Blessing in disguise

Alpaca Brewery has almost sold out our first 30 bottles of cold brew concentrate and it's time to get more supplies.

We learnt from our previous mistake where we ordered from IKEA online and there was a shipment delay of 1 week. Instead of ordering online, we decided to make a trip down to IKEA to buy the bottles and carry them back to NTU. So that we would not be limited by the unpredictable shipment time. As the logistic team isn't available to do restocking, Gabriel and I stepped in to help out.

We made a trip to IKEA Queenstown only to find out that they do not carry the 500ml glass bottles that we were looking for. The only place that we could get the bottles was in IKEA Tampines and that was quite far away from NTU. Instead of going to IKEA Tampines, we searched online for alternative suppliers who could instantly meet our demands. Through Google, we found a supplier called Tong Huat and decided to try our luck with them. Before heading down, we gave them a call to find out more about their supplies, costing and MOQ.

Fortunately, they carried glass bottles in our specifications and had inventory. We bought 100 bottles with them and got a special discount due to bulk purchase. As they were a wholesaler, we managed to cut down our cost by almost a third. The IKEA bottle that we bought initially costs us $2.90 a piece and this new bottle only costs us $1.00. It was on this trip that we realised our team has committed a grave mistake in sourcing for supplies and we've been overpaying for our supplies. We should have done a more thorough search in sourcing. It's a lesson that was learnt the hard way and it has made me more mindful.