Salt and Pepper Shakers

When our salt and pepper shakers are made available through food retailers, they carry the branding of that retailer, such as a grocery store chain. Our shakers have achieved and maintain National Brand Equivalency (NBE) status. In other words, the NBE status means our products are every bit as good as the national brand leaders. For salt, the main equivalency point is sourcing iodized salt for home and food service use.

In terms of pepper, the current trend is that people don’t want it to be like applying a dust to their food. They want to be able to really see the individual flakes of pepper, which is why we obtain a more granular or coarser grind. This is measured by what kind of “mesh” would be needed in a sieve to allow a given size of particle to pass through, as in how many holes per square inch. The fewer holes per square inch, the larger the particle. Whole or half-cracked peppercorns would be rated at 6–8 mesh (fewer, bigger holes to allow bigger particles through). The current trend we follow is 28-mesh for home table and restaurant ground black pepper.

If the national brands make a significant change to their product, we follow it. We closely monitor all aspects of the quality of the national brands, compare it to the quality of our product, and ensure equivalency. The retailers and distributors we sell to are also checking up on our quality at least once a year to make sure it’s still matching national brand equivalency.

It’s also easy for retailers to incorporate our salt and pepper shakers into all kinds of promotional bundles. When it’s picnic and barbecue season retailers bundle our products with ketchup and mustard, or paper plates, or a corn on the cob promotion. They can be incorporated into promotions for baking supplies and products. Our products tie in very easily to all kinds of things that are going into the shopping carts of consumers, and our food retail customers love that.

How is Global Packaging able to maintain its commitment to excellence in customer service despite global supply chain disruptions? The answer is a surprisingly simple three-fold answer: Advance planning, diversity in suppliers, and top-tier carriers. We keep our finger on the pulse of supply chains and adjust our purchasing and production schedules to build up an adequate supply of inventory to ensure we will be able to maintain our record of reliable on-time deliveries. We also maintain relationships with multiple suppliers, which means we always have a “plan B” and even “plan C” to make sure we can get what we need to make our products. Because some of the supplies we need come from overseas, this means making sure each supplier comes in through a different port if one of them isn’t functioning well. Building in these redundancies is key to maintaining our reputation for delivering on time every time. Finally, we work with a premier carrier we can depend on to get our deliveries where they need to go on time.

In today’s business environment, consolidation is the name of the game. Large food retailers and food service operations generally don’t want to work with a vendor who only supplies one product they need, but Global Packaging continues to dominate the salt and pepper shakers market because our reputation for on-time delivery and customer service makes it worth the while of those customers to do business with us. It’s why some of our biggest food retail customers have been ordering from us for more than 20 years. It’s also why our products are found in all 50 states of the US, throughout Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. And during the worst of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic, we did not miss a single shipment.