Grocery distributors in the US

finding smaller regional distributors is difficult. Go on Google Maps and search for phrases like "food distributors" "foods" "wholesale meat" You are likely able to get coverage from UNFI, but they have minimums and credit requirements for new businesses. Seeing as you are so close to the border, I bet there are a few exporters who might sell you things as well, they may or may not have agreements that prohibit reselling in the US. There are also some new players in the space like Adventure CPG or The DisCo or Pod Foods who may cover this area

Well it depends on your city. For DOT that I mentioned you can go to www.dotfoods.com to contact them. Should've mentioned this first but www.core-mark.com is the company that supplies 7-11 so they can take care of you. Or www.mclaneco.com. They are also strictly a c-store provider. However you'll need business info such as federal tax id number, etc Also they require a minimum order.

I'm not quite involved in this stuff, but I am a space planner for a small chain that uses a lot of the same resources as the independent grocers. I don't know a lot of the details, but we work pretty heavily with Associated Wholesale Grocers. I know most of the products our stores sell come from AWG warehouses, and the same is true for a lot of independent stores. It might be worth it for you to look into them or some other cooperatives/distributors if you haven't already.

I mean, if you're looking for a serious distributor, they are all going to have those types of requirements. AFS is a co-op, so you are agreeing to take "part ownership" in the company when you sign up. You can lean towards a convenience store distributor like Harbor Wholesale, but their prices are substantially higher, and they also have some of their own hoops. The nice thing about AFS is they have all the infrastructure in place for your back office, tags, price changes, ads, and so much more. I guess my question would be, are you looking to be a grocery store or a convenience store? Because your needs will be different.

For Natural foods look at UNFI, KeHe, we also use Pepsi and Coke through their local subsidiaries. Faire.com is an online wholesale site that’s good to use for starting up but just watch the shipping costs. Performance Food Group is a c-store distributor that has good inventory and should be in that area. I’m sure there’s a lot more, reach out to ones in LA/San Diego too. I’m in middle of Kansas and get route deliveries from Iowa, Chicago, Dallas, Denver so it doesn’t have to be exactly local you just have the find the ones with routes to your area. Honestly go stake out other grocery stores and c-stores around you and watch the delivery trucks coming and going. Costco and Sam’s are options too especially if you have a Costco business warehouse near you. Also search for “cash and carry wholesale” warehouses, ones in our area sell mostly tobacco and vapes but have food and drinks also and we utilize them for a few items or in one-off scenarios. Good luck!

Our store switched to AWG for about two years and switched back. Too expensive, customers hated their private label products, and so on. They made everything harder than it needed to be.

When you sell to someone who will resell, you don't collect sales tax since it will be collected at the final point of sale to the consumer. The person you're selling to has to have an exemption certificate proving they collect sales tax so don't have to pay it. You almost always have to be a business to be exempt. To avoid having to set this up, they only sell to people (businesses) who will be reselling and collecting tax.

There are local distributors for the manufacturers. Costco now has a 'business center' in certain cities that cater to these sorts of businesses that but literally everything by the case. They have a greater selection of items than a regular Costco as well.

Some of us are small independent buying just simply trying to buy produce. I can't meet the order limits to have an account with Sysco. I rely on restaurant depot for a lot.

The membership is free. And if you are a new business it is the best thing you can do. Wholesale distributors like Sysco or US food charge what they are able to charge you and this will generally go up. The depot charges everyone the same price and you can see what it is so you can negotiate with your vendors even if that's all you use it for. Tell them to match Restaurant depot or you'll just shop there.

Wholesale clubs like Costco give you access to lower pricing than you would otherwise receive retail but generally are not nearly as low as buying from a distributor. Manufacturer pricing programs change frequently and occasionally can bring distributor pricing close to or even over Costco's pricing but the vast majority of the time it makes sense to work with the distributor.

Regarding the food wholesalers (sysco, us foods, performance food service), a person contacts them to get log in credentials and a sales rep. The prices their website show aren't necessarily the prices you will pay. They are CONSTANTLY giving deals then slowly raising the prices with the hope that the person ordering doesn't notice. The food comes in a semi once or twice a week. The driver uses a hand cart to bring it to your kitchen. Sam's Club and Costco are good for some stuff. Webstraunt store is good for other stuff. Katom, Equippers, and others can be good for equipment. I will even go to Aldi or Walmart for certain things.

Without knowing the size of the store, wholesalers are not kind to small grocers. The minimum orders can be prohibitive. We definitely need more info about the store.

Wholesale Food Industry for 30 years here. . . U don’t want to do this unless u have about 25 gas stations (and that might not be enough). Coke and Pepsi are DSD (direct store delivery) from their own trucks. They won’t sell a truckload of coke at a reduced price to your own warehouse and I am actually surprised to hear u saly you are buying it from a wholesaler (unless u mean the coke and Pepsi distributors). I assume u make a good living with the gas stations. if you’re making 150k per year - u will be the most expensive delivery driver on the face of the planet. You‘re idea is not bad, but setting up accounts with vendors and meeting the min requirements for shipments, order lead times, etc. is going to be a challenge. If it’s better pricing u want - the Coke and Pepsi guys have it to give. You need a good sales rep and a relationship with him or her. Keep in mind (no offense here), in Coke and Pepsi world - you’re small potatoes unless u have some mega gas stations where they are delivering full trucks to each location.

And they give you contracts to your store that give you back like 50c-$1.00 per case. But they also hold you to their pricing and promotions and required minimum orders even if you lose money. Source: ex- Sales account Manager for coca Cola

In my experience, produce companies offer way better service than the big name distributors too. Hotshots, delivery frequency, waiving order minimums, etc. And not near as used-car-salesman-esque.

Oops we forgot to send your freezer pallet . Oh you needed repacks that you ordered ? Oh gosh I’m really sorry but we left your dairy and eggs on the loading dock . Lol yup

I work at a store that UNFI is its main supplier. Causing serious headaches already. We typically get 4 deliveries from them a week and haven’t gotten one yet this week

Overall, a store wants to run about a 30% gross margin. Departments with perishable items(particularly produce, deli, and meat) typically run higher target GMs(40-50%) to offset the losses, with the goal of averaging out to ~30% after losses and other department costs. These departments also tend to have higher labor costs - part of which is due to having to cull and deal with outdated/unsold product.

Since no one is actually answering the question as it has very little to due with rotation. The built in price guide is 30% over store cost. Produce is usually 50%, bakery is nearly 80%. So for everything they throw away is a known calculation to what you are paying. Even 'sale' items have a markup built it over the cost of the item.

It's called a slotting fee. That price sounds about right to me. Not every retailer will charge one, but a lot of them do. We've pushed back on them before, but as you'll find with a lot of things with retailers/distributors, there's not much room for negotiation unless you're big enough to have leverage. Sometimes they'll try to make you pay it for small product modifications too, but we've always objected to that. As for whether you should pay it, it really depends on overall strategy for the business and how much you want to invest in the retail channel, but it's the price for entry at a lot of places.

Worked a couple summers in my uncle's corner store and the part nobody warns you about is you're not really in the selling business, you're in the not-throwing-it-away business. Every case of produce you over order is margin you literally compost out back. What decides if you make it is how fast the cooler turns before stuff spoils, not what you mark it up to.

I have worked in grocery for 30 years. Do not open your own store. Margins are WAY too thin for a small business to thrive. Insurance, shrink, etc etc will nickle and dime you to death. Also, it's hard work thats literally never ending. Put your money into something else.

margins are brutal, and it's impossible to compete on price. You must market on service or quality. Chains likely already have the best locations too, so try and find a food desert so there's less competition.