Let me guess. You’re probably “winging it,” somewhere in your biz, right? Well, let me tell you:

Winging it isn’t a long-term business strategy,

YET so many food founders rely on this method as you pitch wholesale buyers, hoping to land on their shelves and get into shoppers’ baskets once you’re there.

And what happens when you DO land on those shelves?

(after, again… just guessing here, endless back and forth with cranky buyers who eventually ghost you - or never even open your emails in the first place?) Crossing your fingers, hoping that your DIY marketing strategy works well enough to KEEP you on those retail shelves? Well, let me tell you something. (Or maybe it’s more like, “marketing strategy? What marketing strategy?”)

This, food founders, is when DIY turns into WTF.

• WTF was I thinking, leaving my steady job and stable paycheck to pursue my dream of sharing this product line with the world?

• WTF do I have to do to get a wholesale buyer to return my emails and phone calls? There’s got to be a better way.

• WTF are these other brands doing that I’m not? I see my competition landing national accounts, popping up all over town, displaying at the biggest trade shows, and raising investment … and I’m struggling to get a reorder.

• WTF is an EDLP, an OI, a BOGO, a chargeback, FOB, your MOQ and MAP (or any other bizarro acronym that you’ve got to secretly Google under the table during that Buyer meeting!), and why the heck are YOU suddenly paying your distributor more in fees than THEY paid you last month?

 Here’s the hard truth:

The grocery industry has historically been a homogenous, stagnant, old-school industry that relies on pen & paper, fax machines (you think I’m kidding, I’m not), and “industry secrets” that are passed down with handshake deals, over expense-account steak dinners, and through “knowing the right people.”

Our industry has historically been hard to access on PURPOSE.

Wholesale Buyers are BUSY and pulled in a million different directions and, frankly, don’t have time to nurture up-and-coming brands who are looking for success on the retail shelves. Our industry has historically been run by big brands, with even bigger budgets, and with even BIGGER government subsidies, and they dominate the shelf and dictate the food on our tables. 

How do I know?

• I’ve been in this industry for longer than I can remember, working as a Wholesale Grocery Buyer, Head of Grocery, and Retail Store Manager for Bi-Rite Market: one of the leading specialty food retailers in the United States.
  

• When I was at Bi-Rite we sold, on average, $4,000 per square foot of retail space - Compare that to the average natural + organic retail store that sold $654.55 per square foot in 2022, according to Retail Insight’s report! I managed a department of over 3,500 SKUS, that sold $7M in our first year of opening, and directly managed two dozen employees.

• So: I pride myself on knowing a LOT about what it takes to move high-volume, and I know a LOT about what it feels like to be a cranky, overworked grocery buyer who literally HID in the walk-in when eager young brands “just swung by” with samples (have you made this mistake? More about that in a minute…).

• Since leaving Bi-Rite in 2014, I’ve supported over 2,500 brands directly inside of Retail Ready®, helping to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in sales for emerging brands. I’ve coached on thousands of sales pitches & strategies, reviewed hundreds of sell sheets, designed more tradeshow strategies than I can count, and have presented wholesale training for our industry’s leading trade organizations, such as Expo West & The New Hope Network, The Specialty Food Association, The Canadian Consulate’s Department of Food & Agriculture, FAIRE, The Good Food Foundation, and more. My team and I are the leading experts in our industry, with decades of combined experience in wholesale, food service, and DTC sales. 

  
  

We are on a mission to transform our out-dated food industry, for two reasons:

• When we empower entrepreneurs and help their food business succeed, we are able to increase diversity on our shelves, deepen connections to our food sources, and support consumers as they shop more consciously and with integrity. Learn more about our diversity pledge here.

• You need access to information to give your business a real shot at success AND I’m confident we have to tools that you need to succeed.

Now, it’s not JUST the industry that needs to change. Ready for some more tough love?

Up next: Part 2 (0f 5): hint: it’s not me, it’s …