THERE was a time when the supermarkets were not all that interested in Britain’s small food producers because they could not supply on the mass scale needed to fill the shelves of the national chains.

Not any more. In the past couple of years there has been a big shift in the supermarkets’ focus towards small, local producers. Indeed, Waitrose, J Sainsbury and Tesco are actively wooing them.

Last September Tesco held its first regional roadshow for small producers in Padstow, Cornwall, and invited 200 to meet the supermarket’s senior buyers face to face. It also opened several regional offices and will be opening more this year.

Sainsbury has followed suit by launching a programme called Supply Something New, to make it easier for small suppliers by providing free training days, technical support, and supplier certification. As a direct result, Higgidy Pies, based in West Sussex, and the Organic Patisserie, based in Somerset, have become Sainsbury suppliers.

So why the sudden interest in small, local food producers? Emily Shamma, head of local sourcing at Tesco, said: “First, over the last couple of years we have seen the demand for local products among customers move from being primarily a niche demand into something that is becoming much more mainstream. The second reason is that we were missing out on some great products.”

Graham Cassie, manager of local and regional sourcing at Waitrose, said: “Customers like having regional products and occasionally you get real innovation from small producers. The winner of our small producer awards was a rapeseed farmer. Rapeseed oil is generally used as an ingredient in processing, but he is bottling it much as you would olive oil and selling it as a domestic kitchen oil. That is total innovation and is hugely exciting because it could change the face of British farming.”

So what are the big supermarkets looking for when deciding whether they would be interested in stocking a small supplier’s prod-ucts? The first requirement is that the product is made from the highest-quality ingredients. Cassie said: “The No 1 thing we are looking for is quality, not only in the product itself, but also in the ingredients.”

From talking to supermarket buyers it is clear that you also need to make your product as regionally identifiable as possible.

Judith Batchelar, brand director at Sainsbury, said: “All the feedback we get from customers is that the provenance of the ingredients is a big reason for them to purchase a product. The two big things are Britishness and regionality, not because people are suddenly very patriotic but because people believe that British and regional food will be fresher food and therefore tastier, and the whole environmental impact of that.”

But how big do you need to be to start supplying the big supermarkets? The answer is: probably smaller than you think. Both Tesco and Waitrose have taken on small producers that make only enough to supply one store, and their small producers on average supply between 10 and 20 stores.

Cassie said: “We have some producers who literally supply one store – which is fine. We also have a producer that started with one store and now supplies 180 stores so we have grown together, and that is equally fine.”

So how do you go about approaching the supermarkets with your product? The key person to seek out is the buyer; but different supermarkets have different entry routes, so it is important to find the right one. Tesco, for example, is happy for small producers to contact it directly, either through its regional offices or its website.

Waitrose, on the other hand, prefers to make contact through independent regional food groups, such as Taste of the West and Heart of England Fine Foods, which come under the Food for Britain umbrella and are partly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. These groups are able to offer useful advice to small producers about dealing with the supermarkets.

Cassie said: “People can approach us direct, but we would encourage them to talk to the regional food group so they can help them with advice and get them up to a certain level so they reach the stage where they are ready to come and talk to us.”

Even better, Waitrose will sometimes tell a regional food group what type of products it is looking for and target the local producers making them. Waitrose’s Locally and Regionally Produced Initiative now includes almost 1,200 product lines.

So what happens if a supermarket likes the sound of your product? Initially it will come and view your premises and advise on how much you would need to produce. It will also ask whether you would prefer to supply a branded product, or a supermarket own-label product.

Batchelar said: “Some people are very passionate about developing their own brands whereas others are very keen to provide us with a Sainsbury-branded product because that means we take on a lot of the responsibility for the product’s manufacture such as safety testing and also all the marketing.”

If a supermarket decides to stock your product, its technical team will advise on what you need to do to get your premises up to scratch. Shamma said: “We have a dedicated regional technical team just for local suppliers who can help businesses get up to the technical standards they require.”

Batchelar said that although small suppliers will have to foot the expense of upgrading to the required standard, they are likely to find it easier to borrow money if they have a supermarket waiting in the wings.

Once a product is on the shelves, Tesco will give it 12 weeks to prove it will sell before removing it or giving the supplier a contract, whereas Waitrose will review the situation after six months to a year.

Finally, before you start supplying a supermarket you need to think about whether it will be the right move for you. While some small producers love the idea, others are reluctant to help the supermarkets become even more dominant.

Kirsty Grieve, food and drink manager at Food from Britain, said: “The big benefit of working with a supermarket is regular business. Once you are in there and have your distribution sorted it will run itself and it is easy money. But you need to make sure that the cost price you have agreed is profitable to you. And you have to decide whether you actually want to supply a supermarket.”

www.foodfrombritain.co.uk

www.tesco.com/regionalsourcing

www.waitrose.com/sourcing

www.supplysomethingnew.co.uk

COTTAGE INDUSTRY

LYNDA WHITCOMBE started supplying her Plantation Cottage jellies to Waitrose five years ago after her regional food group, Heart of England Fine Foods, suggested she show it some samples.

She now supplies five local stores, usually making a delivery each week.

Whitcombe, who is based in Bricklehampton, Worcestershire, turned an outbuilding into a dedicated kitchen for her jellies, which are produced with home-grown herbs from her garden.

She said: “I had been selling my jellies in the local farmers’ market and I thought I was never going to be able to make enough for Waitrose, but it is like supplying the local deli.

“Initially the process was a bit daunting, but once I got to know the local buyer she was very reassuring. I am pleased with how it has gone.”

HOW TO BECOME A SUPPLIER TO THE BIG CHAINS

KIRSTY GRIEVE, regional food and drink manager at Food from Britain, an umbrella organisation that represents regional food groups in Britain, has this advice for potential suppliers:

Understand your costs of production – not just the price of the ingredients but also how much it costs to package, transport and distribute it, so that when you come to negotiate with the buyer you know exactly what you are talking about and how you are going to make money out of the arrangement.

Supplying your brand to a supermarket may mean that independent shops no longer wish to stock it. One way round this is to supply only own-label products to the supermarket and sell your brand in small shops.

Be professional. Understand that the supermarkets are going to negotiate on price and quantity because that is their job – they are not picking on you just because you are small. Know what you are talking about and negotiate in return.

Understand how supermarkets work. Never try to contact a supermarket buyer on a Monday because that’s when they have sales meetings. Always contact them by e-mail rather than by phone because you will never get through.

Think about how you are going to get your products to the supermarket – and how you can make it cost-effective. Few supermarkets accept direct deliveries to a store, so you will have to take your goods to a central distribution depot that could be 50 miles away. One solution is to join forces with another producer in your area to share costs.

If your product is taken on by a supermarket, get involved in promoting it. Make sure it is being displayed properly and offer to do instore tastings.

If you are invited to increase the number of stores you supply, do it gradually and make sure you have the capacity to maintain that level of business. Don’t take on more than you can cope with.

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