Hundreds of Organic and Natural products entrepreneurs have joined one of the twice-weekly Hirshberg Entrepreneurship Institute (HEI) Webinars recently. Among the very top questions that we are being asked is about Best Practices and “Do’s and Don’ts” for dealing with UNFI and other wholesale distributors during this pandemic. Due to popular demand, we sat down with John Raiche for a new Webinar on Wednesday, April 15th: A Conversation with UNFI.
John Raiche, UNFI’s Executive Vice-President, Supplier Services addressed supplier questions and concerns about how best to navigate the distribution and retail environment during the COVID19 pandemic. Key topics included promotional impact/options, consumer demands trends experienced to date and expected in the near future, best practices for suppliers in addressing the demand surge, how best to engage distributors during this time, and more.
Our session was moderated by natural products consultant and HEI contributor Bob Burke and Gary Hirshberg. We begin with a presentation by John in response to the most common current questions and themes we have collected and then we turn to a live Q&A. If you are selling products in the natural channel, this is a fantastic opportunity to hear from the highest level of leadership at the nation’s largest distributor.
