Last week we attended an annual event called Making It In Michigan, hosted by Michigan State University’s Product Center. They do a great job of bringing together key players in Michigan’s food manufacturing sector – from makers and brands (like us!) to packaging suppliers, contract manufacturers, retailers and distributors.
While we are learning to navigate the specialty food world, there’s a sense that traditional food and beverage distribution is also learning to adapt to the swift rise of the local food movement across the country and in Michigan. Social media, combined with a general pull toward artisanal / local / small batch has allowed for much of the growth in this space to happened in the direct-to-consumer arena, so naturally we are seeing more food distributors are getting on board with the local movement. This is our main angle when we’re pitching our products to regional food distributors.
This is a sample follow-up email I send to people I met at the show:
Hi Sam,
This is Michal from Marcia’s Munchies. You sampled some of our products at yesterday’s show and I wanted to share more information with you.Marcia’s Pickled Munchies is an award-winning line of all-naturalpickled products made in Michigan. We hand-pack 5 all-natural pickles –
- Sweet N Sassy – bread & butter pickles*
- Little Hotties – spicy bread & butter pickles**
- Wild Dills – garlic and dill spear
- Cherry Pops – pickled cherry tomatoes**
- ‘Sparagus – spicy pickled asparagus
Our products retail between $x.xx – $x.xx per jar.Thanks, and hope to hear from you soon.MichalThe Cherry Pops are also featured in the 2016 Saveur 100 from Saveur Magazine.