Food distribution for emerging brands: how to get your food into stores

How food gets from you to a shelf

Every food product follows the same chain: you make it, someone moves it, a store sells it. The question is who does the moving. Early on that is usually you, in your own car. Later it is a business whose job is moving food.

Those businesses come in a few kinds, and they serve different stores.

• Specialty and natural distributors carry fine food, health food and better-for-you products to delis, independent grocers and health food shops. In the US the national ones, such as UNFI and KeHE, also supply natural and grocery chains.
• Foodservice distributors supply cafés, restaurants, hotels and canteens. Think of products sold over a counter or used in a kitchen.
• Regional and local distributors cover one city or region, often across several categories, and are more open to small brands.
• Wholesalers sell to retailers who buy for themselves, such as convenience stores and some independent grocers. In Australia, for example, Metcash supplies IGA stores.
• Direct store delivery is when a supplier delivers straight to the shelf on a route, common for bread, some snacks and chilled goods.

Why distributors say no to new food brands

A distributor makes money on stock that moves. Every new product takes warehouse space, a slot in their system and a line in their sales team's catalogue. A product with no sales history is a risk to them, and most get far more requests than they can take.

So the first question a food distributor asks is usually "who already buys it, and how often?" If you cannot answer that, the conversation tends to end politely. Our guide on how to find a distributor covers what to bring when you can.

Shelf life, chilled and frozen change the route

Ambient products with a long shelf life have the most options. Almost any distributor can carry them, and you can post a case to a store in another city without much worry.

Chilled and frozen food is harder. It needs a cold chain from your door to the store's fridge, fewer distributors carry it, and freight costs more. Short shelf life adds pressure, because stock that sits in a warehouse loses value every day. For these products, selling direct to stores you can reach yourself is often the only sensible start, and a specialist cold-chain distributor comes later.

Whatever you make, check the food safety, labelling and registration rules for each market before you sell into it. Stores and distributors will ask.

How to get distribution for your food brand

This is the order that works for most emerging food brands.

1. 1Pick one city and one store typeDelis, independent grocers, health food shops or cafés: choose the one where products like yours already sell.
2. 2Sell direct and deliver yourselfKeep your full wholesale margin while it is thinnest, and hear first-hand what store owners say about price and pack size.
3. 3Track reordersNote which stores order again and how often. That record is what a distributor buys.
4. 4Ask your stockists who they order throughThe answer is a shortlist of distributors already delivering to stores like yours.
5. 5Take your numbers to a distributorStockists, reorder history, price, case size and shelf life. Then supermarkets and chains, once you can supply them.

Which stores to start with

Independent stores are where food brands learn fastest. The owner is usually the buyer, decisions take days, and nobody asks for a listing fee. Delis and fine food stores suit premium products. Health food shops suit better-for-you and free-from food. Independent grocers and farm shops suit local and regional brands. Cafés suit anything sold beside a coffee, from baking to snacks.

Chains come later. Many charge slotting fees to list a new product, and almost all want to see sales from elsewhere first.

Retail or foodservice?

Food can reach people two ways: on a shelf they buy from, or on a plate or counter where it is served. Retail means grocers, delis and health food shops, where your packaging and shelf price do the selling. Foodservice means cafés, restaurants, hotels and canteens, where the chef or owner decides and the customer may never see your brand.

The two often need different pack sizes, different prices and different distributors. A café might want a bulk pack of your granola for its breakfast menu, while a deli wants the retail bag. Decide which you are going after first, because a distributor strong in one is often weak in the other. Many brands find foodservice a quick way to get volume and feedback, and retail the better way to build a brand people ask for by name.

Price for the distributor before you need one

If your wholesale price only works when you sell direct, a distributor will break it. Their margin has to come from somewhere, and if the shelf price rises too far the store stops reordering. Work out both cases before you quote your first store. The wholesale price calculator shows the direct and distributor numbers side by side.

Where LaunchPal fits

LaunchPal does the selling part of the direct route. We find the independent stores where your food fits, find the owner or buyer, and write to each one using what we learned about that store and what we understand about your product. Follow-ups stop when a store replies, and you take the conversation from there. Send samples only to stores that ask for them.

For drinks, the rules and routes differ. See our guide to beverage distribution.