We have the OK from Pacific Foods for distribution to Gelson’s. With their blessing – we now show to Gelson’s. Got a long list of requirements from them, including agreements to co-op advertise in their newsletter and agreements to do in store sampling. Meanwhile, Wachovia has a branch in Toluca Lake and in Rockville, so I’ll be going there to open the company business account. Here is what the list looks like:
My address is below. Also please see the following questions as these are questions, which would need answered if you are going to make a presentation. Also I’ve attached a New Item and Promotional Allowance form for your use.
- General item facts (order #, upc, pk/size, description, case cost, etc.) / please complete attached form and bring to meeting
- Shelf life of your product
- Suggested everyday retails for your product
- Ranking of each individual item within a category (i.e. cookies, cake scones, etc.)
- Where and what stores are currently carrying your items
- When is product available
- New item allowance. Will be discussed during meeting.
- Distribution – is there a local distributor that currently handles your product?
- Is your product guaranteed?
- Demonstration funding? Is your company able to do demo’s of your product? Will discuss cost amount during meeting.
- Newsletter funding? Is your company able to participate in our monthly newsletter (1 million copies printed each month)? Will discuss funding amount during the meeting.
- Insurance requirements to be met if authorized – See attached documents
- Your company’s terms of payment – We require 2/10, net 30 for any new vendors
Team Mandel Blog Development Countdown
Spoke to a distributor for Gelson’s, they have 18 stores in the Southern California Region. I will be taking a sample to them tomorrow. The buyer at Gelson’s, also had good advice on local distributors to contact. Meanwhile, the CNBC clip has been a great marketing tool, from You Tube been able to forward to prospective customers the link, as was the case with Gelson’s today. Waiting for the beginning of June to see if we can get a booth at the Santa Monnica Farmer’s Market.
Team Mandel Blog Development Countdown
Early this week – I sent prototype packages to a large distributer in Michigan. He saw us on The Big Idea! and was interested in Aunt Erma’s mandel bread. We have had some discussions about pricing which has led me to some more work trying to get a complete picture of our packaging and delivery costs. This includes shipping from China, the cost of the case boxes themselves, the cost to ship to the distributor, and shipping costs from our contract baker to the distributor. All of this is to come up with a fair wholesale price to the distributor who will then resell to his retailers, who will then add their retail mark-up. On the web site front – I have been researching merchant accounts and gateways for credit card ordering. I don’t expect there to be much in the way of web sales, but the box has our web site right on the front and so we need to be prepared if someone buys a box of Aunt Erma’s finest and decides to place their next order over the internet. Right now the lead candidate is a company called PaySimple – low start-up and monthly fees, and in the beginning we won’t need an SSL for online orders. No word from Whole foods north yet. Meanwhile, we are approaching 8,000 hits to AuntErmas.com web site…
Team Mandel Blog Development Countdown