Food and Beverage Distributors and Wholesalers in California

Locate California food distributors to stock your shelves
By Emmet McMahan Choosing the right California food wholesalers is essential for convenience and grocery store owners. Buying food wholesale in California is a highly competitive business with high customer expectations and complex factors that affect product replenishment.

Food distributors in California must allow you to implement proper inventory management. This is especially important in maintaining profitability on low-margin items where knowledge of customer buying patterns is critical when choosing food distributors. California food and beverage distribution can be further complicated by promotions, seasonal availability and the large differences between wholesale and resale purchase units.

When selecting one of the food and beverage distributors and wholesalers in California, choose one that will increase your bottom line by allowing you to do the following:

1. Maintain your stock levels to prevent lost sales by minimizing the impact of excessive shrinkage and expiration. Reliable delivery, therefore, is crucial for determining the optimum order quantity and re-order point.

2. Save on shipping costs through advance replenishment, order consolidation and optimized price breaks. This will help you plan promotions and other sales-related events.

3. Increase customer retention and service levels.

Buy food from major California grocery distributors

Some food and beverage wholesalers cover most of the country and usually cater to grocery store chains. However, they also may be able to deliver to regional franchises and independent stores.
Try:  C&S Wholesale Grocers has a nationwide network of distribution centers and lists on its website the warehouse locations by cities within each state. Performance Food Group distributes a range of brand name food and related products. It has broadline and customized divisions throughout the United States that it lists on its website by city and state.

Purchase food from regional California wholesalers

Regional suppliers usually serve smaller businesses in second tier markets. They may also distribute gourmet and other specialty food items.
Try:  Sunnyvale Seafood supplies seafood, beef, pork, poultry and other groceries to the San Francisco Bay area. Pacific Food Distributors provides a range of grocery items to supermarkets in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.

Select a local independent beverage distributor in California

Local distributors can provide more personalized service to smaller convenience and grocery store owners. This additional time and attention can create a business relationship not found with larger distributors.
Try:  Santa Barbara-based Pacific Beverage Company supplies beer and wine to central California. Santa Rosa-based Liquid Investments is a wholesale beverage distribution company that serves California.

• Identify any particular buying habits of your customers. For example, if your store caters to a particular ethnic group, you will want to use food and beverage distributors and wholesalers in California that specialize in foods from that ethnic group. Many wholesalers also specialize in a particular type of food such as ice cream, cookies or chips.
• Get frequent price checks from distributors of wholesale food. California grocery prices can be extremely volatile, especially on seasonal items. Additionally, a distributor that has a surplus of perishables will be more willing to negotiate on price and a regular customer is more likely to get a discount.