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For the past year I have not had a week go by without being informed of a price increase of some sort from one or more of our vendors. Coffee, sugar, cocoa, paper, plastic, petroleum are all being traded at historic high levels and the manufacturers are raising prices across the board. Paper and plastic companies on an almost weekly basis. As our business volume has increased we’ve tried to make up a lot of those increases on volume vs passing the increase along. Sometimes it’s simply impossible but most of the time we’re splitting the difference and only raising 25-50% of the increase passed on to us. On the positive side, we’re seeing a steady rise in same store purchases showing an increase in volume on the retailers side as well. Hopefully we can all weather this storm and as commidities recover, we see some manufacturers begin to pass that saving back towards the retailer. We’re commited to keeping prices as competitive as possible while still being able to provide you with the great service we are so well known for.
A number of customers have asked why we don’t call them when there are price increases? It would be impossible for us to notify you all without hiring a full-time employee for just that job alone, which would again lead to more price increases. However, we try and update the brochure as the increases occur and UMG customers have 24-hour access to the latest version 365 days a year. Just go to the Upper Midwest Gourmet home page and click on the Information and Training materials link on the right hand side. The very first item is our most current catalog. This is for UMG wholesale customers only so make sure to get the current password from your UMG sales representative. Of course, you can always call or email if you’d like a hard color copy mailed to you. Hang in there everyone and remember, raise your prices, too, so you can still provide the best product and service that your customers expect.
