How To Get Into Food Fair
Founded in 1967 by Charles G Forth, FoodFair started out as Tower FoodFair in Barboursville, West Virginia. The company has since grown into a tri-state area with 14 stores to adequately cater for the needs of local communities. Known to provide superior service and offer only the best quality food at a competitive price, FoodFair has been on the forefront of providing quality at amazing prices.
The executive team of the company has always adopted a hands-on approach in their daily management of the company to keep things rolling and this has accounted for its success for the decades it has been serving the local communities.
To serve the communities better, FoodFair sources its meat from the one of the best meat sellers in the country – Black Canyon. Black Canyon meat is rich, grain-fed beef and it is USDA certified for exceptional quality and consistency. This accounts for why their tender, one-of-kind beef captures the essence of premium flavor that has made Angus beef the most famous beef in the world.
Also looking at ways into meeting the health needs of the local communities, Foodfair and Fruth Pharmacy have partnered to meet the prescription needs of the communities. Fruth Pharmacy is now serving customer needs at Tower Foodfair in Barboursville, West Virginia, Powell’s Foodfair in Pomeroy, OH, and Ralph’s Foodfair in Grayson, KY.
The supermarket business in the United States is one that tries to connect with the individual customer. This means, the supermarkets try to address the needs and interests of individual customers. This is by offering local, international, and metropolitan products. You can get spices, meat, wine, food, and so many other food products from this type of store.
One of the biggest reasons FoodFair has been so competitive in the market today is its local warehouse distribution center. Having a state of the art inventory control system, coupled with an efficient delivery method allows the retailer to pass the savings onto you, the customer. FoodFair prides itself in offering competitively priced groceries with outstanding customer service.
For a distributor, this is an established store that can get your products to move as fast as possible. With the awesome varieties they offer and the established customer base, it can be easily deduced that there are customers already dedicated to what they sell. However, this is a big retailer and there is a high standard for the products they take and thus, it may not be that easy to push your products in there. This is why networking can be very useful.
On the local sourcing of food products, FoodFair has been on the forefront of selling locally sourced food products and imported food items. Their wine, spice, and produce selection make them a leader in the retail and grocery business niche. This store has been in the business for years and has its established sourcing angles. Its constant support of local products has helped it cement its brand in the community as people can easily resonate with it.
How to get your product into Food Fair
- Understand you client: Before you spend a lot of time and money creating a product, you should know if anyone will want to buy it. Learn more about Market Research
- Learn if it’s protectable: Know if you can defend your product against cheap copies if it gets knocked off. Learn more about Copyright and Patent your product
- Test your product: Make sure that there’s a demand for your product and the customer understands what you are selling when it’s on the shelf and nobody is there to explain it. Learn more about Product Testing
- Perfect your pitch: Before you speak to decision makers, know your numbers, know your retailer and know your logistics in and out. Learn more about Pitching Your Product
- Don’t do it alone: If you haven’t been successful in retail before, a secret of success is that you can’t do it alone. Having great sales staff, customer support and marketing partners can take you from zero to success faster than if you tried on your own. Learn more about Retail Partnerships
Contact Food Fair Buyer
Do not trust any “list” of buyers.
Typically retail buyers change either companies or positions every few years. This strategy helps retailers know that their buyers are not taking “kick-backs” and are selecting the very best product for the very best position each time.
Buyers are typically held to a very rigorous standard of sell-through volume that they must hit and because of this they are risk averse. Your job as a supplier or vendor is to convince them that the buyers going into the stores not only know about what you’re selling but are actively seeking the product in the store currently.
How to Submit a Product to Food Fair
There are several ways to get a product placed in Food Fair. However, most entrepreneurs only dream about getting their product distributed to major retailers, few actually do it. We have experienced a significant rise in interest since the show Shark Tank started airing on NBC. Mr. Checkout has had the pleasure of working with a few Shark Tank success stories such as KISStixx and 180 Party Cups which are now currently being distributed around the country to stores like Walmart, Target, Kroger, 7-Eleven and more.
If you envision your product would be a good fit for Food Fair, we have a few steps to help you get your product on their shelves.
Here are the 6 steps you need to take to have your product placed in Food Fair.
1. Start with the right questions.) Before you try distributing your product to Food Fair, you need to ask yourself a few basic questions. Do you need to build demand for your product, or is there already a demand for it? Do you know that Food Fair would be interested in selling your product? If you can strike a deal with Food Fair, can you handle the production volume? Do you want to sell directly to Food Fair, or do you want to license your product to a manufacturer that will handle distribution?
2. Be prepared to profit.) Does your product offer enough of a profit margin for Food Fair? Can you sell your product at a reasonable enough profit to cover the packaging, shipping, commissions, marketing and wholesale distribution? Check Food Fair guidelines for other fees that you will have to build into the cost of your product in order for you to be able to turn enough of a profit to make the effort worth your while. If you work with a discount retailer, they will try to strip your profits down to zero in order to keep their prices as low as possible.
The typical breakdown of margins are: If a products costs $1 to produce, that product will retail for $4. That product that retails for $4 will wholesale for $2 to distributors and stores that purchase direct. Big box retailers like Food Fair may offer to pay $1.25 to the manufacturer if the product costs $1 to produce. That is the typical profit margin.
3. Determine if Food Fair is the right store for your product.) The relationship between you and Food Fair starts with you browsing their store for competing products. If Food Fair already has a similar product, it is going to be very difficult to get your product picked up. Spend some time at your local Food Fair to see what kind of products they are selling, speak to the manager and see if he thinks your product will sell well in their store. Picture in which zone your product would best fit on the shelf and keep in mind that the most precious asset that these big box stores value are their shelf space. Keep this information in mind when you are preparing your presentation to Food Fair.
If your company is minority or women owned, check Food Fair website and see if they offer specific opportunities for those designations.
4. Pitch your product to Food Fair.) Decide whether it will be you or a representative to present your product to Food Fair. Your presentation depends heavily on your strengths as a businessperson as they will most likely ask financial questions and logistics questions.
It’s common for companies to hire a broker to pitch their product to Food Fair, as it will be more likely that your product will make it to the next stage if the individual pitching your product has industry knowledge or a personal relationship with Food Fair. The percentage of commission verses, however generally a broker will take around 5% to represent your product to Food Fair.
We at Mr. Checkout have experience dealing with brokers and know that there are several retail brokers that have poor business practices that can potentially damage your brand. If you are seeking a legitimate Food Fair broker, please give us a call for a recommendation. It could save you a huge headache and a lot of money.
5. Complete the required Food Fair paperwork.) Often Food Fair will have you go through an application process. However, before submitting the paperwork required by Food Fair, you should contact a buyer at Food Fair and let them know your intentions. Having a contact inside of the company will potentially move your application more smoothly through the process.
6. Anticipate the need for increased volume.) Having Food Fair agree to stock your product will most likely mean a significant increase in volume. You should be prepared to ramp up your production and informing your manufacturer of this opportunity.
Having production, logistics and distribution to sync is not only difficult, it requires a significant amount of time invested in customer relations. Also, Food Fair may have stipulations in the contract that may penalize you for delays in shipping and production. Have an attorney explain all contracts to you if you don’t understand the terms.
If you’re looking to sell your product to Food Fair, be sure to thoroughly assess the marketplace, carefully prepare for production growth, and take full advantage of resources available to help you grow your business.
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