糖心Vlog

Mentors for Makers sat down with some of the UK鈥檚 champion challenger brands and talk, 鈥渉ow attract a retail buyer鈥�.听

The conversation covered ground such as

• Understanding a Retail Buyer
• Building Your Brand鈥檚 Story
• Leveraging Trade Shows
• Scaling Sustainably and Successfully

As an proven manufacturing partner of artisans and challengers, Adelphi are sensitive of the tentative scaling journey brands undertake in their earliest stages. On stage Rachel was joined by Jon, the gut-friendly muesli mogul of Bio & Me, Rachel, the maker of jam-grand-slam Fearne & Rosie and Mike, the tea tincturing trailblazer behind Bird & Blend.

Understanding How to Attract a Retail Buyer

All retail chains have different strategies and long-term goals. For example, due to Sainsbury鈥檚 Future Brands program, it has now added over 100 emerging brands to its shelves. Generally however, there are some factors all buyers consider when stocking a new brand.

听These are: margin potential, unique selling propositions (USPs), market trends, consumer demand, and supply chain reliability. These weighty considerations can mean buyers act slowly, watching a brand鈥檚 performance long before biting.

听Jon explains how he spent two years trying to get Bio & Me stocked in Tesco. He recalls, 鈥渢here must have been 40-50 emails exchanged. When I finally got to meet the buyer, he said the thing that impressed him most was that I didn鈥檛 get annoyed!鈥�

听TOP TIP: A show of patience while you continue to grow can put you in good stead with a buyer.

Building Your Brand鈥檚 Story

There is a story at the heart of all challenger brands worth buying. Innoleaps.com puts it this way,

鈥淐hallenger brands aren鈥檛 focused on becoming market leaders and aren鈥檛 defined by sales figures. They are aiming at something much bigger and want to challenge established concepts. They want to change hearts and minds.鈥�

Fearne & Rosie鈥檚 founder Rachel describes听 this as being 'purpose-led'. As a听 former primary school teacher, Rachel knew she had a good product on her hands but she wasn鈥檛 familiar with the strategic world of retail buying. On a whim, Rachel rung Waitrose head office and pitched the front desk her jam. Of course, she was told she鈥檇 need to speak to a buyer.

鈥淲hat is a buyer鈥�, Rachel recalls asking. But what was truly unbelievable is the wheels were already set in motion to get Fearne & Rosie listed in Waitrose. Rachel lamented that the only reason she had gotten so lucky was because of the USP of her jam being both high in fruit and low in sugar.

鈥淚t only worked because of the product. If I had brought them something that didn鈥檛 work it wouldn鈥檛 have happened. Waitrose were only interested because it was fulfilling a need state鈥�.

Waitrose has a longstanding reputation for partnering with values-driven brands, often prioritising those with sustainability or health-focused missions, making it a prime choice for brands aiming to highlight ethical practices.

Leveraging Trade Shows

Unlike Bio & Me and Fearne & Rosie, Bird & Blend sell direct to consumer. Their shops are an experience in themselves and their co-founder, Mike, spoke about being approached by major retail buyers hoping to be the first to bag Bird & Blend.

鈥淭hey keep on seeing us, whether it鈥檚 winning awards, or online, and it makes them come to us.鈥�

The value of attending key UK trade shows, such as the Speciality & Fine Food Fair or Ideas Fest is that small brands can showcase what鈥檚 special about themselves. These events are opportunities to gain direct access to retail decision-makers. It also gives space for feedback, allowing makers to refine their products, processes and packaging before a pitch.听

Mike informed us that there鈥檚 a high probability of seeing Bird & Blend on our shelves in future. He pointed out that more than ever buyers need disruptive challenger brands to stock their shelves to follow consumer demand.

TOP TIP:听 48.4% of consumers say they will pay more on their everyday products, if they鈥檙e made sustainably. As most challenger brands seek B-Corp status, sustainable scaling is intrinsic to their model. Therefore, challengers currently appeal to nearly half of the market.

Mike spoke candidly, 鈥渁bout once a year I鈥檒l talk to one of them (a buyer) and think 鈥榤aybe we should do it鈥�, then after about forty minutes into the conversation we鈥檒l get bored and leave it for another year.鈥� All this is to say, if things are going well letting hype grow can be powerful, especially as the challenger brand movement continues to grow.

Scaling Your Product

Getting down to the nitty gritty of how to live these values through your manufacturing processes is essential. Choosing a manufacturing partner who has experience and faith in you will be key. Adelphi Manufacturing has had experience working with scaling businesses. Read the case studies with LittlePod or听 WELSH Lavander to understand the Mentors for Makers process.

As an artisan, it鈥檚 likely you鈥檒l initially hand-package your products or use small-scale, manual equipment. While this works in the earliest early stages, scaling up to meet the demands of a retailer requires a much more efficient and reliable packaging process. Take a look at this article to see how artisanal values fit into entry level automation.

Buyers expect that all brands meet high standards of presentation and consistency. They assess whether your product can perform at scale not just in quality, so it鈥檚 important to get the basics right early on. Investing in a machine like the tried-and-true Response Benchtop Filler, speeds things up and minimises human error. Consistency is crucial for maintaining product integrity and meeting the expectations of both retailers and consumers. Quicker production times mean you can deliver products faster to meet retailer timelines. To retailers, your reliability is crucial.

Rachel of Fearne & Rosie spoke about when she initially scaled up, she met her manufacturing partner through a friend of a friend. This connection made the whole process far less daunting, as she felt like they wanted her to succeed.

听TOP TIP: Adelphi Manufacturing鈥檚 Dean Willis offers an Ask-the-Hour every Monday, 3-4pm. With over 35 years in the industry, Dean offers his expertise and time for no-obligation consultations, to support you in achieving your production goals.

In Conclusion

If you鈥檙e serious about how to attract a retail buyer for your product-based business, now is the time to act. Mentors for Makers is here to support and have a hand in empowering the exciting, the different, the oh-so-obvious and the problem-solving and brands of tomorrow.

听If there鈥檚 something mentioned in this article that you鈥檇 like to discuss, please feel free to reach out to us at Mentors for Makers here.