Category managers often treat “find a factory” as step one. With a sourcing agent, step one is a brief. The factory is a later decision, made against a spec you can defend in a ranging meeting.
Shiiv Imports Pty Ltd trades as Shiiv Imports. We are a sourcing agent, importer and private-label builder. We are not a manufacturer. The maker sits in a checked network. Your team stays on the commercial calls: product, tier, channel, volume and price. We run the work between that brief and the first warehouse delivery.
This note walks the same four steps we run on private label: brief, sample, approve, deliver. It is written for supermarket own-brand and controlled-brand managers, and for foodservice buyers who want a pack that can also sit in retail. It is not a promise that every program lands in ninety days. Timing is typical, not a guarantee.
What a useful brief actually contains
A thin brief produces a thin sample. If the first reply is a guess, the factory will guess too. Put the commercial facts on one page before anyone books a trial run.
- The product, pack format and a reference SKU if you have one (a hero brand to match, or a gap to fill).
- The tier: value, mid or premium. Same supply path, different cost, pack and claim set.
- Channel and volume: supermarket warehouse, independent grocery, QSR, or a foodservice drop.
- A target ex-works or landed price, even if it is a band rather than a single number.
- Logo and brand marks, if they exist, plus any retailer quality spec you need us to hit.
If you do not have artwork yet, say so. We can still lock a recipe and a pack size. Artwork waits on approve. If exclusive use of a recipe matters, write it into the brief. We do not reuse a buyer’s own-brand recipe for another banner.
Send that pack through a private-label brief or the general sourcing form. We reply the same business day with indicative pricing, order sizes, lead times and how the quality pack is shared under NDA. Straight answers also sit on the buyer FAQ.
Brief: the commercial lock
Once the brief is in, we do not start printing labels. We match the product to a maker we already know, or we open a new one if the spec needs it. The catalogue range is the map: pantry, snacks (including frozen potato and veg families), bakery, sauces, drinks and the rest of everyday grocery. It is not a live warehouse list for every SKU.
A factory found on a trade portal will quote to its own strengths. An agent who already ships grocery into Australia will quote to your warehouse, your label rules and your recall plan. If we cannot name the maker and the market, we do not sell the line.
Sample: taste, cost, mark up
We lock a maker, send samples and a draft spec. Your team tastes, costs and marks up. Artwork and production wait on that step. If a sample misses, we go again before anyone prints a label.
Ask to see, with the sample:
- A draft ingredient list and allergen set, written for an Australian pack, not an export carton.
- A pack size and shipper that fits your warehouse and your shelf.
- An indicative MOQ and a timetable to first delivery, with the assumptions written down.
- Whether the maker already runs a written food-safety plan, and whether an outside audit sits on file.
Do not skip the mark-up. A sample that tastes right at the kitchen bench can still fail on unit cost once freight, duties, labelling and warehouse handling are in. The sample meeting is where you kill a line cheaply, or you commit with your eyes open.
Approve: recipe, artwork, FSANZ labels
Approve is the gate most programs underestimate. Recipe, artwork and labels are signed off together. We prepare packs to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code. Ingredient lists, allergen declarations and nutrition information are written for an Australian shelf before print. Country-of-origin statements (“made in” and “packed in”) sit on the pack. If a claim is not supported, it does not go on the pack.
This is also where people confuse the importer with the factory. Shiiv Imports holds an ISO 9001 quality system for how we source, select suppliers, watch production and handle recalls. The plant that makes the food holds its own food-safety plan. In our network that means HACCP-checked makers, with outside audit reports on file. We do not describe ourselves as the factory, and we do not borrow a plant’s GFSI certificate as if it were ours. Details sit on quality and compliance.
Artwork is prepared to your brief for your pack. Your brand marks stay yours. The recipe and supplier files for that brief are treated as confidential and shared under NDA.
Deliver: production, border, warehouse
Production, shipping, biosecurity and delivery to your warehouse follow approve. Every load is tracked to a batch number from maker to warehouse. A 24-hour recall plan runs from alert to the store warehouse and is tested every quarter. That plan should be on file before the first order, not after a problem.
About 90 days is typical from a locked brief to the first shelf-ready order at an Australian warehouse. Complex specs, new artwork or peak season can add time. We confirm a timetable with the sample, not as a slogan. Private-label first orders follow the factory terms agreed in the brief. Order sizes are set per product and channel. There are no rigid container minimums as a house rule.
MOQs and lead times, without theatre
Buyers ask for a single MOQ as if grocery were one SKU. It is not. A value-tier wafer will run a different minimum to a premium pickle in glass. We put a number on the first reply, not after you have already committed.
Lead time has two clocks. Factory production is one. Australian border, labelling and warehouse booking is the other. An agent who already lands grocery here should be able to explain both. If the quote only talks about the plant, the landed date is still a guess.
What this path is for, and what it is not
This path is for a retailer or foodservice group that wants an own-brand on a spec they own, without standing up a manufacturing desk. It is not grey-market stock with a sticker over the old brand. Where we bring a global brand to an Australian shelf, we work from authorised supply with the maker.
We already ship to 10,000+ stores through Australia’s largest independent grocery wholesaler. We do not name major-chain private-label clients on this site. Supplier files, lab results (COAs) and audit reports go under NDA to the contact you nominate. There is no public PDF.
If you have the product, the tier, the channel and the volume, send the brief. The next page in this series is the checklist we wish every ranging file already contained: what to ask before you range an imported grocery line.
Shiiv Imports Insights. Shiiv Imports Pty Ltd (ABN 15 158 243 442 / ACN 158 243 442). Trading name Shiiv Imports. Public email sales@shiv-impex.com. Cities: Sydney, Auckland, Singapore, Ahmedabad.