How To Get Into Harvey’s
Founded 60 years ago, Harveys has risen to become a country-wide food restaurant chain.Harvey’s is a fast food restaurant chain that operates in Canada, with locations in every province. The restaurant serves hamburgers, poutine, hot dogs, French fries, onion rings, and other traditional Canadian fast-food fares. The chain is owned by Recipe Unlimited (previously known as Cara Operations).
Harvey’s is the second-largest Canadian-established restaurant chain in the country behind Tim Hortons, and the fourth-largest burger chain in Canada. Harvey’s is known for its grilled burgers and for providing customers with the choice of several various toppings.
The food retail business 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 different varieties and looking at how the needs of the average customer fit in within the offerings of the food retail.
Getting products into this store may require understanding how the products are sourced. This is a company that has been sued in the past for E. coli outbreak due to the contaminated onions used in one of their branches. Thus, product sourcing would definitely require more care. However, there are distributors and as long as you are a registered and licensed one, you should be on the path to distribution here.
This company is quite a big employer in the country and at the moment has about 7000 employees all over Canada. Through several promotions, the company has been able to attract new customers and even draw nearer old customers. For instance, the company has a form of promotion that happens during its Free Burger Week where people buy one burger and get another free. The purpose of this event was to “celebrate Canada’s best tasting burger” and to attract new customers who might not otherwise go into Harvey’s.
There are quite some good reviews about this food retailer online and this has been helpful in bringing new customers to the retailer. This is a food retail chain that has been able to develop into a nationwide chain and this is quite impressive. It is important to note that this is a restaurant chain and not a grocery store or some retailer that sells food products. This retailer sells prepared foods.
For a distributor, this is an established food retailer that can use a lot of distribution. 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.
How to get your product into Harvey’s
- 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 Harvey’s 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 Harvey’s
There are several ways to get a product placed in Harvey’s. 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 Harvey’s, 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 Harvey’s.
1. Start with the right questions.) Before you try distributing your product to Harvey’s, 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 Harvey’s would be interested in selling your product? If you can strike a deal with Harvey’s, can you handle the production volume? Do you want to sell directly to Harvey’s, 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 Harvey’s? Can you sell your product at a reasonable enough profit to cover the packaging, shipping, commissions, marketing and wholesale distribution? Check Harvey’s 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 Harvey’s 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 Harvey’s is the right store for your product.) The relationship between you and Harvey’s starts with you browsing their store for competing products. If Harvey’s already has a similar product, it is going to be very difficult to get your product picked up. Spend some time at your local Harvey’s 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 Harvey’s.
If your company is minority or women owned, check Harvey’s website and see if they offer specific opportunities for those designations.
4. Pitch your product to Harvey’s.) Decide whether it will be you or a representative to present your product to Harvey’s. 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 Harvey’s, 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 Harvey’s. The percentage of commission verses, however generally a broker will take around 5% to represent your product to Harvey’s.
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 Harvey’s 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 Harvey’s paperwork.) Often Harvey’s will have you go through an application process. However, before submitting the paperwork required by Harvey’s, you should contact a buyer at Harvey’s 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 Harvey’s 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, Harvey’s 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 Harvey’s, 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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