Michigan Supply Chain | ASCM Michigan East

This month we are focusing on a small family business supply chain. Chunk Nibbles, with production in Troy, Michigan, was founded in 2018 and offers a variety of sweet and salty snacks. Brad Cocklin and his wife Katie operate the business, creating products based on a family recipe. Chunk Nibbles started selling full time in 2018. In 2019, they brought in three people. In 2020, five people were involved. And now, they’re up to eleven employees!

Brad sat down with us (well, he was actually driving and delivering product at the time) to give some insight about what it takes to build and operate the supply chain from scratch.

Supplier Relationships

Brad says setting up supplier relationships was “an uphill battle to say the least.” He would call ingredient manufacturers and get responses like: Who are you? Who do you work for? What do you need? In the beginning, there was a lot of researching ingredients, identifying, and contacting suppliers or distributors, and a lot of roadblocks. On top of finding suppliers that had what they were looking for, Chunk Nibbles had to convince them to sell their products! Minimum buys were full pallet quantities and suppliers were reluctant to work with such a small customer. Finally, they found a few partners willing to work with smaller quantities. With a supply base established, Brad started to build the brand, customers were happy, the volume picked up, and now the organization is able to order well above the minimum required buys.

Looking back, Brad says trying to order direct from original manufacturers, fortune 100 companies in some cases, wasn’t the best fit. He mentions, “It’s not necessarily about going to the original source, but partnering with the supplier that buys the most from the source, like Meijer’s B2B program, for example.” This supply agreement can work better because Chunk Nibbles can buy enough to be efficient but keep inventory costs low and turnover high.

Manufacturing

Brad was creating the products in a shared space at first. Then moved to 4,000 square feet and sublet a portion to another manufacturer. As the lease was coming to an end, he was tasked with balancing the current floorspace needs with future growth potential. Some attractive leases are as long as seven years. They have now moved into their newest facility in Troy that is 13,950 sq ft to plan for the future and scale.

Ingredients and Delivery

Chunk Nibbles uses things like pretzels, corn chex, marshmallows, peanuts, chocolate, and walnuts. Summer months present big challenges for products including ingredients that can melt. Brad says they need to pay special attention to the transportation piece of the business when it’s hot outside. He plans with these things in mind: What type of truck will we need (dry vs. refrigerated, large vs. small)? Is this a lane that the truck normally serves? If we’re considering LTL, can the product survive uncertain transit time? Does the cost of sending the product to this location outweigh the cost of the product? Do we already have customers in the area?

In closing, Brad says Chunk Nibbles is a small Michigan business with a lot of heart and grit, trying to find their place in the marketplace. Our conversation proves it takes a lot of heart, and thought, to build and operate a supply chain from scratch!

We hope you are enjoying the Michigan Supply Chains series from ASCM Michigan East. Check out https://chunknibbles.com/ for more information and to try these delicious Michigan products.

Keep an eye out for upcoming ASCM Michigan East events: B. Nektar Meadery (Ferndale) in November, Axe Throwing (Novi) in January, and a Pistons game (Detroit) in March.

Fraser tea, based in Livonia MI, is a local tea business operating a global supply chain and offering wonderful custom blends of a variety of organic tea. Tom, Bernard, and John Fraser grew up in a family of eleven – all sharing a common appreciation for tea and the culture that surrounds it. Exploring teas turned from passion to a profession when John, Tom, and Bernard after years of study and experimenting with tea decided they could offer healthier, more flavorful options. Selecting the finest tea, using only organic ingredients and a delivery method to preserve the health benefits of the product was their goal.

ASCM Michigan East Chapter sat down with John Fraser to talk about the company. Believe it or not, the local business has a global reach! The founders travelled the world and created relationships with farmers in Taiwan, Nepal, China, South America, and India. John said, “We had to learn the elements of the supply chain, putting in processes and controls. We learned how to bring ingredients from remote locations to Michigan.” In addition to the international supply base, he mentioned that Fraser sources cherries and blueberries from Michigan. They buy spearmint and peppermint from Washington state, supporting domestic suppliers that compete with similar products from Morocco.

Fraser Tea offers many organic tea blends falling into nine categories, like black, white, herbal, and matcha. Interestingly, they use a compostable, non-GMO sachet. They are proud to share that the sachet, tag, and string are all sugar cane based. It’s a new technology they developed with a South Korean partner. John says the packaging is “borrowed from nature and returned to nature.”

John told us the Fraser team did a fantastic job navigating through the COVID pandemic. The company was still young when the pandemic hit but the founders tapped a few key resources to thoroughly understand this challenging business environment. Operating this supply chain is no joke! Fraser Tea takes pride in finding the world’s best ingredients, bought straight from farms all over the world, and then carefully preserving the integrity of the perishable products all the way to Michigan. The organization learned quickly (from scratch!) and then focused on planning near and long-term horizons to limit pandemic disruptions.

ASCM Michigan East thanks John for the opportunity to learn about Fraser’s supply chain and try their products! We recommend the Poppin Chai Organic Black tea (fantastic bold flavor for operating difficult supply chains) or the intriguing Cream Earl Gray Organic Black Tea.

Credit Fraser’s website for some content in paragraph one.

If you or a connection have a good idea for the Michigan Supply Chains blog series, please email programs@michiganeast.ascm.org.

Stay tuned for more ASCM Michigan East blog posts exploring Michigan-based supply chains and visit https://frasertea.com/ to explore their teas.

ASCM Michigan East

Category Archives: Michigan Supply Chain

Michigan Supply Chain Series: Chunk Nibbles

Michigan Supply Chain Series: Fraser Tea