Specialty Food Magazine

SFA Opens Infinite Aisle to Members, Distributors After a successful pilot, the Specialty Food Association is enabling all of its product- qualified maker members to sell their specialty food products via its Infinite Aisle, a transactional product marketplace. Items are sold on the platform through distributors to their retail customers who use Infinite Aisle to discover, source, and buy these products. "Infinite Aisle is another example of our pivot to digital and how we listen and respond to member needs by developing valuable opportunities to grow their businesses," says SFA President Bill Lynch. When a retail buyer purchases maker products through a distributor on Infinite Aisle, the products are shipped directly from the maker to the retailer at no cost to the maker. Because distributors don't have to warehouse these items, there's no limit to how many Infinite Aisle products they can offer to their retail customers. "We're creating a new distribution model which allows makers the ability to get their products in front of thousands of additional retailers without the need for distributors to warehouse the product," says Leo Squatrito, vice president of member development and outreach at the SFA. SFA has teamed up with Specialty Food Partners, which facilitates the platform and brings its specialty food distributor partners to the product marketplace. SFA's distributor members are also being onboarded with Infinite Aisle. "Infinite Aisle makes SFA members' products directly available to tens of thousands of grocery stores, restaurants, and convenience stores through the distributors who sell specialty items," says Tony Lee, founder, Specialty Food Partners. "It's free for SFA members to join, and they require no technical expertise to easily place their items for sale on the Infinite Aisle platform." Infinite Aisle is especially advantageous for the more than 80 percent of SFA maker members that represent small startup and newer scaling brands, but will also benefit the SFA's more mature maker members, says Squatrito. Makers can assign product attributes to their offerings and retail buyers and distributors can search Infinite Aisle by product category, subcategory, attributes such as keto or low-fat, or ownership such as women- or veteran-owned businesses, for instance. Buyers seeking local products can sort makers based on their distance from the store, Squatrito says. SFA's maker members can learn more about the platform during informational webinars. The next will be held on Jan. 28 and can be registered for here https://forms.gle/TzGiYnyenECWESmc7. —Julie Gallagher SFA Issues Passport to Success The Specialty Food Association will present its first-ever Passport to Success in the U.S. program to members of its global community, Feb. 9 and 10. The six-hour online seminar is designed for makers interested in selling their products on U.S. shelves. "The process of selling food products in the U.S. can be intimidating, and SFA has developed this program to help companies understand the different potential paths to market and how to succeed," said Gretchen VanEsselstyn, director of education at the Specialty Food Association. "We are so excited to launch this program as an online course so that we can reach as many international companies as possible." The event is $149 for SFA members, $299 for non- members, and group pricing is available.—J.G. The Basics Goes Virtual The SFA presented "The Basics: The Business of Specialty Food," which has been held in traditional classroom settings at the Fancy Food Shows, virtually, for the first time in November. The workshop is designed to help current and aspiring SFA members learn the fundamentals of their specialty food business. "The Basics Live Online: The Business of Specialty Food" was presented over two days by a team of specialty food producers and leaders of the SFA. New SFA member, Joe Fischer, founder of Zeno Functional Foods, and inventor of SOBAR, a protein bar that slows the absorption of alcohol in the body, has a background in the biopharmaceutical industry. He attended The Basics to learn how best to expand distribution of the bar that is sold exclusively online. "I know more about how to develop and test products than how to market them and get them into stores," he says. "The SFA program really helped me learn about working with brokers and distributors and how to approach retailers and foodservice buyers." Fischer liked the accessibility of the online format and that people could go in and out of the sessions depending on their schedules. Session recordings were made available after the event to attendees. Will Knox of The Knox Company, which focuses on restaurant real estate and concept development, attended The Basics for help with an e-commerce concept involving specialty foods made with ingredients sourced from California's Ojai Valley. He was most interested in e-commerce and finance presentations. "I don't think there is any substitute for experience, which these teachers have," he said. "It was like attending a master class. I found the roster very informative." The next The Basics Live Online will take place February 2 and 3.—J.G. Ž— SPECIALTY FOOD SPECIALTYFOOD.COM ASSOCIATION NEWS

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