The Development of Opportunities for Regional Food Suppliers Available to Purchase

Market trends have offered an incentive to retailers to differentiate product assortments by region, whilst new developments in purchasing technology have enabled retail buyers to fragment orders by region and even by store and to tranship between regions. Reports on an initiative to take advantage of recent developments and to facilitate the access of small, regionally‐based suppliers to retail food multiples through a series of Meet the Buyer events. Presents preliminary results of a survey of 123 small suppliers and 28 retail buyers who have participated in these events.