Amidst the cost of living crisis, businesses are increasingly looking to add price clarity from their suppliers to the top of their agenda, and for good reason.
Over the past few years, the food industry as a whole has faced significant uncertainties for a number of reasons including the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and now rising costs. This uncertainty looks set to continue as global supply and demand fluctuates. It is no surprise therefore, that customers are looking to gain a clearer view of their expenditure from their suppliers.
Speaking on the matter, Antonelli Director, Mark Antonelli has said:
“In the food industry, like most, cost clarity is a top priority. It’s difficult to know in the current economic situation if prices have gone up early or late relative to costs, have they risen more than they should or not enough and will they rise again soon? The key to all this is in asking yourself, do you have trust in your suppliers?”
Of course, price clarity with our customers is critical component to our business, and is something we have strived to communicate consistently, particularly over the past few years. So, what can we tell you about our current pricing structure?
Pricing by product category
For our iconic cones, as they are produced in-house by our own Antonelli team and contain less ingredients, costing is relatively straight forward. The Antonelli bakery works double shifts all year, producing over 280 different cone options for our customers, although half of the lines cover 90% of our overall volume of sales. Like many manufacturers, we are behind the curve when it comes to reflecting cost price increases, as we remain hopeful of an early reduction.
When it comes to the prices of individual products from our ice cream manufacturer partners however, these we adjust as the material and variable cost changes; ultimately meaning that not all products will change by the same amount, therefore you will normally see varied increases and, in some instances, reductions in the price that Antonelli charges. Our team are of course always on hand to answer any questions you may have.
To provide a clear view of our current price increases, here are the average changes since May 2022 including the 8th March 2023 changes:
> Waffle, Smoothy® and Sugar cones + wafers - 10% (gas price increases had a big impact on the cost of this product).
> Pressed /moulded Wafer Cones - 6%
> Comprital ingredients - 8%
> Martini ingredients - 4%
> Gelpro ingredients - 4%
Antonelli customers can pick and choose from across the ranges and therefore the average cost increase for most will be in the region of 7%.
Where to find Antonelli prices
With the rapid growth of our customer base over the past two years, it has been challenging to deliver each and every customer a short price list of the specific products they use, which can often lead to delays.
To resolve this, customers will going forward for future changes receive a complete list of products and pricing to ensure you have all information necessary. If you have yet to receive your list, please contact the Antonelli team today.
Tips for dealing with cost inflation
When speaking to our customers, a number of strategies have been recommended to deal with cost inflation, including:
> Shop around for better quality or priced ingredients if you do not already do so
> If keeping your offering the same to protect your brand, continue to look for cost and efficiency savings
>If keeping the same product recipes, reduce or de-list the higher cost flavours and present lower cost flavours to be more attractive to the consumer
> Move to less expensive options – this invariably means moving to more concentrated products; working with more flavour and less fruit. This changes the product profile but is often chosen when larger savings are needed
Whatever your plan, Antonelli has a comprehensive range of products that you can consider switching to and our National Technical Sales team are always on hand to offer support.
For more information, the Food and Drink Federation, of which Antonelli are members, are constantly publishing interesting data on industry pricing structures. Click here to take a look.
Mark Antonelli has said of Antonelli’s pricing structure:
“For the entirety of our time in business (that’s nearly 150 years!) we have operated a fair price policy; this ensures that, as order size increases and cost comes down, this is passed on to our customers by way of lower prices. With a reputation forged over four generations of family trust, we are dedicated to ensuring that we work with suppliers to provide transparency and we will continue to do the same with our valued customers.”
