Admittedly, this title could bore the best of us. So if you’ve got this far, then you must really want to launch a food and drink brand – and you’re keen to not just focus on the ‘shiny things’.
It’s certainly not the most glamorous topic, but one I wish I had delved into more during the early stages of launching a product. The fact you’re reading this now – perhaps before launching your product – suggests to me you’re about five years ahead of where I was pre-launching Tasty Mates.
Pallet optimisation
In those early days, we were obsessed with branding, flavour and recipe development, retailer outreach, press coverage… but how our product travelled through our supply chain? That came later. Much later, and honestly, it’s only something I have really thought about now I’ve taken a step back.
When you’re in and amongst the business and product, it just doesn’t ever seem important enough. Certainly not urgent enough.
Here’s the thing: in food & beverage, where you’re often working with lower-value items, every inch of that pallet matters. A pallet needs to earn its keep. So, let’s break it down, because this is one of those foundational things that I have previously referenced. If you get this right early, it could save you major pain later.
There are three key considerations when it comes to pallet builds:
1. Optimising the revenue a pallet can bring
2. Maximising the number of cases per pallet
3. Ensuring the pallet is deliverable.
Value and volume
The value piece: a full pallet going to a customer might bring in £2k, or might bring in £10k. But the effort to win, fulfil and service that account? The same either way. If you’re exporting, those pallets need to fit within container specs – so it’s in your interest to make every pallet as profitable as possible. A pallet that doesn’t work commercially will eventually become a problem operationally.
Then there’s the volume side. Of course, the temptation is to pack it as high as possible. But that’s only useful if your product can physically handle it. In our case, too much weight on a gummy sweet equated to squashed stock and unhappy customers. A costly mistake to make initially, but also reputationally.
Finally, the all-important case sizes. Some categories have industry norms – frozen often comes in sixes, soft drinks in twelves – but there’s wiggle room in others. The key is to work backwards from shelf space and consumer behaviour.
Will your product actually sell through if it’s only sold in twelves? Or does a six-unit case make more sense to drive velocity, even if it costs a bit more per unit to ship? How will the case fare and be carried by staff from backroom to shelf? How is your case speaking to your customer in places where the product is shelved in your SRPs?
The power of packaging
This is where we got stuck at Tasty Mates. Our cases were optimised for efficiencies, but too heavy for reasonable transportation. Our packets were shaped in a way where we could not maximise our pallet space, either. Working on a small-margin, low-cost product shaped 16 times the height of a chocolate bar meant for every one packet we sold at £1, we were missing out on the opportunity of 16 bars at a similar cost price.
Of course, different products have different packaging requirements, so comparing like with like is not always helpful. But in a day and age where getting a little bit creative with your packaging is possible, considering all these touch points isn’t just a creative exercise – it’s a necessary one.
Logistics isn’t just about ops, it’s about strategy. It affects pricing, availability, workload, customer experience, retailer decisions and, ultimately, your profitability.
So, no, pallet builds aren’t glamorous. But done right, they give your product a stable, scalable backbone. They allow you to grow without tripping over your own logistics. And trust me: future you will be very grateful that you dove into this unglamorous topic.
This piece is part of a series. Read Joe’s first and second lessons for startup founders.
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