Food and Beverage Brokers Key Terms

Raise your glass to food and beverage brokers

By Geraldine McGowan
Food and beverage brokers key terms should help you get the most out of your contacts with food brokers. Food and beverage brokers sell to wholesalers and retailers. Cultivating a good relationship with them can bring many rewards such as superior service and food products. Finding the right food or beverage broker for your needs is paramount for having a successful business, whether as a restaurant owner, chef, retailer, or hotel owner.

 

Food brokers

Food brokers buy food from the manufacturers and producers of food and then sell it to wholesalers and retailers.
Try: In-depth definition of a food broker's job from StateUniversity.com is helpful and informative.

Beverage broker

A beverage broker can sell such things as imported tea, soft drinks and alcohol products.
Try: View an example of what beverage brokers can provide at BevNet.

Wholesale and retail

The terms wholesale and retail are important to the procurement of food and beverages. A food or beverage broker can sell foodstuffs to a wholesaler, who could then sell it a retailer. But a food or beverage broker can also sell directly to a retailer. Most likely, this occurs when the retailer is a big food or beverage chain. Food and beverage brokers can also sell to distributors.
Try: The differences between wholesale and retail are explained clearly at Reference.com.

Food and beverage trade associations

Trade associations are important to food and beverage brokers because it gives them opportunities to show their products and see what the competition is doing.
Try: The food and beverage industry has many trade associations that are specific to a kind of food and beverage. Careers in Food provides a sampling of the trade associations that fall under the umbrella of food and beverages.

Supply chain

Food and beverage brokers are part of the supply chain that brings food and beverages from manufacturers and ultimately to your table.
Try: Food Marketing Institute gives the definition for supply chain and how it should optimally work.

Food brokers as salespeople

Food brokers can offer manufacturers something very close to being a salesperson on behalf of the manufacturer or producer. This is a mutually beneficial situation. It saves the producer or manufacturer from having to hire a sales force and it allows the broker use his expertise and knowledge about where product should be placed.
Try: View this article from Associated Content that describes benefits of food brokers and manufacturers and sales.


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