There are many ways to make your brand’s pizza production more environmentally friendly, including using energy-efficient equipment and machines that conserve ingredient use. But here, we’ll focus on using sustainable ingredients when topping pizzas. But how does applying sustainable ingredients in frozen pizza production make your processes greener?
There are many reasons why sourcing ingredients from local farms makes your pizza production more sustainable, and there are many advantages as well. We’ll discuss these benefits of the local food industry in the U.S. and why your frozen food supply should incorporate local ingredients. We’ll also offer equipment solutions like our Quantum sauce machines and IQF applicators that can apply local ingredients. Understanding how local ingredients can improve your sustainability practices is key to effectively implementing them!
Benefits of the Local Food Industry in the U.S.
Even though your brand may reach customers around the world, it’s still possible to get ingredients from local farms and other local sources. While you may be shipping your products worldwide, your ingredients can be sourced from near your manufacturing plant. There are a number of benefits of the local food industry in the U.S. – let’s go through them.
Supporting Local Businesses
While this one may seem obvious, it’s worth reviewing. Sourcing ingredients from local farms supports these local businesses and helps form important business connections. Frozen food production is a demanding industry, and using local ingredients is a great way to support the community in which your brand is based. Working with local farms can also grant your brand strong business liaisons in the industry.
Eco-Friendliness
Acquiring ingredients from the local food industry in the U.S. is eco-friendly on many levels:
- Local farms take care of the land that they use
- Local ingredients are sold quickly after being harvested, making them much fresher
- These ingredients have shorter travel distances to get to your manufacturing plant
- Less complicated shipping saves on distribution resources like gas and energy
The many benefits of the local food industry in the U.S. improve food manufacturing processes. From streamlining distribution to using fewer resources, local ingredients simplify production practices and can even save your brand money.
Higher Quality Ingredients
Another benefit of local ingredients is their higher quality. Local ingredients usually taste better than those frozen and stored for who knows how long! Even though pizza toppings often require frozen ingredients like IQF vegetables or meat chunks, these local fresh ingredients can be flash-frozen and still retain their great taste. As a pizza manufacturer, your brand can provide yummy, locally sourced ingredients as pizza toppings to your customers.
The benefits of local ingredients include supporting local businesses, promoting eco-friendly business practices, and providing higher-quality ingredients. These are all worth incorporating locally sourced ingredients into your pizza production. Next, we’ll dive into frozen food supply and how pizza manufacturers can use local ingredients to build better products and reach more customers.
Frozen Food Supply and Local Ingredients
Frozen meal production relies on a lot of moving parts in the frozen food supply chain – why not make it easier and safer by sourcing ingredients locally? When topping pizzas with local ingredients, your brand is improving food safety. It also provides an excellent opportunity for enhanced marketing.
Improved Food Safety
Outsourcing ingredients can put food safety at risk. When your brand gets its ingredients from local sources, you may be improving your product safety. Because sourcing ingredients from nearby farms is less involved and requires fewer steps, the ingredients change hands less often, decreasing the chance of damage or contamination. In addition to improved logistics, using local ingredients for topping pizzas can make your pizza products safer.
Enhanced Marketing
There’s a growing trend that includes consumers appreciating locally sourced food more. When your brand incorporates local ingredients, boast about it! While you can create a marketing campaign to inform potential customers about your local sourcing and sustainable practices, something simple as a label on the packaging can be effective at reaching those who prefer to purchase sustainable meals. That’s right – incorporating locally sourced ingredients is likely to increase sales.
As we’ve demonstrated so far, using local ingredients when topping pizzas comes with many benefits ranging from sustainability to better business. But how can pizza brands start to add these toppings?
Sauce Machines, IQF Ingredient Applicators, and More: Applying Local Ingredients
The first step in applying locally sourced ingredients is ensuring that your brand has the right machinery to do so. At Quantum, we’re dedicated to sustainability, so as long as the locally sourced ingredients fit into our automated pizza equipment, our machines can dispense them! Our sauce machines and shredded cheese/IQF ingredient applicators are ideal for applying these local toppings. Our range of equipment grants brands the ability to choose the machinery that’s right for their production lines.
Sauce Machines
Our sauce machines can apply local red sauces, Alfredo sauces, dressings, and more to any pizza.
Shredded Cheese/IQF Ingredient Applicators
Our cheese/topping applicators can dispense farm-fresh shredded cheese and local freshly frozen IQF ingredients to really enhance your brand’s recipes. These applicators are highly versatile and can apply a range of local toppings.
Meat Slicers
Our meat slicers can slice any local stick meats like sausage, pepperoni, and Canadian bacon. Certain models can also be configured to cut local meat and cheeses deli-style for further versatility.
Dry/Granular Ingredient Applicators
Local herbs and spices are another great addition to pizza for complex flavor – and our dry/granular ingredient applicators can dispense them.
Local ingredients can simplify business and our automated pizza equipment can grant your brand the ability to incorporate them into your products. At Quantum, we believe in implementing sustainable business practices where possible.
Apply Local Ingredients with Quantum
We’re dedicated to sustainable food production practices at Quantum Technical Services, including creating automated pizza production that can apply local ingredients. When topping pizzas, your brand wants to know it’s using the best ingredients possible, which are sourced from local farms. From high-quality meats to freshly frozen vegetables, our Quantum automated equipment can dispense local ingredients to make your pizza production more environmentally friendly. Contact our team at Quantum today to find out which pizza equipment can transform your production lines!