How to find a food distributor for your product
To find a food distributor for your product, start with the distributors and wholesalers that already supply shops like your stockists: ask your buyers who they order through, walk the trade shows where distributors exhibit, and check distributors' websites for a page for new suppliers. Approach them once shops reorder from you and your price still works after the distributor's margin. This guide covers what distributors and wholesalers do, when you're ready, how to find a food distributor for your product and approach it, what it will ask for, how to price for it, and how to keep the accounts you already serve direct.
1. What do food distributors and wholesalers do?
Both buy your stock, hold it in their warehouse and sell it on to shops, cafés and other businesses, alongside products from many other makers. You get one customer who orders more than a single shop.
The words overlap and businesses use them loosely, so ask each one what it does rather than going by its name. The differences that matter to you:
| Question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Do you have sales reps who visit shops? | A business with reps will show your range to buyers. One without reps lists you in a catalogue and waits for shops to order. |
| Which shops do you sell to? | Delis and farm shops, cafés and restaurants, pubs, or larger retailers. You want the ones your product suits. |
| Which area do you cover? | Some deliver nationally, some cover a region. A regional business can be the right first step. |
| Do you handle ambient, chilled or frozen? | A chilled or frozen product needs a business that can store and deliver it at that temperature. |
| How do you buy: outright, or on sale or return? | It changes when you get paid and who carries the risk of unsold stock (see section 6). |
2. When is a small food brand ready for a distributor?
A distributor takes you on to sell more of what already sells. It will ask for proof, and it will order in volumes you have to make reliably. Work through this list before you approach one.
- Shops reorder. You can name stockists that have reordered, and say how often. First orders show a buyer liked the idea; reorders show customers bought it.
- You can make more. You know how many units you can produce a month, and you can scale up if a distributor's order is several times your usual week.
- Your shelf life fits. Stock may sit in their warehouse, then in a shop. Short shelf life leaves little time for either.
- Your price works after their margin. You have done the sum in section 5 and it still leaves you a margin you can live with.
- The basics are in place. You're registered as a food business with your local council (free, and at least 28 days before you start trading), labels meet UK rules, and you have product liability insurance.
If you can't tick all five yet, keep selling direct. Our guide on how to find stockists covers the direct channels in the meantime.
3. How to find a food distributor for your product
Food distributor UK: where to look
- Ask your stockists. "Who do you buy most of your deli range through?" A shop that already stocks you will name the distributors it orders from.
- Look at brands next to yours. Makers in your category often list their distributors on their website, or a shop will tell you who supplies a product on its shelf.
- Walk trade shows. Distributors exhibit and visit. IFE at ExCeL London is usually in March, the Farm Shop & Deli Show at the NEC Birmingham is usually in April, and the Speciality & Fine Food Fair at Olympia London is usually in September. Check dates on each organiser's website. Our guide to food and drink trade shows in the UK covers how to prepare.
- Check distributors' websites. Some have a page for producers who want to supply them, with what to send and who to send it to.
Food wholesalers UK: which kind to target
Shortlist by who they sell to. A fine food wholesaler supplying delis and farm shops suits a chutney or a chilli sauce. A foodservice wholesaler supplying cafés and restaurants suits catering packs. A regional distributor covering your county and the next can be easier to win than a national one, and gets you into shops a few hours' drive away. Shortlist three to five, and check each catalogue for a gap your product fills.
4. How to get a food distributor to take you on
Email the buyer or category manager by name with a short pitch, your trade sheet and an offer of samples. Lead with evidence: which shops stock you, which reorder, and what gap you fill in their range.
What a distributor will ask for
| They ask for | What to have ready |
|---|---|
| Price list | Your price to them, the price they would sell to shops at, and the RRP. Our guide to building a wholesale price list and trade sheet shows the layout. |
| Current stockists | Names, towns, and how often each reorders |
| Capacity | Units you can make a month now, and how fast you could increase it |
| Product details | Shelf life from production, case size, case and pallet dimensions, storage conditions |
| Barcodes | GS1 barcodes on each unit; ask whether they need one on the outer case too |
| Lead time | Days from their order to delivery at their warehouse |
| Paperwork | Food business registration, product liability insurance, specification sheets with allergens. Some ask for a food safety certification such as SALSA or BRCGS; requirements vary, so ask. |
A short first email
Subject: Wildfire Chilli Co: Bristol chilli sauces reordered by 14 delis
Hi Priya,
We're Wildfire Chilli Co, a chilli sauce maker in Bristol. Fourteen delis and farm shops in the South West stock our sauces, and nine of them reorder every four to six weeks.
Your catalogue has two smoked sauces and no habanero, so our Smoked Habanero could fill that space. It has a 12-month shelf life, comes in cases of 6, and has GS1 barcodes on every bottle and case. Our trade sheet is attached.
Could I send you a case to try?
Thanks,
Sam Ellis
Wildfire Chilli Co, Bristol · 07700 900123
Some distributors only add new lines when they review their range. If the answer is "not now", ask when the next review is and write again before it.
5. How to price your product for a distributor
The distributor needs its margin, the shop still needs its margin, and the shelf price stays the same. So the distributor pays you less than a shop does. Margins vary between distributors and depend on what they do for you, so ask each one what it works to before you quote.
Wildfire Chilli Co (fictional): Smoked Habanero Chilli Sauce, 150ml
Cost per bottle: £2.56
RRP: £6.50
Trade price to shops, direct: £4.20
The distributor sells to shops at £4.20, so shops keep the same margin. It works to a 25% margin (an assumption for this example).
Price to the distributor: £4.20 × (1 − 0.25) = £3.15
Wildfire's margin: (£3.15 − £2.56) ÷ £3.15 = 19%, against 39% selling direct
Wildfire's floor for distributor sales is £3.41 (a 25% margin). At £3.15 this deal is below it.
When the sum comes out below your floor, you have options before you say no:
- Recost delivery. If your cost per unit includes delivering to individual shops, one pallet to one warehouse may cost less per bottle.
- Recost at their volume. Bigger batches and larger packaging orders can bring your unit cost down.
- Check the RRP. If similar products sell for more, a higher shelf price gives everyone more room.
- Offer different products. Give the distributor the lines with the best margin and keep the rest for direct sales.
Our guide on how to price a food product shows how to work out your cost and set your floor before this conversation.
6. How to protect your direct accounts
Your direct stockists pay you the full trade price. Agree in writing which accounts stay with you before the first distributor order.
- List your house accounts. Name the shops you'll keep supplying direct, and agree that the distributor won't approach them for your products.
- Keep prices level. Sell direct at the same trade price the distributor charges shops. Then no shop gains by switching, and the distributor has no reason to complain you undercut it.
- Limit any exclusivity. If a distributor asks to be your only route to shops, limit it to a region or a type of customer, for a fixed period with a review date.
- Agree how it ends. A notice period, and what happens to stock in their warehouse when it does.
- Agree payment terms. Between businesses, payment terms longer than 60 days are only allowed if expressly agreed and not grossly unfair to the supplier. If no date is agreed, statutory interest can run from 30 days after the later of the goods or the invoice arriving.
Sale or return
Some distributors ask to take stock on sale or return. The goods stay yours until they're sold, and unsold stock comes back to you. HMRC treats the VAT tax point as the date the customer sells the goods or confirms it will keep them, or 12 months after you sent them, whichever is earlier. Check the VAT treatment with your accountant.
Put the whole agreement in writing and have a solicitor check it before you sign. This guide is not legal advice.
Questions about food distributors
How do I find a food distributor for my product?
Ask your stockists who they buy through, visit trade shows where distributors exhibit, and check distributors' websites for a page for new suppliers. Shortlist three to five that sell to shops like yours and cover your temperature range.
What is the difference between a food wholesaler and a distributor?
Both buy your stock and sell it on to shops and other businesses. People use the words loosely, but a distributor more often has sales reps who show your range to buyers, so ask each business what it does.
When should a small food brand get a distributor?
When shops reorder from you, you can make more than you sell, your shelf life suits time in a warehouse, and your price still leaves you a margin after the distributor's cut.
How much margin does a food distributor take?
It varies by distributor and by what it does for you, such as holding stock, delivering or sending reps to shops. Ask each one what margin it works to and what price it sells to shops at, then check the result against your floor price.
What does a food distributor need from a new supplier?
Usually a price list, current stockists, monthly capacity, shelf life, case and pallet details, GS1 barcodes, lead times, food business registration and product liability insurance. Some also ask for a food safety certification such as SALSA or BRCGS.
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