Lead Generation for Food and Beverage Manufacturers and Distributors
We do lead gen for food and beverage companies that sell to other businesses: manufacturers, co-packers, ingredient suppliers, and distributors whose buyers are grocery category managers, foodservice operators, restaurant groups, and other manufacturers. If you're a brand selling direct to consumers, this isn't the page for you.
What we do is watch for the accounts you want the week something changes there. A grocer announces twelve new stores. A restaurant group signs leases in a new metro. A distributor opens a distribution center. A category buyer leaves one chain for another. We email the person who'll be making the buying decision that week, about that specific thing, and when they write back it goes to your sales lead as a sample request, a category review, or a meeting. Starts as low as $2,999 a month, month to month.
Who you're selling to, and why the usual approach doesn't work on them
Your buyer is a category manager at a grocery chain who reviews her set twice a year, a purchasing director at a restaurant group who's been buying from the same broadline distributor for six years, a foodservice operator with a menu he's not changing, or a sourcing lead at a co-packer who already has a supplier for every ingredient. They don't take on a new vendor because a sample showed up. They take one on when something changes: a new store format needs a category they don't carry, a new metro means a new distributor, a menu changes, a buyer arrives with her own vendor list, or a private label program needs a co-packer.
The way most food and beverage companies find those moments is trade shows and brokers. Both work, and both are slow and expensive. A broker gets you in front of a buyer on the broker's schedule, and the show happens twice a year. The grocer that decided in March to add a refrigerated snack set hears from you at the show in September, after three competitors got there through a buyer who used to work with them.
The lead gen vendors sell you the same list everyone else bought: "purchasing managers" at every grocery and foodservice company in a region, and an email about "premium quality and competitive pricing." A category buyer gets that email from eight suppliers a week, and she deletes all eight.
The account that'll add a supplier this quarter just did something public. We find it that week, and your sales lead gets to the buyer while the set is still open.
What we watch for
There are five signals. They are all public and dated, and they all indicate that a buyer is about to add a supplier.
New stores, new restaurants, or a new market. Press releases, real estate filings, franchise disclosures, and local business press. A grocer opening twelve stores in a new state needs suppliers who can deliver there. A restaurant group signing leases in a new metro needs a distributor who covers it. We email the buyer and ask whether the new locations are covered by the current suppliers or whether the set is open.
A category buyer, purchasing director, or R&D lead changes jobs. LinkedIn and trade press. A new category buyer reviews the set in her first quarter and usually brings a few vendors from the last chain. We land in the first 60 days and offer a category review before the old vendors get renewed by habit.
A private label or new product program gets announced. Press releases and trade press. A retailer launching a private label line needs a co-packer. A brand launching a new SKU needs an ingredient supplier and a co-manufacturer. We email the product lead and offer capacity, certifications, and a sample.
A new distribution center or a distributor change. Press releases, permits, and trade press. A new DC changes which suppliers can deliver profitably. A distributor switch resets every vendor relationship at once. We email the supply chain lead and ask what's changing.
A trade show exhibitor or attendee list gets published. Show organizers publish exhibitor lists months in advance. We email the buyers on the attendee side before the show, so your booth meeting is booked before anyone walks the floor.
What the email looks like
Subject: The twelve Ohio stores
Hi Marisa,
Saw the announcement on the twelve new stores in Ohio. If the refrigerated snack set for the new format hasn't been finalized, we can supply the whole set out of our Columbus plant with delivery to all twelve, and we've got the slotting data from two chains that ran the same format.
We supply refrigerated snacks to three regional chains in the Midwest now, all direct.
Would a sample and the slotting data be useful before the set gets locked?
Dan
Dan is your sales lead. The chain, the store count, the state, and the format all came from the announcement. The email offers the set and the data. That's what a category buyer building a new format is looking for. And it asks for a sample meeting, because that's what your sales lead wants.
Want to know how many grocers, restaurant groups, and distributors in your channel announced new locations or changed buyers last quarter? Book a 15-minute call and we'll pull the count before you get on it.
What we mean by "lead"
A buyer at an account that fits your line wrote back, and it's booked as a sample request, a category review, or a meeting with your sales lead. We don't count a buyer saying "send us your sell sheet." We don't count an account outside your delivery footprint.
Before anything sends we write down the line with you: channels you sell into, categories, delivery footprint, minimum account size, certifications you hold, and whether you sell direct, through distributors, or both.
You see every reply, including the ones that say no.
How it runs
Week one we set up sending domains and mailboxes in your name, agree the line, and turn on the five signals across your channels and footprint.
Week two the first emails go out under your sales lead's name.
Replies go to your sales lead the same day with the signal attached, so the first call starts from "you're opening twelve stores in Ohio" and not from "let me tell you about our company."
Every morning we look at yesterday's sample requests and meetings against the target. If we hit it, we send more. If we missed it, it's one of four things: wrong accounts, not enough of them, the email was off, or it didn't land. We find which, fix it, and that's what goes out today. You can follow it in the log.
When you leave, the domains and mailboxes are yours.
What it costs
Starts as low as $2,999 a month, month to month. No setup fee, no minimum term.
That covers domains, mailboxes, warmup, the list, the signals, the copy, sending, replies, handoff to your sales lead, and the daily log.
It doesn't cover a caller. If you want phone and LinkedIn on top, that's the outbound program, linked below.
Results
The Upside program reached restaurant operators. Of the three, that is the closest to this industry. We'll put a food and beverage number here the first time a client in the category lets us use their name.
Book a 15-minute fit call
Tell us your categories, your channels, and your delivery footprint. We'll tell you whether we'd take the account, which signals fire most in your channel, and, if it shouldn't be us, who to call instead.
Other ways we work with Food and Beverage Manufacturers and Distributors
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if you just want the email and your sales team will do the follow-up.
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if you want email plus LinkedIn and calling with our team on the phones.
Lead Generation for other industries
Questions people ask us
We sell through brokers. Does this replace them?
No. It gets your broker into the meeting earlier. When a buyer replies, you decide whether your sales lead or your broker takes the call, and the broker walks in knowing the account just opened twelve stores instead of finding out at the show.
Our buyers only review the set twice a year. How does email help?
Because the review dates are the signal, and so are the things that force an off-cycle review: a new format, a new buyer, a new market. We email ahead of the scheduled review and the week an off-cycle one gets triggered. That's the only time a category buyer is actually deciding.
Can you reach foodservice operators and restaurant groups, not just grocery?
Yes. New-location signals fire constantly in restaurants, and a group signing leases in a new metro needs a distributor and often new suppliers. The Upside program reached 6.5% of US restaurant locations in a quarter, so we know the channel.
We're a co-packer. Do the signals work for us?
The private label and new product signals are built for co-packers. A retailer announcing a private label line, or a brand announcing a new SKU, needs a co-manufacturer inside a few months, and almost nobody emails them the week the announcement goes out.
How many emails go out?
A few hundred a month across your channels. The list is accounts where something changed this month, not every buyer in a category, so the volume is low and the replies are sample requests.
How long until the first sample request?
Usually weeks three to five. New buyers and new locations go fastest because both come with a date. Trade show meetings get booked in the weeks before the show.