Sell your food or drink product in a supermarket

Karri Kitchen is a Northern Ireland-based healthy ready meal company, focused on crafting convenient and nutritious meals infused with South-East Asian flavours. The business supplies products to retail chains, including Lidl NI, SuperValu, Centra, SPAR and EuroSpar, and independent stores across Northern Ireland.

In this case study, Shera McAloran, Director of Karri Kitchen, shares insights into the challenges and rewards of becoming a supermarket supplier. She discusses their strategic approach to securing deals, forming valuable partnerships, and fostering fruitful relationships with buyers.

Becoming a supermarket supplier

"Early in our business journey, we saw the opportunity to sell our products in large retail chains. With the increased demand for healthy and convenient meals, we recognised the importance of expanding our distribution channels to reach a wider customer base."

"Our entry into major retailers started with participation in the Grow with ALDI programme. This enabled us to supply our products to ALDI stores in the Republic of Ireland."

"We then looked at engaging with other grocery stores and supermarkets, based on factors like their reach and alignment with our brand values."

"Negotiating our first contracts and distribution deals took a lot of work. It involved thorough preparation, understanding market trends, pricing strategies, and ensuring our products met retailer requirements."

"To boost our prospects, we leveraged our unique selling points: real nutrition, real flavours - with a South-East Asian twist - to showcase the value our products could bring to the supermarket shelves."

"Throughout this process, we sought advice from industry experts and received support from organisations like Invest Northern Ireland."

Securing new deals and partnerships

"In 2021, we decided to expand our business into more supermarkets, driven by the increasing demand for our products and a chance to scale our business. Our aim was to provide healthy meal options to a broader consumer base."

"To achieve this, we focused on building relationships with new retailers and wholesalers through strategic networking, product demonstrations, and highlighting the potential for mutual growth."

"When pitching products to these partners, we highlighted the quality, taste, and nutritional benefits, showing our commitment to meeting consumer demand. We believe a successful pitch should align with the retailer’s goals and address key consumer trends."

"During negotiations, attention to detail was crucial, ensuring we agreed on fair and mutually beneficial contract terms."

Establishing relationships with buyers

"We believe that building positive relationships with supermarket decision-makers, solving problems together and staying responsive to their needs is crucial to our success. Dealing with retailers, like any aspect of business, can sometimes be challenging, but keeping communication open, delivering on our commitments, and offering value-added solutions can resolve most issues".

"To stay informed of new retail opportunities, we actively network, join industry events, and keep up with market trends."

Adapting our business to meet the growing demand

"As the demand for our products grew, we found it necessary to invest in optimising our processes and logistics to enable us to increase our production capacity. These changes included overhauling our purpose-built factory."

"As well as our infrastructure and processes, we also adapted our packaging. We shifted to more sustainable packaging options that align with our values and appeal to retailers."

"Finally, our strategy for supermarket presence has evolved in response to changing customer preferences, market trends, and feedback from retail partners."

"Becoming a supermarket supplier has significantly benefitted our business - expanding our customer base, increasing brand visibility, and driving sales growth."