Sourcing PP Placemats for 2027: A Supermarket Buyer’s Guide to Building a Resilient Supply Chain Let me tell you about the supplier that nearly cost me my job. A few years back, I was sourcing PP placemats for a big chain-wide rollout. I found a supplier with great prices, fast samples, and a smooth sales pitch. I placed a large order. The placemats arrived late, the color was off, and half the batch had rough edges that looked like they’d been cut with a butter knife. I called the supplier. No answer. Emailed. Crickets. I was stuck with thousands of unusable placemats and a category manager who wanted answers. That was the day I learned the most important lesson in sourcing: the best price isn’t always the best value. These days, I don’t just buy placemats. I buy reliability, certifications, and a supply chain that won’t fall apart when things

Outdoor-Ready PP Placemats: Tapping the Year-Round Al Fresco Dining Trend Let me tell you about the moment I realized outdoor dining had permanently changed. I was walking through one of our stores in early October—not exactly patio season in most people’s minds. But there, in the garden center, was a couple picking out outdoor placemats. I struck up a conversation. “Isn’t it a little late in the year for patio dining?” I asked. The husband laughed. “We’ve got a covered deck and a heater. We eat outside almost year-round now. And our old placemats faded after one summer. We need something that lasts.” That conversation stuck with me. Because it confirmed something I’d been seeing in the data for months: outdoor dining isn’t seasonal anymore. It’s year-round. And the customers who’ve invested in outdoor living spaces need placemats that can handle it. I’ve been a supermarket buyer for over fifteen