Restaurant Products Can Now Be Found At The Supermarket

The Marie Callender's restaurants are sheer heaven for the comfort-food aficionado. The restaurant is homey, and the food is well-prepared and heavy with the kind of calories that make us remember Mom's cooking. The array of pies makes being prudent about making healthy diet choices nearly impossible. But her restaurants are not everywhere. In fact, they are nonexistent in many parts of the country. But never mind; you can go to your supermarket or other Food Retailers and purchase everything except the atmosphere. The very same foods that destroy the diets of so many diners in the restaurants are available for self-preparation. The setting may not be so cozy, but the food is good.

The current food trends to eat at home with the family around the table, brought about to some extent by the need to contain costs in the current economic downturn, has led many restaurant chains to start packaging their most popular dishes and sell them through supermarkets. However, according to Business Week, it's not easy to accomplish, especially for smaller restaurants or chains. They tend to be nonexistent because it costs too much to distribute and market.

You can start out ahead of the pack, of course, if your product is already popular with some people--your customers. You have a recognizable brand already, at least locally. If you really want to do this, you need to take some things into account. For one, the supermarket is big and competitive, it makes enormous demands on its vendors.

The supermarket will charge you a fee for putting your products on their shelves, and sometimes those fees are outrageously high. You might be able to negotiate them, and if sales are good, the supermarket may even be willing to forgo fees completely. You need to be prepared to pay for promotion and advertising. In addition, there will probably be "failure fees" if your product doesn't sell well. Products are usually given 120 days to succeed and if they don't, your products may be returned.

Supermarkets want up to a 60% margin on a fresh and/or refrigerated items, and they will want you to deliver directly. They may even require you to restock or turn your product. In order to do so, you'll probably need to be located a commutable distance from the supermarkets you want to house your products in.

You also need to keep in mind that your food will be inspected by the same inspectors that enforce such high standards on supermarkets. Take into account that you might need to beef up food preparation in your restaurants in order to sell the same products in a supermarket.

This is not to say that you shouldn't try to expand your business for your restaurant. It very well may bring new customers into your restaurant. However, you should know ahead of time that it can be a pretty tough road to success.
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