How to start a snack distribution route

It helps to start narrow: pastries and snack cakes, candy, chips, jerky, or drinks. Pick a lane you can supply every week without gaps, then grow from there.

• Look at the shelves. Visit the stores you want to serve and note what is empty, dusty or missing.
• Mind the shelf life. The shorter it is, the more expired product comes back. Plan for it from day one with our guide to expired product credits.
• Think about heat. Chocolate and some candy don’t travel well in a hot truck. Choose products your vehicle can keep in good condition.

Decide on a business structure. LLCs and corporations register with the state, usually through the Secretary of State. A sole proprietor using a trade name usually files a DBA.

Then open a business bank account. Route money moves in cash, and keeping it apart from personal money makes every count easier to check.

In states with a sales tax, register with the state revenue department before you buy inventory. Registration is what lets you buy product for resale without paying sales tax to your supplier.

Stores that resell your product usually give you their own resale certificate in the same way. Keep a copy for every store. How candy, snacks and drinks are taxed differs from state to state, so confirm the rules for each state you sell in with its revenue department or an accountant.

Packaged snacks are still food, and food storage has rules. They depend on where the product sits between the supplier and the store.

Before you sign a lease on a storage unit or warehouse, call your state’s agriculture or health department and ask which permit applies to storing packaged food for resale.

Many routes start with a cargo van and move to a box truck as the store count grows. Weight decides which federal rules apply.

Ask your insurer whether your policy covers a vehicle used for business, and tell them the product is carried on it overnight. On our family’s routes, the product lives on the truck: it is loaded at the warehouse and stays loaded between days.

You can buy from manufacturers that sell to distributors, from larger wholesalers, or from cash-and-carry warehouses, and you can mix them. Before your first order, ask every supplier the same questions.

Every item has three prices: what you pay, what the store pays you, and what the shopper pays the store. Leave room for the store’s margin and for the credits you will give on expired product.

Print your cost and suggested retail on a product order form, so the store sees its margin before it orders.

Start with independent stores: gas stations, convenience stores, corner markets and smoke shops. They decide on the spot. Chains usually have a vendor approval process that is easier to take on once you’re established.

• Ask for the owner or manager, and come at a quiet hour.
• Bring a product sheet and samples. Prices on paper make the conversation short.
• Say how often you’ll come and how you handle expired product. Reliability is what stores are buying.
• Group stores by area. On our family’s routes, each day’s stores are picked by city, so the truck isn’t crossing town between stops.

The visit is where money is made or lost. A clean order of steps prevents most disputes.

• Pull expired product and count it in front of the store.
• Stock the shelves. Owners often change the order while you stock.
• Write the invoice after stocking, with credits on it, item by item.
• Collect payment and write the amount paid and any balance on the invoice.

Collecting after the shelves are stocked is how our family’s routes run. The invoice matches what was really left, and there is nothing to change afterwards.

Count the cash, add up the invoices and make sure they agree. Note who still owes and what came back expired. Then restock the truck for tomorrow.

If the count doesn’t match, our guide on why the route cash doesn’t match the invoices walks through where the gap usually hides.

Paper works when you start. As stores and drivers are added, route software does the adding, keeps every store’s balance and closes each driver’s day in one place. That is the job we are building Tallysnack for. It is in development now.