How to get your product into restaurants

What a restaurant is actually buying

A shop buys your product to sell it on. A restaurant buys it to use. A sauce becomes part of a dish, a cheese goes on a board, a soft drink or a spirit goes on the list. That changes the questions you have to answer.

• Cost per portion. A chef thinks in cost per plate. Give a price per kilo or per litre, and roughly how many portions it makes.
• Consistency. The dish has to taste the same every night. They need to know you can supply the same thing every week without gaps.
• Pack size. Foodservice packs, such as a 2 kg tub or a 5 litre bottle, suit a kitchen better than retail units.
• Prep time. Something that saves the kitchen work is easier to sell than something that adds a step.
• Menu fit. It has to suit the cuisine and the price point. A premium tonic in a pub that pours house gin is a hard sell.

Who decides

In an owner-run restaurant, the owner or head chef decides the food and the owner or bar manager decides the drinks. In a bigger site or a group, it is the executive chef, the food and beverage manager or a group purchasing manager. Front-of-house staff and the bookings inbox are not the buyer.

Write to one person per restaurant. When we find restaurants for a brand, we look for the food and beverage or bar manager first, then the general manager, then the owner, and we skip shared inboxes.

Timing: menus change on a cycle

Many restaurants change their menu with the seasons, or a few times a year. A new ingredient goes in when the menu is being written, not halfway through it. Ask when the next change is and pitch for that. A chef who likes your product in March may put it on in May.

Drinks lists change too, often with the seasons or when a supplier deal ends. The bar side of a restaurant usually has more room to try something new than the kitchen does.

How restaurants order and pay

Most independent restaurants buy staples through a foodservice wholesaler and specialty items direct from small producers. If you are small, direct is normal at first: a case ordered by email, paid on invoice.

Be clear about delivery from the start. Kitchens take deliveries at set times, usually in the morning before prep, and a courier that turns up mid-service is a problem. Say which days you deliver, how much notice you need, and what happens if they run out on a Saturday.

Once a dozen restaurants order from you regularly, a foodservice distributor is worth talking to, and you arrive with a list of venues they can sell to. Our guide to finding a distributor covers when that point comes.

The first email to a chef

Short, specific, about their menu. Say what the product does in the kitchen, give the portion maths in one line, and offer something to cook with. Leave out attachments and the price list until they reply.

Send it from a separate domain, not your main one, so your everyday email stays safe. We set up that sending domain for you. Then follow up two or three times. Kitchens are slow to answer, and the reply often comes on the third email. The sequence stops as soon as they reply.

Samples the kitchen can actually use

Chefs need to cook with it. Send enough for a real test, a tub or a couple of bottles, not a tasting spoon. Send it only to the restaurants that ask. Ask which product and the delivery address in one message, and agree a day to check in.

For drinks, a short tasting with the bar team beats a bottle left on the pass. If you cannot visit, say so, and offer a staff tasting pack instead. Never promise a visit you will not make.

Start with one cuisine in one city

Pick restaurants where your product obviously belongs, such as Italian restaurants in one part of town for a pasta sauce, and work that list properly before you widen it. If your product also suits cafés or hotels, run them as separate campaigns, because each needs a different email. Drinks brands should read the bars guide as well.

Once it is on the menu

Ask how it is going after the first two weeks. Did the dish sell? Did the staff mention your product by name? A restaurant that names you on the menu is worth a lot more than one that uses you quietly, so offer a line of copy they can use. Then keep supply steady. Running out once can lose you the spot for a season.

Track who has ordered, who is due a check-in and who has gone quiet in Flow, so the restaurants that said yes do not slip through the gaps while you pitch the next ones.