Future of Foods Podcast: The realities of scaling brands in foodservice

As a guest on the Future of Foods podcast, Reed McCord, founder and CEO of First Bite, talked through his experiences growing Impossible Foods in foodservice, what he would do differently, and why selling into restaurants is still the job most food brands underestimate.

Why foodservice first

Impossible spent its first five years going all in on foodservice. The brand chose away-from-home channels first because people are more likely to try new things when there's curation.

"People try new things in foodservice when there's 30 things to choose from and there's curation, versus in retail when there's maybe 30,000 things in a supermarket."

The bet paid off. Impossible became one of the fastest-growing food brands.

The distributor blind spot

Foodservice is a big opportunity, but Reed talked with Future of Foods host, Alex Crisp, about how the path to market is convoluted. 

Manufacturers sell to distributors like Sysco and US Foods, and those distributors handle the last mile to restaurants. But they don't share who's actually buying your product.

That means no attribution. A brand can invest in a trade show, digital ads, or a broker and never know which spend led to which sale. And instead of the roughly 50 buyers who matter in retail, foodservice has about 1.5 million operators, each making their own decisions.

Distributors also aren't built to grow any single brand. Reed explained how a distributor might carry 200,000 products, a couple of competing brands, and its own private label version.

"It becomes your job [as the manufacturer] to reach out to operators and let them know that you exist and promote your product…. I always say to customers, don't invest in a billboard. Don't spend money on marketing. Just win more operators."

Every manufacturer still sells through distribution. But the work of creating demand falls on the brand.

The long tail beats the big logo

Landing a Burger King or a Starbucks sounds like the dream, and Impossible did close both. But major chains make up only about 25% of operators. Those deals can take years, and the chain is usually testing just one or two new items.

Reed also sees real risk in depending on one or two big accounts. Your business flips on a single decision from a marketing team or a culinary lead. You have little leverage, thinner margins, and few chances to get better at selling.

The other 70% to 75% of operators are small regional chains and independents. Manufacturers tend to neglect them because finding the decision maker, reaching out, and sending samples takes so much manual work. 

That gap leaves hundreds of thousands of operators who rarely hear from brands, and Reed sees it as the biggest opportunity for any manufacturer selling into foodservice.

Sell like you're running experiments

Retail sales is a handful of big pitches. Reed thinks foodservice should work more like a lab. First Bite platform users run campaigns to 200 to 500 operators every couple of weeks, testing new messaging and new subsegments each time. Every round teaches them something about who buys and why.

Historically, this hasn’t been possible for food brands. Researching operators online, finding who has a burger on the menu, tracking down the decision maker, and writing individual emails isn’t efficient or realistic. 

This is the main issue Reed sought to solve when launching First Bite. By providing operator and menu data for every foodservice location in the U.S. alongside decision maker contact information and campaign tools, high-volume and quality outreach becomes possible. 

And operators are listening. Across First Bite customers, an 8% reply rate is typical. That’s 3x the standard cold email reply rate in B2B.

Lessons carried to First Bite

During the interview, Reed shared a few lessons from his time at Impossible that now shape how First Bite operates.

Build empathy for the operator. Some brands want operators to think about their product the way they do. Operators are dealing with low margins, high food costs, and the constant need to bring guests in and keep them coming back. A pitch that speaks to those problems lands better.

Know why customers try, and why they repeat. Novelty gets trial. Repeat purchases come from real, lasting value. Reed recommends every food brand answer both questions.

Don't underestimate the selling. Impossible spent millions to develop its first product and had one salesperson when it started manufacturing. Food brands today make the same mistake of pouring everything into R&D and leaving little for go-to-market.

Partner instead of doing it all yourself. Impossible was highly vertically integrated. First Bite works with brokers, distributors, and its own customers instead of trying to own every piece.

Celebrate real progress. Impossible's growth was historic, yet it still felt short of its mission-sized expectations. Reed now makes a point of pausing to recognize wins with his team.

Where foodservice is headed

Reed's five-year vision is a market where manufacturers and operators have direct relationships as standard practice, while product still moves through distribution.

First Bite's newest tools point that way. Manufacturers can create digital offers and rebates inside the platform and send them directly to operators. The operator buys from any distributor, First Bite sees the order through rebate redemption, and the manufacturer's incentive goes straight to the operator.

Reed is clear that distributors do the hard work of the last mile, and First Bite has no interest in competing with them. The goal is to keep value from getting stuck in the middle. 

With digital selling tools, brands now have more control over their foodservice growth than they did five or ten years ago.

Watch the full conversation

Reed's interview covers a lot more ground and shares stories from his time at Impossible. Listen to the full interview on Future of Foods.

Ready to win more operators? Book a demo to see how First Bite helps food and beverage manufacturers find, reach, and build demand and relationships with operators.

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