How to sell to restaurants and hotels: chefs, tastings and pricing

Updated 3 November 2026 · DELLI

To sell to restaurants, find out who chooses ingredients (usually the head chef or chef-owner), offer a product that turns up the same every time in a pack size a kitchen can use, and get it tasted between services. Hotels work the same way for kitchen ingredients, while the food and beverage manager often decides on bought-in products. This guide covers who decides, what kitchens need, how to get a tasting, foodservice pricing, foodservice wholesalers and an example email to a head chef.

1. Who decides in a restaurant or hotel?

Pitching to the wrong person can cost you weeks. Find out who chooses before you write or visit.

Independent restaurants

In an independent restaurant the head chef, or the chef-owner, usually decides what goes on the menu and which ingredients to buy. The owner or general manager may sign off new suppliers and payment terms, so be ready to talk to both.

Restaurant groups

In a group with several sites, ask whether each kitchen chooses its own ingredients or whether a group chef or central buyer decides. A head chef at one site may love your product and still not be able to order it.

How to sell to hotels

Hotels have two kinds of buyer:

• The head chef chooses ingredients for the restaurant, room service, banqueting and breakfast cooking.
• The food and beverage manager often decides on bought-in products: jams and honey for the breakfast buffet, biscuits for rooms, drinks for the bar, and products for a hotel shop or gift hampers.

Work out which one fits your product before you get in touch. A chutney for the cheese board goes to the chef. Individual jars of jam for the breakfast table may go to the food and beverage manager.

Finding the name

Check the restaurant's website, menu credits, social posts and local press for the head chef's name. If you can't find it, phone between services and ask: "Who looks after ingredient suppliers, and what's the best way to reach them?"

2. Selling to chefs: what kitchens need from a supplier

A chef buys for a menu that has to taste the same every night. Your product is one part of a dish, and a dish only works if every part arrives as expected.

Consistency

Every batch needs the same flavour, heat, texture and colour. A chilli jam that's sweeter one month and hotter the next changes the dish, and a chef will drop it. Write down your recipe, weights and method, and taste each batch against a reference jar before it leaves.

Pack sizes suited to kitchens

Retail jars are slow to open and wasteful in a busy kitchen. Offer a catering size if you can: a 1kg or 2.5kg tub, a 1 litre bottle or a bulk bag, depending on your product. Ask the chef what they'd use in a week and how much fridge or shelf space they have, then size the pack to that.

Reliable delivery

A chef plans the menu around what will be in the kitchen. Fixed delivery days, a clear cut-off for orders and a warning if anything is short matter to a kitchen as much as price. If you can't deliver yourself, say how the product will arrive and how long it takes.

A product spec sheet

Give the chef one page per product, covering:

• Product name, pack size and case size
• Full ingredients list, with the 14 allergens emphasised
• Shelf life unopened, and once opened, as you've established it
• Storage conditions
• Price per pack, per kg or litre, and per portion
• Minimum order, delivery days and order cut-off

Allergen information matters even more for a kitchen than a shop, because the restaurant has to tell diners what is in each dish. Tell the chef in writing, before delivery, whenever a recipe or ingredient supplier changes.

3. How to get a tasting

Chefs buy on taste, and they want to try a product in their own kitchen. Ask for ten minutes, not a meeting.

• Go between services. Mid-afternoon, between lunch and dinner, is usually the only time a chef can stop. Never turn up during service.
• Bring a catering pack, not a gift jar. Leave enough for the chef to cook with for a few days.
• Show it in use. Suggest two or three ways to use it that suit their menu: a glaze for pork belly, a dressing base, a cheese board condiment.
• Leave the spec sheet with prices, allergens and delivery days, so they can decide without chasing you.
• Agree when to come back. A week is enough for a chef to try it in a few dishes.

If the chef likes it, offer a short trial: one or two deliveries at your normal price, then a call to ask what worked. Once your product is in a dish on the menu, agree a delivery day and how the chef will reorder.

4. Pricing for foodservice

A chef thinks in cost per portion and cost per plate, because that is how the menu is priced. Give a price per pack, per kg or litre, and per portion at a stated portion size.

Catering packs often cost you less per kg than retail jars: one tub and one label instead of several jars, lids and labels. Pass some of that saving on, so a chef pays less per kg than they would buying your retail jars.

• Ask what the dish sells for and what the chef wants it to cost. A condiment at 19p a portion is a small part of the plate cost. A main ingredient needs more thought.
• Set a minimum order that covers the delivery, for example two tubs per drop or a minimum order value.
• Agree how you'll invoice, for example monthly, before the first delivery.

For costing each line in more detail, see our guide on how to price a food product.

5. Foodservice wholesalers and how to market to restaurants

Foodservice wholesalers and distributors

Kitchens buy through foodservice wholesalers and distributors as well as direct from producers. A wholesaler lets a chef add your product to an order they already place, with one delivery and one invoice. That makes it easier for a chef to say yes, and it reaches kitchens you'd never deliver to yourself.

A wholesaler buys from you at a lower price than a restaurant would pay you direct, so your price has to leave room for both of you. One sensible order is to sell direct to local kitchens first, then approach a wholesaler once you have chefs ordering regularly, which shows the wholesaler there's demand. Our guide on how to find a food distributor covers when you're ready and what they'll ask for.

You can also ask a chef who already buys from you which wholesaler they use. If several of your chefs use the same one, that's the wholesaler to approach.

How to market to restaurants

• Use the chefs you have. Ask a chef who uses your product if you can name the restaurant to other kitchens, and get permission in writing.
• Post dishes, not jars. Share photos of your product in finished dishes, with the restaurant tagged and its permission.
• Consider trade shows. IFE (International Food & Drink Event) is usually held at ExCeL London in March, and Lunch!, for food-to-go and cafés, at ExCeL London in September or October. Check dates on each organiser's website.
• Start local. Kitchens near you are easier to visit for tastings and to deliver to on a fixed day.

Cafés buy in a similar way to restaurants but often take baked goods and retail lines too. See our guide on how to sell to cafés.

6. An example email to a head chef

Keep it short, mention a dish or something real about the restaurant, and ask for a tasting.

The restaurant and chef are fictional. If there's no reply after about a week, follow up once, or call in between services with a tub. For subject lines, follow-ups and the rules on emailing businesses, see our guide to writing pitch emails to buyers.

Questions about selling to restaurants and hotels

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