One way to ruin Valentine's Day? By bringing home a box of chocolates to your significant other and upon opening it up, discovering a monstrosity of chocolate, caramel and nougat that has melted and formed into a single block. How to spoil Easter? By handing your children a basket of deformed yellow and pink peeps, mushy chocolate eggs and disappointment. How to be a letdown on Halloween? By realizing 15 minutes before nightfall that your entire candy supply is liquefied and spending the rest of the evening ignoring trick-or-treaters and pretending not to be home.
Don't put your customers in bad situations by leaving them holding the bag of melted chocolate and candy on the days when it matters most. Ensuring that your chocolate, candy and confectionery products are stored and shipped properly throughout the year keeps your customers satisfied and prevents returns and recalls. Here is what you need to know to make sure that your temperature-controlled products are warehoused and transported properly:
What you need to know about chocolate, candy and confectionery warehousing: Does your warehouse maintain the correct temperature for storing your product? Does your warehouse have a way to systematically tag and visually identify pallets based on temperature requirements? Chocolate, candy and confectionery products require a specific temperature range to ensure that they don't get warm enough to melt but also don't get too cold, which can lead to sugar crystallization, texture changes ,or an unappealing white film on chocolate called a bloom. The type of warehouse equipped to handle these products is referred to as temperature-controlled (or air conditioned), in most cases maintained at 50°-65°Fahrenheit (10°-18°Celsius) with humidity below 50%, both of which should monitored and recorded regularly. Refrigerated warehouses (Between 32°-40°F/ 0-4°C) and frozen warehouses(below 32°F / -0°C) are much too cold to store these products. Ambient or dry warehouses fluctuate too much throughout the seasons, reaching upwards of 80°F / 27°C in the Summer. Finding a provider that can handle temperature controlled parcel shipments can be a challenge. For these parcel orders leaving a warehouse, you'll want to make sure your partner has the ability to surround the product with ice packs.
What you need to know about chocolate, candy and confectionery transportation: Your transportation provider should be utilizing temperature-controlled trailers and have a system for tracking temperature and humidity throughout the trip. Trailer quality is also essential, because any damage to the trailer can allow air and/or moisture from outside to seep in and bring other issues along with it. Even in the winter, it's important to utilize a temperature-controlled trailer, as the weather can be unpredictable and depending on the length and distance of the trip, the climate can change frequently. Your warehousing provider should also be verifying all of this before loading your product onto the trailer. If you're lucky, your warehousing provider will also have a transportation management operation that you can trust to get the job done right. For added temperature security, you may want to consider covering your pallets in insulated foil wrap.
It isn't worth risking the integrity of your temperature-controlled products by taking shortcuts during warehousing and transportation. With so many competitors in the marketplace, one bad experience with your products can taint a consumer's opinion of your brand forever. Don't have a meltdown if you're currently having issues with your chocolate, candy and confectionery logistics, Port Jersey Logistics is here to help. Contact us today to discuss how we can help with the warehousing and transportation of your chocolate, candy and confectionery products.
