Information on Urban Fare
Urban Fare is a supermarket chain located in British Columbia. It is a subsidiary of the Overwaitea Food Group, which, in turn, is owned by the Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Group. The chain has six locations, four located in downtown Vancouver, and one each in Calgary and Kelowna. It is part of the ‘More Rewards’ rewards card program as also featured at other stores in the chain such as Save-On-Foods.
Urban Fare is primarily upmarket, with a focus on high-end, gourmet, organic and imported foods. In addition to selling food, most locations also have an in-store restaurant and coffee bar. Most of the stores also feature a florist, pharmacy, and wide selection of prepackaged “grab and go” meals.
To give the customers opportunity to plan their weekly grocery spending, the retailer publishes its weekly specials which list the deal of the week. Here, products are sold cheaper than their normal prices. The products on these lists vary from week to week.
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. The company’s stores offer natural and organic grocery products, such as organic produce products; bulk food and private label products; dry, frozen, and canned groceries; meat and seafood products; dairy products and dairy substitutes; prepared foods; bread and baked products; seafood; and beverages.
This company has a reputation for quality products and customer-friendly prices and its procurement standards are quite high. To get your products noticed by this retailer, you need to get on the RangeMe platform as the buyers of the company use the platform to source new products. You can create a free profile to get started. The platform works by getting you connected to potential buyers who would see the range of products you have on your supply dash.
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.
You need something to strike you out as a vendor. The market is saturated and the online platform is open to all. This is why you need a unique selling point. You need to sell your offerings in the way others aren’t. The customer base is largely middle class and upper. You can tailor your offerings alongside this.
Submit Your Product to Urban Fare Foods
Skip the cold outreach. Mr. Checkout presents products to corporate chain buyers and also works a network of thousands of independent retailers that build real reorder proof. Tell us about your product below and a real person will read it.
How to get your product into Urban Fare
- 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 Urban Fare 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 Urban Fare
There are several ways to get a product placed in Urban Fare. 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 Urban Fare, 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 Urban Fare.
1. Start with the right questions.) Before you try distributing your product to Urban Fare, 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 Urban Fare would be interested in selling your product? If you can strike a deal with Urban Fare, can you handle the production volume? Do you want to sell directly to Urban Fare, 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 Urban Fare? Can you sell your product at a reasonable enough profit to cover the packaging, shipping, commissions, marketing and wholesale distribution? Check Urban Fare 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 Urban Fare 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 Urban Fare is the right store for your product.) The relationship between you and Urban Fare starts with you browsing their store for competing products. If Urban Fare already has a similar product, it is going to be very difficult to get your product picked up. Spend some time at your local Urban Fare 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 Urban Fare.
If your company is minority or women owned, check Urban Fare and see if they offer specific opportunities for those designations.
4. Pitch your product to Urban Fare) Decide whether it will be you or a representative to present your product to Urban Fare. 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 Urban Fare, 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 Urban Fare. The percentage of commission verses, however generally a broker will take around 5% to represent your product to Urban Fare.
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 Urban Fare 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 Urban Fare paperwork.) Often Urban Fare will have you go through an application process. However, before submitting the paperwork required by Urban Fare, you should contact a buyer at Urban Fare 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 Urban Fare 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, Urban Fare 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 Urban Fare, 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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