Food sampling: how to run in-store tastings that sell stock

Updated 3 November 2026 · DELLI

Food sampling means giving shoppers a taste of your product in the shop where they can buy it. For a small brand, the best place to start is an in-store tasting with a stockist: agree a busy time with the shop, make sure there's enough stock on the shelf, serve your product the way customers would eat it, and count what sells. This guide covers how to set up and run a tasting, what to bring, what to say to shoppers, food sampling ideas, how to measure whether it worked, and how to pitch a tasting day to a shop as a reason to stock you.

1. Food sampling and in-store tastings: what they're for

A tasting does three jobs at once, and it helps to know which one matters most for each session.

• Selling stock now. Shoppers taste, like it and pick up a jar or bottle on the way to the till.
• Helping the shop sell after you've gone. Staff who have tasted your product and seen customers buy it are more confident recommending it.
• Winning stockists and reorders. A tasting gives you numbers to take to the next conversation with the buyer, and it's an offer you can make to a shop that hasn't stocked you yet.

Tasting or food demo?

A tasting is a table with samples, ready to eat. A food demo means cooking or preparing something in front of shoppers: frying halloumi to drizzle with your chilli honey, or making toasties with your chutney. A demo can draw more attention but needs more space, equipment and the shop's agreement for any heat source. Start with a tasting, and add demos once you know which shops have room for them.

2. How to set up an in-store tasting, and what to bring

Agree the details with the shop

• Date and time. Ask the shop when it's busiest. A Saturday late morning in a farm shop or a Friday afternoon in a deli are good places to start, but each shop knows its own pattern.
• Length. Two to three hours is enough for most small shops. Longer sessions can feel like you're taking over.
• Where you'll stand. Near your product on the shelf if possible, so shoppers can pick it up straight after tasting. Keep clear of the door and the till queue.
• What you need from them. A table, power for a demo, somewhere to wash up, and any house rules about serving food on the shop floor.
• Stock. Check how many units are on the shelf and in the stockroom. Offer to bring extra, and agree how it's invoiced if it sells.
• Promotion. Agree who posts about it on social media, and whether the shop can mention it in its newsletter or on a sign by the door the week before.

Confirm the details a week before and again the day before.

What to bring

3. How to run a food tasting: talking to shoppers

Stand in front of or beside the table, never behind it with your arms folded. Make eye contact, smile, and offer the taste before you start talking about the product.

Opening lines

Keep the first line short and about the taste. A question with an easy yes works well:

• "Would you like to try a smoked chilli jam? It's made in Bristol."
• "Fancy a taste with some cheddar?"
• "This one's mild, and that one's hot. Want to try the mild one first?"

While they taste

Give them a few seconds before you say anything else. Then tell them one thing they can't learn from the label:

• Who you are: "I make it in my kitchen in Bedminster."
• How to use it: "It's great on a cheese toastie, or brushed on pork chops."
• Where it's from: "The chillies come from a farm near Chew Magna."

Pointing them to the shelf

The sale happens at the shop's till, so finish by telling them where to find it and the price: "It's £6 a jar, just there on the second shelf." Hand them a jar if they hesitate. Don't push. A shopper who says no today may buy next time if you were friendly.

Questions you'll get

• "Is it hot?" Be honest, and offer the milder product.
• "Is it vegan, gluten-free, nut-free?" Check your allergen sheet. Never guess.
• "How long does it keep?" Give the best before period and how to store it once opened.

Brief the staff

Before you start, give the staff a taste and tell them the one thing you'd like them to say to customers. After you've gone, they're the ones selling it.

4. Food sampling ideas

A plain sample on a stick works, but a little thought about how shoppers taste it helps them remember it. Ideas to try:

• Pair it with something the shop sells. Your chutney with the shop's own cheese, your jam on their bread. It sells two products and the shop notices.
• A heat ladder. For sauces, line up three from mild to hot and let shoppers work their way up.
• A side-by-side. Two flavours to compare, and ask which they prefer.
• Recipe tastings. Serve a small finished bite, such as a mini toastie, a meatball with your sauce or yoghurt with your granola, and give away the recipe card.
• A seasonal tasting. A Christmas chutney with mince pies or cheese in December, a barbecue sauce on a sausage in summer.
• Meet the maker. Ask the shop to bill it as a meet-the-maker morning. It gives shoppers a reason to come in on the day.
• Pair up with another maker. A cheese maker and a chutney maker, or a bread maker and a jam maker, can share one table and the setting-up.

Our guide on how to market a food product covers shelf talkers and posts that tag your stockists, which work well alongside a tasting.

5. How to tell if a tasting worked

Agree with the shop how you'll count before you start, and write the numbers down. Three numbers tell you most of what you need.

• Units sold during the session. Count the stock on the shelf at the start and the end, plus anything you added. Ask the shop to check the till if it can.
• Sell-through in the weeks after. Sell-through is the share of stock the shop sells over a period. Compare how many units a week the shop sold before the tasting with the weeks after.
• Reorders. Did the shop reorder sooner, or order more, than it usually does? A larger or earlier reorder is the clearest sign the tasting worked.

Also note the questions shoppers asked and which product they bought most.

Weigh the result against the cost, including your time, and put your Saturdays into the shops where tastings sell best.

6. Pitching a tasting day to a shop

A tasting day is a reason for a shop to say yes. It shows the buyer you'll help sell the stock, and it lowers their risk on a new product. Offer it in your first email or visit, alongside your samples and trade sheet.

Make the offer specific:

• A date or two, on the shop's busiest day
• How long you'll stay and what you'll bring
• That you'll bring extra stock and promote the day on your social media
• That you'll share the sales numbers afterwards

The shop and buyer are fictional. Our guide to writing pitch emails to shop buyers covers subject lines and follow-ups. Once you're stocked, a regular tasting every few months is one of the ways to turn a first order into reorders, as our guide to getting stocked in farm shops and delis explains.

Questions about food sampling

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