampling is critical to making a purchase.  The best deli departments are the ones who will let you sample each of the potato salads and be able to tell you what makes each one unique to be behind the glass and not in some plastic bucket in the refrigerator section to be purchased by the gallon.

This author hopes that you find this series fun and educational. In part two of the Procurement of Potato Salad, this author will start at the “root” of procurement of the potatoes for potato salad.

SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your procurement solutions for your business or on our “Risk Free” trial program for RFPs and RFQs, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

 

 

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