Charcoal for HoReCa distributors and hotel groups

How do HoReCa distributors choose a charcoal supplier?

Distributors choose on consistency first, because their own customers judge them on whether bag two hundred behaves like bag one. Ask any supplier for indicative specifications per lot (temperature, burn time, fixed carbon, moisture, piece size), whether the same type can be supplied through the whole season, and which bag sizes and pallet configurations are standard.

Then ask about documents, Incoterms and languages: a distributor in Serbia, Croatia or Greece needs a supplier who answers in a language the buying team reads, issues the CMR and origin paperwork without being chased, and can load a pallet, a truck or a container on the agreed date. Virovo Promet works in English, Macedonian and Serbian and confirms documents in writing before loading.

Which bag sizes do restaurant kitchens want?

Kitchens want 10, 15 or 20 kg bags: light enough for one person to carry from the store to the grill, heavy enough that one bag is a meaningful unit of service. Smaller 2, 3 and 5 kg bags belong on a supermarket shelf or in a hotel shop, not in a professional kitchen.

Standardise on one or two sizes across your restaurant customers: a chef who receives 15 kg bags every week can plan stock by counting bags; a chef who receives 10 kg one week and 20 kg the next cannot. Bags of 2, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 kg come with multilingual labels, and custom sizes are agreed per order.

Mixed pallets and private label

A mixed pallet carries more than one type or bag size, so a single drop can serve a steakhouse that wants dense lump charcoal, a ćevapi grill that wants faster-lighting pieces and a hotel that wants briquettes for the terrace. The configuration is agreed per order and stated in the quotation; for regular volume, single-type pallets are simpler. The range includes, among others and subject to availability:

A distributor's own brand on the bag turns a commodity into a product the restaurant reorders by name. Private-label bags are printed on request: the buyer supplies artwork, legal text and barcodes; bag size, minimums and lead time are agreed per order, and it is not available for every type.

• Marabu for long service in grill houses
• Oak or beech for classic grilling
• Charcoal briquettes for even, predictable heat
• Wood briquettes for stoves and boilers in winter

Delivery cadence and seasonality

Demand for grill charcoal peaks in the Balkan and Mediterranean summer, when terraces open and every grill house runs seven days a week. Distributors who wait until May compete for the same trucks as everyone else; distributors who stock in spring deliver on time in July.

Set a cadence in the quotation: for example, one full truck per month from April to September and groupage in the shoulder months, or a 40 ft container landed before the season and drawn down from your warehouse. Road freight handles the regular rhythm across the Balkans and the EU; container shipping via Thessaloniki, Durrës or Bar handles bulk pre-season stock. Wood briquettes for heating fill the winter gap for distributors who also serve stoves and boilers.

Start with a sample

Virovo Promet is a family-owned charcoal wholesaler in Skopje, North Macedonia, founded in 1990, exporting full-container loads of hardwood charcoal across Europe and beyond. Every distributor relationship starts the same way: a sample of the type you plan to sell, tested on a real grill in a real kitchen, then a first pallet or truck and a written quotation stating bag size, bags per pallet, net load, documents and Incoterm.

Everyone is welcome to visit the Skopje warehouse (Mon to Sat, 08:00 to 16:00) or request a video call. Send the number of outlets, the bag size and the destination for a quotation in English, Macedonian or Serbian.