How to get your product into Whole Foods

What a Whole Foods buyer is looking for

By the time you are talking to a Whole Foods buyer, they assume the product is good. What they want to know is whether it will sell on their shelf, at their price, without them having to carry it. That means proof: stores that already stock you, how fast it moves, whether those stores reorder, and whether you can supply and support it.

This guide sits under our wider guide to getting your product into stores. It is written for brands in the US, where most Whole Foods stores are. The same thinking applies to any large natural or premium grocer, and our guide to getting into stores in the US covers the wider market.

Meet the quality standards first

Whole Foods publishes quality standards for the products it sells, including ingredients it will not accept. Read them before you do anything else. If your product contains something on that list, no amount of outreach will get it on the shelf, and it is far cheaper to find out now than after a buyer meeting.

Check your labelling, certifications and claims at the same time. Organic, non-GMO and similar claims need to be backed by the right paperwork, and a buyer will ask.

Local, regional and national buying

Not every product goes through one national buyer. Whole Foods buys some lines for a single store or region, and over the years it has run programmes aimed at small local producers. A local or regional listing in the stores near you is a far more realistic first target than a national one. Check the supplier pages on its own website for how to apply today, because the details change.

Many brands on Whole Foods shelves reach them through a distributor, and UNFI is the name you will hear most. A distributor will usually want to see that stores already order your product before taking it on, which leads back to the same place: independents.

Why to start with independents

Independent natural grocers, co-ops, specialty food stores and cafés are where your Whole Foods pitch gets written. They can say yes quickly, they give you honest feedback on price and packaging, and every reorder is a number you can show a buyer.

A brand that walks into a Whole Foods conversation with a few dozen stockists, reorder rates and a sense of how many units a week each store sells is a low-risk bet. A brand with only a great product and a deck is a gamble. Our guide to supermarkets explains the same order for any chain.

A realistic order of steps

This is the path most natural and specialty brands follow.

1. 1Check the standardsRead the published quality standards and fix any ingredient, label or certification problem first.
2. 2Win independents in one cityNatural grocers, co-ops and specialty stores near you. Aim for stores that will reorder, not only stores that will try it.
3. 3Track what sellsNote how fast each store sells through and who reorders. Those numbers become your pitch.
4. 4Add a distributorOnce you have more stores than you can deliver to, a distributor makes the next step possible. See how to find a distributor.
5. 5Approach your local Whole FoodsStart with the stores and region near you, with your sales record in hand.

What to bring to the conversation

When you do get time with a buyer, bring numbers rather than adjectives. They will want to see a clear sell sheet with your wholesale price, suggested retail price, case size and shelf life, and the product itself. They will ask how many stores sell it today, how many units a week each one moves, and how many reorder. Our checklist of what a store buyer needs covers the basics, and the wholesale price calculator checks that your price still works once a distributor takes its share.

They will also ask how you plan to support it. That might be in-store demos, a launch promotion, social posts that send shoppers to the store, or a local story the store can tell. Say what you will actually do and what you can afford. A buyer would rather hear a small plan you will keep than a big one you will not.

Last, they want to know you can deliver. Production capacity, lead times and what happens if a store sells out are all fair questions. Brands that have supplied a few dozen independents on time already have good answers.

Finding those first independents

Most brands try to find independents by walking in, or by asking friends who know a store owner. That works for the first ten stores. After that you need a list of the right stores and a way to reach the owner or buyer at each one.

That is what LaunchPal does. We find the stores that fit your product in one city, write a separate email to each one, send it from a domain we set up so your own is never at risk, and stop the follow-ups when a store replies. Our clients average a 10-15% reply rate. When a store replies, you take it from there.

To see which independent stores near you would fit your product, type your website into the box below.