Setting up your suppliers

A supplier is anyone you buy ingredients from. The supplier record is the start of your traceability chain: every ingredient lot you receive is tied to a supplier, so a complete supplier list is what lets you answer "where did this come from?" later. Setting them up is quick, and you can flesh out the detail over time.

Adding a supplier

1. Open Suppliers and add one

   Select Suppliers from the main menu, then click '+ Add supplier'. The supplier drawer opens on the right.

2. Enter the company name

   The company name is the only required field (for example, "Sunrise Honey Co."). Everything else can be filled in now or later.

3. Set the approval status and save

   Choose an approval status, add contact and address details if you have them, and save. The supplier is immediately available to link to ingredients and to select when receiving.

Crown QMSThe supplier drawer

Approval status

Every supplier carries an approval status, which you control:

• Approved: cleared for use.
• Pending: not yet reviewed. New suppliers start here.
• Conditional: usable with reservations you've noted.
• Suspended: flagged not to use.

The status is a label you manage; Crown doesn't block receiving based on it. Use it to reflect where each supplier stands in your own approval process, and filter the supplier list by it to see what needs review.

Linking the ingredients a supplier provides

Crown tracks which ingredients come from which suppliers. You manage these links from the ingredient drawer, not the supplier drawer: open an ingredient and add its supplier there. The supplier drawer then shows a read-only count of the ingredients linked to it. This link is what pre-fills the supplier when you receive a shipment.

Qualification details

The supplier drawer has a qualification section that records how thoroughly you've vetted a supplier. Three fields feed it.

Qualification tier sets how rigorously the supplier is qualified:

• Full: a certificate of analysis on file for every lot, plus a current supplier audit or questionnaire. The textbook approach, typical for institutional suppliers and larger producers.
• Partial: spec sheets on file, with a certificate of analysis available on request. Your receiving checks and annual verification carry more of the weight.
• Self-qualified: your own written specifications, identity checks at receiving, retained samples, and periodic third-party testing on your highest-risk ingredients only. The realistic default at small-batch scale, where full supplier-side qualification often isn't feasible.

Procurement channel records how you actually buy from them: manufacturer direct, distributor/wholesaler, specialty retail, or a consumer marketplace. The channel shapes what qualification is realistic and who your "supplier of record" is; for a marketplace listing, that's the brand, not the marketplace.

Notes captures anything else about how you've vetted the supplier.

Together these feed your preventive control plan when you generate it.

Documents

Attach supplier-level documents (food-safety certificates, audit reports, approval letters, insurance) in the Documents section of the supplier drawer.

Archiving a supplier

If you stop using a supplier, archive it from its drawer. Archived suppliers drop out of the ingredient and receiving pickers, but their existing ingredient links, past receipts, and cost history stay intact, so your historical records and traceability are never broken.

What's next

With suppliers in place, link them to your ingredients in Setting up your ingredients, then record your first delivery in Receiving an ingredient shipment.