BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Business development in the United States
In the United States, we find the retailers and distributors that could carry your product, or have you make it under their own brand, rate them against your actual lines, name the category buyer who decides, and work those contacts with you month after month. The US channel is not the European one: brokers do not take title, distributors do, and no major retailer publishes the calendar on which it reviews a category.
Request a call back- Market
- The United States
- Channel
- Retailers, private label, brokers and national distributors
- Working
- With you, month after month
- Always yours
- Your prices, contracts and customers
In Europe the buying calendar can be mapped. In the United States it has to be found, account by account, so timing research starts in the first week, and contact work follows once you approve the priority accounts.
The method
How we find US retailers and distributors
We work in the same four steps as in Europe. The difference is timing: here it cannot be read off a published calendar.
-
Map
Which US retailers already run your category, which run it under their own brand, and which have a hole in it. The shelf is read first, because a private-brand line that is missing is usually missing because nobody put it there.
A retailer and private-label map
-
Rate
Each retailer rated against your actual lines, and against the incumbent domestic supplier base, which in salty snacks and several other categories is concentrated in a small number of very large manufacturers.
Approved priorities
-
Name
Walmart, Target and Kroger all run public supplier application portals, and none of them guarantees anything. Walmart states plainly that self-registering does not guarantee an agreement. The route in is mediated by a category buyer, and those people are not listed anywhere.
Named category buyers and merchants
-
Time
No major US retailer publishes a category review calendar on a public page. So the timing is established account by account rather than looked up, which is the main way the US differs from European grocery.
An account-by-account approach calendar
What the research gives you is on The market and buyer map, and the monthly work that follows is on Ongoing market management.
The channel
A broker, a distributor, direct, or EFC
In the United States the split matters commercially: a broker never takes title to your goods, and a distributor does.
| A broker | A distributor | Direct to retailer | Working with EFC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who holds title to the goods | Nobody new. The broker never takes title | The distributor buys and warehouses | You, until the retailer buys | You. We do not buy your range |
| How they are paid | Commission on invoiced sales, sometimes with a retainer alongside | Their margin, taken from your price | No intermediary fee, and no intermediary | A monthly fee plus a share of the sales the work brings in |
| What they actually do | Represent your line to buyers they already cover | Buy, warehouse and resell into their own accounts | Everything, including the portal, the data and the logistics | Map the retailers, name the buyers, approach them with you, month after month |
| Who answers the buyer on supply | You do | The distributor, from their own stock | You do | You do, from a supply plan we build with you |
| Where it tends to fit | A line already close to the categories that broker covers | Reaching many independent accounts at once | A brand with US staff and a US operation already in place | A manufacturer with no US team and nobody working US buyers yet |
Among the names most often heard first are the national distributors: UNFI, KeHE, McLane, Sysco and US Foods. Getting listed with one of them is its own piece of work, and it is not the same conversation as getting a retailer to take your line.
Private label
Why private label comes up so often
Because for many manufacturers it is the shorter route onto a US shelf. A retailer that will not add another branded line in a crowded category may still be looking for someone to make its own.
- US store-brand sales
- USD 282.8 billion A record, up slightly more than USD 9 billion year on year, in the 52 weeks ending 28 December 2025. Dollar sales grew 3.3 percent against 1.2 percent for national brands. Source: Private Label Manufacturers Association, 2026 Private Label Report, on Circana data.
- What we do with that
- Establish which retailers already run your format under their own brand and which have a gap in it, then work out how each one actually onboards a foreign private-label supplier. Where the format is missing from a private brand, it is usually missing because nobody has put it there rather than because the retailer decided against it.
Before the first order
What a foreign supplier must hold first
Two different lists, and conflating them is the expensive mistake. The first is law. The second is what the retailer requires in its own vendor programme, which is negotiable in detail but not in principle.
Required by law, for food
- FDA food facility registration under 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart H, with a US Agent physically located in the United States at a real address, renewed between 1 October and 31 December of even years.
- The Foreign Supplier Verification Program. The verification duty sits with the US importer, who must evaluate and verify each foreign supplier, by records review, by sampling and testing, or by an onsite audit.
Required by the retailer
- GS1 US registered, brand-owned GTINs. Walmart and Kroger both require a direct GS1 account tied to the brand rather than resold barcodes.
- Electronic data interchange on the four core transaction sets: the purchase order, the acknowledgment, the advance ship notice and the invoice. Effectively every major chain requires it.
- Product liability insurance at the retailer's own minimum, which each retailer sets in its vendor programme rather than in public law.
We use this practically: we check which of these you hold, which the importer will hold, and which must be in place before an approach is worth sending. It describes published requirements, not legal or regulatory advice.
You stay the principal in front of the retailer. We are not your agent or broker, we do not take title to your goods, and we do not buy your range.
What we bring to a private-label conversation is the mapping and the approach work, not a record of past private-label programmes in your category. Where a retailer wants a supplier who has run its own brand before, that is a real reason to choose someone else, and we would rather say so at the start.
What you can expect is a steady flow of conversations with category buyers. No one can promise a listing or a programme, and where review calendars are not published, the retailers set the pace.
The operation underneath
How supply works for the United States
Our own operating base is in Portugal, inside the EU customs union, and that is where we hold goods. For the United States, we run the commercial side: the map, the ratings, the named buyers, the approaches and the monthly management of the pipeline.
The supply side is planned with you rather than operated by us, which means establishing early who the importer of record will be, who holds the required registrations, and how the retailer expects to be served. Where a brand runs both Europe and the United States, the European side is held on our own base and the two are planned together.
Questions
Questions manufacturers ask about the United States
How do US retailers onboard a new supplier?
Walmart, Target and Kroger each run a public self-service application, and none commits to anything by accepting one. Walmart states plainly that self-registering does not guarantee an agreement. Costco has no open public portal for regular product suppliers at all. The portal is the paperwork. The decision sits with a category buyer.
Do US retailers publish a category review calendar?
No major US retailer publishes one on a public page, which is the sharpest difference from European grocery. So timing is established account by account rather than read off a calendar, which is why a US search is contact work from the first week.
How is a US broker different from a distributor?
A broker never takes title. It represents your line to buyers it already covers, for a commission on invoiced sales. A distributor buys the goods, warehouses them and sells into its own accounts. Getting listed with a national distributor is a separate piece of work from getting a retailer to take your line.
What must a foreign supplier hold first?
Two separate lists. In law, for food: FDA facility registration with a US Agent located in the United States, plus the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, where the duty sits with the US importer rather than with you. From the retailer: GS1 registered GTINs, electronic data interchange, and product liability insurance at that retailer's own minimum.
Is private label a realistic route in?
Often it is the shorter one. US store-brand sales reached a record USD 282.8 billion in the 52 weeks ending 28 December 2025, on the Private Label Manufacturers Association's 2026 report. A retailer that will not add another branded line may still be looking for someone to make its own.
Does EFC hold stock in the United States?
No. Our base is in Portugal, inside the EU customs union, and that is where we hold goods. For the United States we run the commercial side: the map, the ratings, the named buyers, the approaches and the pipeline. The supply side is planned with you, settling early who the importer of record will be.
Business development in the United States
Whether the branded route or the private-label route is the shorter one for your product is the first thing a call establishes.
Request a call back