Retail & Wholesale Distribution

How to Sell Your Food Products to Stores & Restaurants in Oregon

Maybe a café owner tasted your hot sauce at the farmers market and asked if they could stock it. Maybe you've been selling granola direct to neighbors and a local grocery store reached out. Maybe you're ready to stop doing everything one customer at a time and start selling in volume.

Selling to stores, restaurants, and wholesale buyers is a different game from direct-to-consumer sales. You need proper licensing, more detailed labeling, and often a higher volume production setup. But it's also how a home food business becomes a real food brand.

7 steps below — most people get through this in a weekend.

The Bottom Line

Startup cost

$208/year minimum (Domestic Kitchen License) — potentially more if you need a commercial kitchen

Timeline

2–6 weeks depending on your current licensing status

What you DON'T need
  • ✕A factory or industrial kitchen (a licensed domestic kitchen can work)
  • ✕A distributor (you can sell direct to stores)
  • ✕To collect sales tax — Oregon doesn't have one
What you DO need

At minimum, a Domestic Kitchen License from ODA. For some products, a commercial food processing license. Proper labeling. And the ability to produce consistently at volume.

A note on taxes: Oregon has no sales tax, but your business income is subject to Oregon state income tax and federal self-employment tax. Keep records of your income and expenses for tax time.

The Steps

1

Get the right license

You cannot sell to stores or restaurants under the Cottage Food Exemption alone (with one small exception — see FAQ). You need either:

Domestic Kitchen License ($208/year)

Your home kitchen, inspected by ODA. Best for small-scale wholesale — selling to a few local shops, cafés, or restaurants.

→ Full Domestic Kitchen Roadmap

Commercial Food Processing License

A licensed commercial kitchen — either your own build-out or a rented/shared space. Required for larger-scale production, certain product types, or if your buyers require it.

→ ODA: Food Safety Licenses

For most producers reading this page, the Domestic Kitchen License is the right starting point. It's designed to be affordable and accessible.

2

Get your labeling right

Wholesale labeling is more detailed than what you use at farmers markets. Stores expect — and regulations require — professional labels with:

  1. Product name
  2. Ingredients list (descending by weight)
  3. Net weight or volume
  4. Allergen declaration (the 9 major allergens: wheat, milk, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, sesame)
  5. Your business name and address
  6. Nutritional facts panel — For most packaged food sold in retail, required by the FDA. Small business exemptions exist (fewer than 100 employees AND fewer than 100,000 units sold), but many stores will want it anyway.
  7. Lot number or batch code — For traceability in case of a recall
  8. Best by / sell by date (if applicable)
  9. UPC/barcode — Not legally required, but most retail stores need one for their POS system. You can get a UPC through GS1 (starts at ~$250 for a small business)

The label is your first impression with a store buyer. Invest in professional design.

3

Understand pricing for wholesale

Wholesale pricing is fundamentally different from retail pricing. The standard framework:

Retail price = what the end customer pays

Wholesale price = typically 50% of retail (this is the standard markup stores expect)

Your cost = ingredients + labor + packaging + overhead

This means you need enough margin at the wholesale price to still be profitable. If your granola costs $3 to make and you sell it retail for $8, your wholesale price would be ~$4. That's a $1 margin — is that enough?

Run the numbers before you commit to wholesale. Some products simply don't have enough margin to make wholesale work at small scale. That's okay — direct-to-consumer may be more profitable for you.

4

Build a sell sheet

When you approach a store or restaurant, you need a one-page sell sheet (sometimes called a line sheet). It should include:

  • Your business name and logo
  • Product photos (professional quality)
  • Product descriptions
  • Wholesale pricing and minimum order quantities
  • Your shelf life / storage requirements
  • Your licensing info (ODA license number)
  • Your contact information
  • Delivery or pickup terms

Keep it clean, professional, one page. This is what a buyer looks at to decide if they'll carry your product.

5

Start small and local

Don't try to get into New Seasons or Whole Foods on day one. Start with:

  • Local independent cafés — They're often eager to stock local products and have shorter decision chains
  • Neighborhood grocery stores — Independent stores have more flexibility than chains
  • Farm stands and co-ops — Already oriented toward local products
  • Other food businesses — A bakery might want your jam; a juice bar might want your granola

Walk in with your sell sheet and a sample. Talk to the owner or buyer. Local businesses buy from local people — that's your advantage over every big brand on the shelf.

6

Figure out logistics

Wholesale means regular production and delivery. Think through:

  • Production schedule — Can you produce enough, consistently? What's your lead time?
  • Delivery — Are you delivering yourself? How often? What's your delivery radius?
  • Storage — Do you have enough space to store ingredients and finished products?
  • Invoicing — Most stores pay on terms (Net 15 or Net 30). You need to be okay with not getting paid immediately.
  • Shelf life — How long does your product last? Stores need products that can sit for a reasonable time.

Start with one or two accounts and work out the kinks before scaling.

7

Get found by local businesses and neighbors

Marketless Farmer puts you in front of neighbors who buy direct — and those neighbors talk to local business owners. Being visible in your community is the best wholesale lead generation there is.

$10/month for a producer listing. Cancel anytime. Oregon-first.

Launch Readiness

Ready to start selling?

Create a seller listing on Marketless Farmer to get discovered by neighbors in your area. $10/month, cancel anytime. No contracts.

Create your listing

Common Questions

There's a narrow exception: under cottage food, you CAN sell to retail stores if the store displays signage indicating the product was made in a home kitchen. But most stores won't do this — it's awkward for them and limits your products to shelf-stable only. The Domestic Kitchen License is a much cleaner path.

If you sell fewer than 100,000 units per year and have fewer than 100 employees, you may qualify for a small business exemption from the FDA nutrition labeling requirement. However, many stores will want it regardless — it looks professional and helps their customers. Getting a nutrition analysis done costs $50–200 per product through services like Nutritionix or a local food lab.

If selling to stores with a POS system (which is most of them), yes. Register with GS1 US to get your company prefix and barcodes. The basic package starts at ~$250. Some very small stores or farm stands may not need it.

The standard is a 50% markup from wholesale to retail (also called "keystone pricing"). If your product retails for $10, the store expects to buy it at $5. Some specialty stores take less margin; some take more. This is negotiable, especially with small independents.

Not at first. Distributors take another 15–30% margin, which can eat your profit at small scale. Deliver direct to your first accounts. Once you have more accounts than you can personally service, a distributor starts making sense.

Not legal advice. Verify with official authorities.

Last verified: July 15, 2026 · Sources: ODA, FDA, GS1 US