How To Get Into Strack & Van Til

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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
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How To Get Into Strack & Van Til

One of the biggest challenges of a supplier is getting products to retail outlets. A lot has to be done in research and feasibility studies about the store to ensure that it is one where many sales can be recorded of the product. It is to be expected that every store has a procurement method and certain measures it takes to check compliance with standards. However, every store is different and the peculiarities must be understood.

Strack & Van Til is a grocery store chain with locations in Northwest Indiana. Stores operate under the banners of Strack & Van Til and Town & Country Food Market. The offerings of this store are in Grocery, Dairy, Frozen, Organic, Produce, Deli, Meat, Bakery, Floral, Alcohol, General merchandise.

Since 1960 Strack & Van Til has been serving the neighborhoods of Northwest Indiana and Chicago with a friendly smile, helpful service and the finest quality groceries, perishables and freshly prepared foods available.

Though there have been a lot of layoffs and bankruptcy filings by the parent company. Strack & Van Til’s Joliet-based parent, Central Grocers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017.

Besides being the parent company of Strack & Van Til and Ultra Foods stores in Illinois and Indiana, Central Grocers is a grocery cooperative that has acted as a wholesaler for independent groceries throughout the Chicago area.

People have peculiarities and these need to be addressed differently. Each customer has to be connected to separately. This means, the supermarkets try to address the needs and interests of individual customers. This is by offering local, international, and metropolitan products. Thus, as a vendor, you should be looking at getting varieties to the retailer.

For a distributor, this is an established wholesale grocer 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, procurement for the company may be centralized and pitching may need to go beyond the usual RangeMe platform method. You can create a buzz in the local market by offering awesome products and ensuring that you are known for every move you make in the market.

Consider pitching to a top official who can take interest in your products and get it tested by other persons in charge of procurement. As the grocery offerings of this retailer are quite large, there is room for a lot of products to be supplied. If your products are quite popular in the local market, it will be easy for you to easily pitch to this retailer. You have to bring your product to top quality to help you with the pitch of the product.

Contact Strack & Van Til

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.

  • Step 1

    Contact Strack & Van Til

    Sometimes easier said than done, however you must get on Strack & Van Til Only radar.

    Call the Strack & Van Til corporate phone number and ask for the names of the buyer and assistant buyers in your category.

    Always leave voicemail with whomever the dispatch will connect you.

    Use that information to connect with them on LinkedIn, RangeMe and any other professional social platform.

    Ask your representative at your trade bureau to connect you to the Strack & Van Til buyers as they will potentially have a better history.

  • Step 2

    Get On Strack & Van Til

    Use advertising, public relations and marketing to make your brand known to Strack & Van Til buyer through 3rd party websites & industry media sources.

    Be everywhere that they look, the key is to position your brand as the obvious choice when Strack & Van Til  is looking to either refill a slot or create a new category.

    Latch on to the news of the day and any trend that will make your product fill that niche whether that be Non-GMO or Vegan Leather for example.

    Investing in your brand can only benefit your opportunities in the future. As being “top of mind” will have a ripple effect when you physically present your product at a Strack & Van Til meeting or trade show in the future.

    Step 2

  • Step 3

    Use Hard Facts

    Strack & Van Til buyers typically got to their position by picking “winners” and know how to see through the fluff.

    Focus on the numbers, know your bottom dollar during a negotiation and how fees and chargebacks may cut into your position.

    Know that long term success may outweigh short term sales, however financing large purchase orders from Strack & Van Til when the net result is negative is not sustainable.

    Understand the playing field and the other brands that are in your space, what they are offering as promotion and pricing and how you can stand out against them.

    By knowing that each buyer at Strack & Van Til probably knows more than you do, take an active listening approach to sales and understand that no is a perfectly acceptable answer that may have saved you millions of dollars on the backend.

How to Submit a Product to Strack & Van Til 

There are several ways to get a product placed in Strack & Van Til. 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 Strack & Van Til, we have a few steps to help you get your product on their shelves.

Let Us Know About Your Product

Here are the 6 steps you need to take to have your product placed in Strack & Van Til.

1. Start with the right questions.) Before you try distributing your product to Strack & Van Til, 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 Strack & Van Til would be interested in selling your product? If you can strike a deal with Strack & Van Til, can you handle the production volume? Do you want to sell directly to Strack & Van Til, 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 Strack & Van Til? Can you sell your product at a reasonable enough profit to cover the packaging, shipping, commissions, marketing and wholesale distribution? Check Strack & Van Til 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. Retailers like Strack & Van Til 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 is the right store for your product.) The relationship between you and Strack & Van Til starts with you browsing their store for competing products. If Strack & Van Til already has a similar product, it is going to be very difficult to get your product picked up. Spend some time at your local Strack & Van Til 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 Strack & Van Til.

If your company is minority or women owned, check Strack & Van Til website and see if they offer specific opportunities for those designations.

4. Pitch your product to Strack & Van Til. Decide whether it will be you or a representative to present your product to Strack & Van Til. 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 Strack & Van Til to pitch their product to Strack & Van Til, 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 Strack & Van Til. The percentage of commission verses, however generally a broker will take around 5% to represent your product too Strack & Van Til.

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 Strack & Van Til, please give us a call for a recommendation. It could save you a huge headache and a lot of money.

5. Complete the required Strack & Van Til paperwork. Often Strack & Van Til will have you go through an application process. However, before submitting the paperwork required by Strack & Van Til, you should contact a buyer at Strack & Van Til 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 Strack & Van Til 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, Strack & Van Til 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 Strack & Van Til, 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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