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We Keep Coding Simple, the Way Sutra Sauce Makes Indian Food Easy.
How did Sutra Sauces get Started?
It looks like we have a sauce boss in the house; this time, we’re introducing Sutra Sauces, an Indian fresh-frozen sauce that allows the everyday consumer to play chef! Paul Gill, the owner of Sutra Sauces, began working in his family’s restaurant at the age of 11; from there, his love and passion for creating authentic food led him to build and operate multiple fine Indian restaurants across Arizona, Colorado, and Vancouver. In 2003, Paul married Pari, and she suggested leaving behind the restaurant industry and pursuing large-scale food manufacturing and online sales, and the rest is history.
Sutra Sauces revolutionized the consumption of Indian cuisine; rather than being imported from around the world, Sutra Sauces come directly from The Dock+ in Port Alberni B.C., a state-of-the-art facility where your food ideas become reality. Before Sutra Sauces broke into the retail space, other Indian sauces were commonly found on store shelves after they had been imported and were known to contain high sodium levels. In addition, Indian sauces would no longer be found on store shelves; they’d now be in the freezer section, meaning that whole families could enjoy meals in under 20 minutes. As Sutra Sauces proclaims, “So go ahead and bring out your inner chef.”
Is Expanding Into Retail Difficult?
Before Sutra Sauces could be stocked on store shelves, specific requirements had to be met. According to The Beginner’s Guide to Selling on Walmart Marketplace, the products being sold must have GTIN or UPC GS1 company prefix numbers. In Laman’s terms, a ‘global trade item number’, better known as a GTIN, can be used by a company to uniquely identify all its trade items. UPC is a universal product code that helps manufacturers manage a single identifier for each product rather than having to keep track of every retailer and marketplace their products are being sold. While some marketplaces use UPC and GTIN interchangeably, the big difference is that UPC is the barcode symbol, while GTIN is the identification number.
With an endless amount of codes in the market, how could one keep track of these numbers and codes? The GS1 is the global standards organization that manages the guidelines for UPC and CTIN; retailers won’t allow individuals to sell at their location until they verify the authenticity of a product’s GTIN by checking the GS1 database. If your GTIN can’t be confirmed, retailers will likely reject your product, suspend your account, and you’ll have to relabel. While the entire process seems overbearing at times, it’s crucial to have it in place to maintain traceability and avoid counterfeit products.
In addition to barcodes and identification numbers, the food and beverage industry relies heavily on date codes, best-by codes, batch codes, lot codes, etc. Paul’s goal, as well as the rest of the team at Sutra Sauces, was to find a way to add traceability info onto their products without relying on stamps, stickers, stencils, and other outdated processes. When Paul reached out, his initial concern was that they could not expand into the retail space; however, we knew that our thermal-inkjet coders could help them; it was just a matter of narrowing down which one.
What SNEED-JET ® System Was Used?
When Pari and Paul first contacted us, they told us their main concern was needing help adding lot codes, batch codes, date codes, and other traceability requirements that larger retailers required. After assessing their packaging materials and product volumes, it was decided that the SNEED-JET® Titan would be the ideal thermal-inkjet printer to integrate into their workflow. Pari goes on to tell us that,
- “It works well, even though we weren’t sure it would; we now use our Titan three times a week for eight hours at a time.”
The SNEED-JET® Titan inline printer can produce up to 3 prints per second if the printed data is static or 1-1.5 prints per second if the team prints variable data. Rather than assigning entire groups or spending eight-hour shifts adding information onto Sutra Sauces’ pouches and packages, the team can now configure settings and run their prints in minutes. According to Pari, “The installation process was so easy; we had it set up in 10 minutes.” Easy installations and efficient printing processes are enough to make any team happy, but why stop there when we can make the entire process, from start to finish, a breeze?
- “It was so easy to get the SNEED-JET ® Titan shipped to Canada; my rep knew what he was talking about, which ultimately helped us make the right decision.”
With the Titan now integrated into their systems and prints being produced at record speeds, nothing stopped Sutra Sauces from making their way onto store shelves. Now you can find this fresh-frozen Indian sauce across retailers like Thrift Foods, Safeway, Country Grocer, Fresh St. Market, Urban Grocer, and many other retailers. So, what do you say? Are you ready to see your creation on store shelves as well?
