A lot of founders picture the same finish line.

Their product, sitting on a shelf at a massive national chain.

That finish line exists. It is just usually not the first one.

There is a real, documented staging of expectations in retail, and understanding it can save you months of chasing a meeting you are not ready for yet.

Why regional retailers are the realistic starting point

Even large, well-established companies struggle with the biggest national accounts.

Regional grocers built to support local and emerging brands operate very differently. Two Oregon examples make this especially clear, because both publish exactly what they expect.

New Seasons Market

New Seasons runs a program called Local Finds, which reviews new local products on a quarterly basis through a vendor portal.

To qualify, a product needs to be retail ready with a UPC, meet FDA labeling requirements, and be produced in a licensed food safe kitchen. A cost and retail pricing structure, along with a distribution plan, is described as helpful, not mandatory.

Products need to be made in the Pacific Northwest. Women, minority, and social mission owned businesses are especially encouraged to apply.

New Seasons also runs a microloan program for independent producers, offering loans starting at 5,000 dollars up to 25,000 dollars for businesses in operation at least two years with fewer than 25 employees. The Local Finds program itself has a 14 year history of supporting local producers.

Market of Choice

Market of Choice runs a program called MOJO, and its 13 stores carry more than 7,000 local products, roughly 15 percent of everything on their shelves.

Here is the detail most founders do not know until someone tells them. Getting a product onto the shelves of a typical multi-location retailer usually means paying a distributor fee of 10 to 18 percent. Market of Choice offers local makers free distribution instead, which removes a real financial barrier for an independent brand.

Their published vendor guide lists five specific requirements: a New Vendor Profile form, a New Item Authorization form, a completed W-9, a Certificate of Product Liability Insurance naming Market of Choice, and digital photos of the product and UPC.

Products need a UPC, a valid Nutrition Facts panel, and accurate ingredient and allergen information on the label. They need to be produced in an inspected, approved commercial kitchen or production facility, and comply with Oregon Department of Agriculture rules, or USDA rules if the product includes cooked protein.

Costco, the aspirational benchmark

Costco sits at a different level entirely, and it is worth understanding why.

Costco requires suppliers to hold GFSI benchmarked certification, meaning SQF, BRCGS, FSSC 22000, IFS, or PrimusGFS. That certification is treated as the minimum entry ticket, not the full requirement. Suppliers also need a proprietary Costco addendum or a standalone Costco food safety audit on top of it.

As of April 2023, Costco's GFSI audits became unannounced every single year, which is stricter than the standard industry requirement. Suppliers need at least 60 days of production records on hand, or the audit is an automatic failure.

This is genuinely difficult even for large companies. Certification alone typically runs 5,000 to 15,000 dollars a year, and most major retailers will not even accept the entry level version of these certifications. A more advanced, HACCP based level is usually the real minimum.

The ladder, not the leap

Looking at these three retailers side by side, a natural progression appears.

New Seasons sits at the accessible end, with requirements built around a UPC, FDA labeling, and a licensed kitchen.

Market of Choice adds liability insurance and formal vendor paperwork, but removes the distributor fee that usually eats into a young brand's margin.

Costco sits at the top, requiring a level of certification and audit readiness that even large, established companies find genuinely difficult.

None of that is a criticism of Costco. It reflects the scale they operate at. It just means Costco is a destination, not a starting point.

What this means for you

If you are early in your product's life, a regional retailer is not a consolation prize. It is the appropriate next step.

It gives you real retail experience, real sales data, and real customer feedback, all while you build toward the certifications and production scale that a national account will eventually require.

Founders who have already made the decision to scale tend to understand this instinctively. They have usually had a conversation with a buyer who told them directly what they needed to be good at first. That conversation is worth having early, not after a rejected pitch.

The bottom line

Retailers are not gatekeepers being difficult for the sake of it.

They are managing real risk, since most new products fail within their first year on shelf. Meeting a retailer where they actually are, rather than where you wish they were, is one of the most practical things a growing food brand can do.

Greg Aronoff is the Communications Manager for Oregon State University's Professional and Continuing Education program.