How to Find Your 'Goldilocks' Operators

How do you find the right operators?

That question is the key to working smarter, not harder, in foodservice sales.

The most obvious place to start is assessing an operator’s alignment with your product. Does your offering make sense on their menu? A coffee roaster will target cafes and restaurants with dessert menus. The ground beef purveyor wants to find gastropubs and burger joints.

But then there’s the more nebulous question of size.

Big operators are near-impossible to reach and have long sales cycles. Small operators are risk-averse and have limited sway with distributors. It’s those operators in the middle that represent your greatest opportunity.

These “Goldilocks” operators live in the sweet spot between too big and too small.

With Goldilocks operators, you have a shot at getting your foot in the door without distribution. And once you’ve established a relationship with a handful of operators in a specific region, you can approach distributors with proof of product demand — the key to getting listed with those distributors and building momentum in that geography.

As a general rule, Goldilocks operators are independents or small chains. They typically have between four and 50 locations (though sometimes you’ll see very high traffic two- or three-unit operators that fit the bill) and their decision-making processes are short (less than six months).

To connect with these operators in your target region, you first have to find them. And that starts with doing your research. Here are some tools you can use to get the job done.

1. Online directories and listings sites

Local directories and listings sites offer map-based results, which is ideal when you’re running a geography-based search.

You have many sites to choose from, including:

• Google Maps
• Apple Maps
• Resy
• The Infatuation
• Yelp
• Tripadvisor
• Foursquare
• Open Table
• Nextdoor

Running searches on a few of these platforms and cross-referencing results can help you sanity-check output and find the directory with the most relevant operators for your purposes.

If you’re that ground beef purveyor, a Google Maps search for gastropubs will give you a starting list of potential restaurants to approach. Of course, that won’t yield every restaurant with ground beef on its menu (there are diners with meatloaf, Italian restaurants with pasta Bolognese, and many more to uncover), but it’s a start.

Scrolling through the results, you can click out to the websites of businesses you think are most likely to be relevant. Double-check their menu to see if your product might be a good fit, then add them to your target list.

Relying on directory sites provides you with additional intel about the restaurant. You can read reviews and target locations that have a positive word of mouth. Plus, you can also glean information about how popular a spot is — if it has thousands of reviews and comments like “we waited an hour for a table” you know it’s busy!

All in all, the online directory approach is a solid, free option for operator research.

Pros: Map-based results make geographic targeting easier; listings profiles contain lots of relevant information; simple to search by relevant terms; free to use

Cons: Must click through to individual operator sites to fully evaluate operator fit; no direct contact information for decision-makers; time-consuming (and, therefore, expensive) if you’re prospecting at scale

2. LLMs (Large Language Models)

Artificial intelligence tools are fast replacing traditional search engines, and for a task like creating a list of relevant operators, large language models can be hugely helpful.

How you craft your prompt will have a big impact on the LLM’s output, but if you’re clear in your instructions, it’s possible to get a solid list of relevant operators to target.

This example from a Perplexity search shows how an LLM can return a list of possible targets for a fictional brownie brand. Perplexity even justifies its choices and provides citations so you can double-check its work.

With this list in hand, you can look for the best contact person at the location.

Pros: Returns results in list format; allows you to specify search terms — what you do and do not want included; free to use

Cons: Your AI prompt-writing skills will affect the quality of responses; must double-check for accuracy; need to find decision-maker contact information elsewhere; results are incomplete and lack broader market context

3. Foodservice sales intelligence

First Bite got into the game because we saw how difficult it was for manufacturers to connect directly with operators. We weren’t the only ones to notice this issue, and there are several businesses out there serving up centralized sales intelligence.

Foodservice sales platforms have aggregated operator data and made it easier for food brands to slice and dice that information and find your best-fit targets.

Our tool allows you to filter by attributes like:

• Cuisine
• Menu items
• Chain size
• Traffic
• Expense category
• Location
• And more

Unlike the first two search options, a purpose-built platform comes with a cost, so whether a paid approach is right for you depends on your business’s growth stage.

Fledgling brands with few resources might benefit from taking a scrappy-but-free approach to prospecting. But if you’re in a growth phase, scrappy-but-free becomes a cost in its own right — it’s a huge time suck that keeps your team focused on repetitive, low-skill tasks. A tool that can save them hours of research and deliver more comprehensive search results becomes a worthwhile investment.

Pros: Robust filtering and ability to slice-and-dice results; generates operators list for you; can provide direct contact information for decision-makers; search by menu item for greater specificity and better targeting

Cons: Recurring cost (subscription)

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No matter how you get there, identifying your Goldilocks operators is the first step to establishing your brand in a new region.

Key takeaways:

• Goldilocks operators are uniquely positioned for food manufacturers (with or without distribution) to approach directly and close quickly.
• There are free and paid options to unearth best-fit operators. The right path for you depends on your business’s size, growth stage, and resources.
• Once you’ve identified the right operators, you still need to find the best contact person for each one. We’ll cover this topic in future blogs.

Ready to try First Bite for yourself? Request your demo today.