You’re Not Just Running a Kitchen — You’re Managing a Global Supply Chain
You wanted to make amazing food. Somehow, you also ended up ordering specialty olive oil from Sicily, truffle paste from France, or a rare spice blend your grandmother swore by—and now you’re knee-deep in shipping labels, Harmonized Tariff Codes, and CBP regulations.
It’s the not-so-glamorous side of running a restaurant, especially when your culinary vision requires sourcing ingredients from overseas. But here’s the deal: getting your import paperwork wrong can delay shipments, trigger fines, or—worse—shut down your supply chain overnight.
So, how do you keep your kitchen stocked without losing sleep over documentation? Let’s walk through the essentials (and sprinkle in some real-world sanity checks along the way).
Customs Isn’t Just a Baggage Check — It’s a Legal Gatekeeper
Think of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as the maître d’ of your supply line. If they don’t like how something shows up at the border—missing forms, wrong codes, or incomplete value declarations—they’ll hold it or send it right back.
Here’s what they care about most:
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Commercial Invoice – Details what you’re buying and from whom. Needs to match your purchase order like a mirror.
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Bill of Lading or Air Waybill – Proof of transport. This connects your product to your name.
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Packing List – Itemizes everything in the shipment. Seems boring, but customs lives for these details.
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Harmonized System (HS) Code – A six-digit global code that identifies your product. Get this wrong, and you might pay the wrong duty—or raise a red flag.
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Country of Origin – Where it’s made, not where it’s shipped from. That bottle of vanilla extract that passed through Singapore? If it was produced in Madagascar, that’s what matters.
Sound dry? Sure. But these are the breadcrumbs that tell customs officials your story—and if one crumb is out of place, the whole thing can fall apart.
A Missing Document Isn’t Just a Delay — It’s a Financial Risk
Let’s say your order of Japanese miso gets held up because the commercial invoice was vague. That’s a delay of 5-7 business days, minimum. Now multiply that by every day you’re out of stock and losing sales.
Worse, non-compliance can bring penalties—sometimes 2x the value of your goods. That $2,000 bulk saffron order could become a $6,000 problem real fast.
You might think, “We’re just a small place, not an international distributor.” But customs doesn’t grade on a curve. A missing HS code on a mom-and-pop bistro’s invoice gets flagged the same way it would at a multinational.
So yeah, even if you’re importing one box of specialty anchovies from Spain, you’ve gotta treat that paperwork like it’s gold.
Don’t Just Rely on the Vendor — Own Your Side of the Paper Trail
A lot of restaurant owners trust overseas vendors to handle everything. Sometimes it works out. Other times, you’re stuck with shipments labeled incorrectly, values underreported, or worse, no documentation at all.
Here’s the thing: customs holds you responsible. Not your vendor. Not your freight forwarder.
What’s smart?
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Double-check commercial invoices before anything ships.
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Ask your supplier to confirm HS codes and product origin in writing.
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Work with a licensed customs broker if the shipment gets complex.
You don’t need to memorize Title 19 of the U.S. Code, but you do need to know enough to ask the right questions.
Tools, Partners, and One Surprisingly Helpful Spreadsheet
There’s no shame in using backup. Plenty of restaurants rely on customs brokers, freight forwarders, or import specialists. Some even use platforms like Flexport or Freightos to manage everything digitally.
But even with tech, you’ll want to keep one humble spreadsheet:
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List of each imported item
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Vendor name and contact
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HS code
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Country of origin
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Invoice date
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Compliance status (Y/N)
Why? Because when a random audit hits—or your accountant calls about write-offs—it’s nice to know exactly where your stuff came from and whether it passed muster.
Let’s Not Forget: There’s Tax in the Sauce Too
Importing ingredients also touches tax compliance, especially for restaurants that operate across multiple states or sell online. The landed cost of those ingredients—including tariffs and freight—might affect your COGS (Cost of Goods Sold), which then feeds into your tax returns.
So yes, it’s worth coordinating with your accountant (preferably one that actually understands the food & bev business—like ours, for instance). That way, your menu pricing, margins, and tax deductions all align.
You may also qualify for tax credits or deductions related to import-related business expenses. But without the right documentation, claiming them could be… dicey.
Compliance Isn’t Sexy — But Neither Is Running Out of Imported Mozzarella
No one got into hospitality to manage customs paperwork. But ignoring the process can wreck your operations.
Just like prep cooks follow recipes to the gram, compliance is about consistency and detail. A few small steps—verifying codes, reviewing invoices, saving records—can save you thousands in the long run.
So, whether you’re importing 100 pounds of Thai bird chilies or a case of French escargot, remember: the devil isn’t in the ingredients. It’s in the documentation.
