Premium food: the route into retail
The route into retail for a premium food range
We turned a producer's export price list into the numbers a grocery buyer reads, and mapped the routes into retail.
At a glance
- Client: a founder-led premium food brand
- Engagement: the route into mainstream retail abroad
- HAM role: opening the route and building the commercial case, alongside a retail venture partner
- Timing: summer 2026, in progress
The situation
A premium range with real provenance, sold in its home market and in specialty shops abroad.
What it lacked was a way into mainstream grocery. The price list was quoted ex-works. There was no landed cost by market, no read of the shelf it would sit on, and the ranging window for next season was closing within weeks.
What we did
- Paired the brand with a retail venture partner that has live buyer relationships across the UK, Ireland, Europe and the US.
- Built the price ladder from ex-works to shelf for each market: freight, importer margin, retailer margin and VAT.
- Priced each grade against real shelf comparables, read in store and online, retailer by retailer.
- Wrote retailer briefing pages for the first grocery meetings in the Low Countries: the fixture, the comparables, the ladder, the questions the buyer will ask, and the ask.
- Mapped the routes beyond that: premium grocery in Ireland through a distribution partner, UK grocery, and US private label.
How we checked it
No retailer hears a commitment until producer volume by grade is confirmed. A listing the brand cannot fill does more damage than no listing.
The price ladder shows every assumption it rests on, each one graded, and is rerun when a buyer's real margins arrive.
If the ladder shows a grade will struggle on a grocery shelf, the brand hears it from us before a buyer says it.
Meetings and partnerships reported by third parties are described as in discussion, or left out.
Where it stands
- The price list is converted into landed cost and shelf comparisons for the first market
- Retailer briefing pages are approved for the first grocery meetings
- The other markets are mapped, with meetings in discussion
- Producer volume by grade is being confirmed
No listing, order or sale is claimed. The routes are mapped and the work is in progress.
What we built
Market-by-market price ladders, shelf comparables, retailer briefing pages, the introduction to the retail partner and the covering notes for buyer meetings.
What's next
Producer volumes by grade, then the grocery meetings, then the ranging decisions before the window closes.