Ahh, the nicer weather is upon us and summer is finally here.  No better time to ice up the beverages and slap some burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and other select meats and vegetables on the grill.

Now that you have this great visual, take a moment to stop and think what it really costs to get an average barbeque together before it hits the grill.

Rapidly rising and volatile commodity prices are causing fluctuations in the cost of the raw materials, packaging, and energy that food and beverage companies must purchase in order to provide the ice cold beer, potato chips, ketchup, and other barbeque staples. When food and beverage companies aren’t properly equipped to manage this volatility, the result is reduced profit margins, and oftentimes higher prices.

For example, the ketchup that is put on hamburgers contains commodities such as tomatoes, sugar, salt, and corn syrup. When the price of wholesale tomatoes more than tripled back in 2011, Heinz cut portions of several key products, including its flagship Heinz 57 sauce, which now comes in a bottle that has shrunk by four ounces, but costs the same as the original, larger bottle.

While passing along increased costs to consumers is a very common practice, there are other options. Companies including Heineken are taking advantage of advanced technology solutions to minimize the impact of commodity volatility on their bottom lines so they don’t have to pass along price increases to the consumer.  These solutions, which include Triple Point’s Commodity XL Strategic Planning and Procurement™, provide customers with powerful tools for fully mitigating and managing commodity exposure. Companies that don’t invest in the technologies and processes to properly manage this exposure will lose out on a significant competitive advantage, and risk being left behind.