Specialty grocery wholesaler with online ordering

Independent grocers, health food stores, gift and gourmet shops, and small cafés that want specialty lines in small trade quantities.

You buy at wholesale or import prices and sell at trade prices with minimum order sizes. The margin covers warehouse fees, shipping and your time, so choose products with a decent margin.

• Sourcing and negotiating with suppliers
• Selling to shop buyers by phone and email
• Spreadsheets or basic inventory software
• Setting up a simple online catalogue

• Check food licensing and labelling rules with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and your province, especially for imported products and bilingual labelling, including Quebec rules
• Check that your warehouse partner is licensed and insured for food storage
• Product liability and commercial general liability insurance
• Supplier minimum orders that tie up your cash
• Best-before dates and slow-moving stock

Estimates are typically around $5,000 to $25,000 to start, depending on your niche, opening stock and catalogue setup. Supplier minimum orders can tie up your cash, so check them before committing.

Estimated monthly revenue is typically around $3,000 to $15,000, depending on your niche, number of shop customers and order sizes. Estimates start at about 12 hours a week. Slow-moving stock and best-before dates can affect profit.

Things to check: food licensing and labelling rules with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and your province, especially for imports, bilingual labelling and Quebec rules; that your warehouse partner is licensed and insured for food; and product and general liability insurance.