Selling into the Kitchenware and Gourmet Food Market

{Don Debelak’s new book, Turning Your Invention into Cash is now available on Amazon for $3.49. Go to Amazon.com and enter inventions Don Debelak to purchase. From the author of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Bringing Your Product to Market.}

Kitchen products and gourmet foods are two of the biggest new product categories, possibly second only to baby products. Kitchen products are a good category for inventors to attack because it is easy (relatively) to generate early sales with good kitchen products. That is because 1) the small kitchen product stores are receptive to small one product companies; 2) the kitchen products are often sold through gift marts throughout the country which are open to small companies; 3) there are a large number of manufacturers’ sales agents that represent small kitchen suppliers, often at the gift marts, that give inventors low costs access to the market; 4) the industry has several trade magazines that inventors can use to issue press releases to announce their products to the industry; and 5) there are a large number of catalogs that carry kitchen products. An additional advantage the kitchen market has is that new products can be sold locally at small kitchen and gift shops, at a relatively low cost, until the new product developer knows the product will be a success.

The kitchenware market distribution channel consists of housewares and gift shows, kitchen reps, gift marts and finally the kitchen stores. The distribution channel is expensive though and you need to be sure that you are able to sell your product at retail for about five times its manufacturing costs. The strategy most new product entrepreneurs follow is 1) attend a few housewares and gift shows, 2) attract the names of some reps with a presence in at least one gift mart and then 3) sell through the reps to the stores in his or her geographic area. Most people start in their local geographic area and then just keep expanding into new markets following the same introduction strategy.

Industry Magazines

As in any market, you need to start by getting copies of the trade magazines. They will have articles on distributors, distributor margins and the names of key trade shows and contacts that will help you determine your marketing strategy. They also typically have a yearly products directory that will help you understand what competition you are facing. The leading trade magazines for the kitchen market are:

Kitchenware News, 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tuscon, AZ 85715, 520-721-1300, www.kitchenwarenews.com
The Gourmet Retailer Magazine, 570 Lake Cook Rd, Suite 106, Deerfield, IL 60015, 224-632-8200, www.gourmetretailer.com
Gourmet News, 1677 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715, 520-721-1300, www.gourmetnews.com
Fancy Food & Culinary Products, 20 W. Kinzie Street, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-849-2220, www.fancyfoodmagazine.com
Chef Magazine, 20 W. Kinzie Street, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-849-2220, 312-849-2174, www.chefmagazine.com

Some trade magazines related to gifts will also list information on kitchen products.

Giftware News, 20 West Kinzie, 12 th Floor, Chicago , IL , 312-849-2220, Fax: 312-849-2174, www.giftwarenews.com
Gift Shop Magazine, 195 Hanover Street, Hanover, MA 02339, 800.936.6297. Fax: 888.213.1857, www.giftshopmag.com

Kitchen Products Trade Shows

The kitchen industry has a large number of state wide and regional shows that you should attend, first as an attendee to see what the show is like, and second to meet sales reps. Most booths at these kitchen shows are run by sales representatives who carry a wide range of products. Almost all kitchen products from small manufacturers are sold through sales representatives (sales representatives that are independent business people and carry products from a number of manufacturers) and you need to start talking to them, hopefully finding one who will carry your line, or if that doesn’t work out, getting some insight into what they feel you might need to do to attract a sales representative to work on your product. Sales representatives will also help you set a realistic price, decide on the type of distribution discounts you need and determine the type of sales flyers you might want to prepare.

You should also look for small entrepreneurs at the show who are trying to sell their products. They typically will tell you what they went through to get started in the industry and they will often provide you some start-up hints. Below there is a list of some of the more important kitchen shows that you can attend. When you approach the show they will usually resist letting you attend if you are not a buyer. You can ask for exception if you say you are in the process of starting a company that sells kitchen products and you want to see what the show is like. If that doesn’t work, you can try to having a store that sells kitchen products in your area designate you as their representative to get into the show. These are some of the main shows you should consider attending. Try to attend a show as a visitor first, before exhibiting so you can be sure your booth and sales materials are appropriate.

NASFT Fancy Food Show, San Francisco, www.fancyfoodshows.com
Gourmet Products Show, www.glmshows.com
Chicago Gift & Home Market, The Merchandise Mart, www.giftandhome.com
International Housewares Show, www.housewares.org
225 Gift and Housewares Show, www.225-fifth.com
The Gourmet Housewares Show at the New York International Gift Mart
http://nygif.com/TheShow/GourmetHousewaresShow.aspx

Kitchen Products / Housewares Catalog Sales

Many direct mail catalogs also sell kitchen products. You can contact the buyers at those catalogs with a sales flyer, pricing information and possibly a sample and see if they will pick up the product. The catalogs will typically double your price to them so you need to be sure the product is priced right.

Orders for catalogs typically start small, at 50 to 100 units but they will keep ordering larger and larger quantities if the product sells well. Go to this web site to get more information about selling to catalogs.

Here are some of the more popular kitchen catalogs. You can get a more complete list of catalogs that sell kitchen products in the Full Kitchen and Gourmet Food Market Report.

Kitchen Universe
Palmetto Center
4980 NW 165th Street, Unit A=15B
Miami, FL 33014

Cooksware
211 37th Street Extension
Beaver Falls, PA 15010-1933

Kitchen Collections
71 East Walter Street
Chillicothe, OH 45601

Williams Sonoma for Cooks
Catalog Department
3230 Van Ness Ave
San Francisco, CA 94109

Chef’s Catalog
5070 Centennial Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Finding Kitchen Products Manufacturers’ Sales Representatives

You can use the gift marts, listed in the section below, to help you find sales representatives. To find the names of reps, start by going to the gift mart and go to a listing of the showrooms with kitchen products, many of whom will run by representatives.

You can also purchase a copy of the report, selling to the Full Kitchen and Gourmet Food Market Report which includes a list of over 150 kitchen products manufacturers sales agents and a list of kitchen product catalogs for $24.99 at here.

Gift Marts

Besides kitchen shows, the kitchen industry depends on gift marts to sell to retailers. Gift Marts have showrooms, typically run by independent sales representatives but sometimes run by companies, where store buyers can come and buy products. At the end of this section is a listing of most of the major gift marts. The showrooms are often open only by appointment, but the gift marts will offer special days, often once a quarter where all the showrooms will be open. If you are a buyer, or have a buyer’s pass from a store that sells kitchen products you can see the showrooms and meet reps. But even if you can’t get into the marts, they still can provide a valuable service in finding the names of representatives that you can approach to sell your product. To find the names of reps, start by going to the gift mart and go to a listing of the showrooms, many of whom will be representatives.

Using the list you can develop an extensive list of representatives that might be able to carry your product. You can also use this list to get a listing of representatives that might carry your product who don’t have showrooms. If you visit the sales representatives’ web sites you can find the names of the lines they handle. If you check the web sites of those manufactures somewhere between one out of five or 10 will provide a complete listing of all their representatives. You need reps to succeed in the kitchen industry and you should be able to generate a list of between 100 and 200 reps who could sell your product.

Gift Marts

Seattle Gift Mart
6100 Fourth Ave , South
Seattle , WA 98108
(206) 767-6800

Gift Center at Montgomery Park
2701 NW Vaughn Street
Portland , OR 97210
501) 228-7275

San Francisco Gift Center
888 Brannan Street
San Francisco , CA 94103
(415) 861-7733

Los Angeles Mart
1933 South Broadway
Los Angeles , CA 90007
(213) 749-7911

Denver Merchandise Mart
451 East 58th Ave.
Denver, CO 80216
(303) 292-6278

Kansas City Merchandise Mart
6800 West 115th Street
Overland Park , KS 66211
(913) 491-6688

Dallas Market Center
2100 Stemmons Freeway
Dallas , TX 75207
(214) 655-6100

Minneapolis Gift Mart
10301 Bren Road , West
Minnetonka , MN 55343
(612) 932-7200

Indianapolis Gift Mart
4475 Allisonville Road
Indianapolis , IN 46205
(317) 546-0719

The Merchandise Mart
Merchandise Mart Plaza
Chicago , IL 60654
(312) 527-4141

Columbus Gift Mart
1999 Westbelt Drive
Columbus , OH 43228
(614) 876-2719

Americas Mart Atlanta
240 Peachtree Street NW
Atlanta , GA 30043
(404) 688-8994

Charlotte Merchandise Mart
2500 East Independence Blvd.
Charlotte , NC 28205
(704) 377-5881

Mid Atlantic Gift Center
12260 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston , VA 22091
(703) 391-0095

The Pittsburgh Expo Mart
105 Mall Blvd
Monroeville , PA 15146
(412) 856-8100

Market Center
230 Fifth Ave.
New York , NY 10001
(212) 686-1203

New York Merchandise Mart
41 Madison Ave.
New York , NY 10010
(212) 686-1203

The Northeast Market Center
1000 Technology Park Drive
Billerica MA 01890
(800) 435-2775

Miami International Merchandise Mart
777 NW 72nd Ave.
Miami , FL 33126
(305) 261-2900

Michigan Gift Mart
133 W. Main
Northville , MI
(313) 348-7890

Action Plan

A strategy that typically works in the kitchen industry has just four steps.

Sell first directly to a few local kitchen product shops. If you have to you can put the product in on consignment, which means the retailer won’t pay you until the product sells.
Run promotions to help drive sales through those retailers. Momentum is important to sell to reps, you want to be able to show not only that the product is being sold in stores but that the product is selling out and stores are reordering. A great display can often be the best way to promote sales. The Garlic Twist has been a “hot” product in the market primarily because the inventor did his ground work at local stores. (Read more about how inventor Eric Teng made initial sales here.)
Attend a local gift mart show. Most of the gift marts will have certain days throughout the year where local manufacturers, including inventors, can set up a small booth to present their product to retailers. Be sure at these shows to have pictures of your product selling at the local retailers where you had sales success. Be prepared to offer goods on consignment or at a discount to get people started buying your product.
Once you have momentum including: a) success at certain retailers, that have already reordered; b) attendance at a trade show or gift mart display day; and c) orders from retailers attending the show; then you are prepared to start doing a campaign of sending out mailings, doing follow-up phone calls and, when needed, sending out a sample of your product to have sales reps start carrying your products.

Do you need web content? Don Debelak, who has written 15 books published by major publishers such as McGraw Hill and Entrepreneur Press is currently writing web content. Check out more information at:

https://onestopinventionshop.net/web-content-writing-services

Don Debelak offers affordable patent work. Check out http://patentsbydondebelak.com/