How to Market & Sell a New Food Product to Grocery Stores!
The food industry is alluring to many people, including those who have a recipe that they want to make into a food product and sell to retailers. It is possible to produce and market your own line of food products and make a profit, but how do you market and sell your new food products to the grocery stores? With a bit of time, research and effort, you can increase your chances of successfully marketing your food to grocers.
Check For Permits
Ensure you have all the permits required in your city to legally operate a food manufacturing business. Contact your state's department of health to see what documentation you need.
Attractive Product Packaging
Develop attractive, functional packaging for your products that meet all U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling guidelines for the type of food product you make – without this, no store will be able to put your food on its shelves. You can purchase wholesale food containers from online retailers or restaurant supply stores and have labels printed by a local graphics shop or do it yourself if you have the proper equipment.
Proper Product Pricing
Price your product fairly, but keep in mind that you also need to make a decent profit. Consider the costs of labor, ingredients, and packaging. For instance, if it costs you $0.94 to make a dozen gourmet cookies, it would be reasonable to charge grocery stores a wholesale price of $2.50. However, charging grocers $5 would be unreasonable since they would have a difficult time raising the price of the cookies to make a profit themselves.
Develop Your List of Potential Buyers
Make a list of the grocery stores in your area – you may have to include those that are outside of your city or county if there are not many grocers where you live. On your list, note whether each store carries any products similar to yours, the prices of those products and the name and number of the buyer or head store manager.
Cross the stores off your list that do not match up with the product you are trying to sell. For instance, if you are selling gourmet truffle salt, a discount grocery store is not the place to try and land a contract. Instead, you should be considering gourmet, health and upscale grocers and markets.
Prepare Yourself For Production
Ask yourself whether you have the ability to produce enough food to meet the needs of the grocery stores on your list. You never know when a huge order can come in and if you are unable to properly fulfill it you will either lose out on business, get the order wrong or end up feeling burnt out. Make sure you have enough staff, storage, production space and capital to purchase ingredients and packaging so that you will be ready to take larger orders.
Conduct Market Research
Conduct a bit of market research before approaching any grocery stores by selling your food at a local farmers market for a couple of months. See how well the product sells, how much you are able to charge and what type of customers buy it. In addition, you can ask customers who actually make purchases to fill out a simple card asking what grocery stores they usually frequent. This information helps when you present your product to your target grocers – if they see you are selling something their customers are buying, your business will be more attractive to them.
Make Contact with Stores
Contact the stores on your list, introduce yourself and ask for a meeting to present your food product. Do not be surprised if you are unable to get a meeting with the store for several weeks, especially if it is a part of a larger chain. Carefully note the time and day of your appointment with the store's manager or buyer.
Present Your Products
Bring your market research, product samples, packaging and business documentation to your presentation. Be prepared to quickly tell the store's buyer what your product is, how it is different from what their store already sells and how it suits their customer base.
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