SALSA and IND!E launch new route to retail for emerging food and drink brands

Partnership connects technical readiness with buyer discovery, retail testing and distribution support, with preferential access to IND!E services for eligible SALSA Approved Members.

SALSA and IND!E have announced a new partnership designed to help emerging food and drink brands move from being technically retail-ready to accessing buyer discovery, real-world retail testing and routes towards commercial growth.

The partnership brings together SALSA’s expertise in food safety, technical standards and retail readiness with IND!E’s growing retail ecosystem, connecting challenger brands with buyers, in-store testing opportunities, distribution and routes to scale.

As part of the partnership, eligible SALSA Approved Members will receive a 20% preferential rate across IND!E retail services, including access to TIND!E, retail pop-ups and trial opportunities.

For smaller food and drink businesses, becoming technically ready for retail is only one part of the challenge. Brands must then find the right buyers, demonstrate consumer demand, navigate onboarding and logistics, and prove they can perform once listed.

The SALSA and IND!E partnership is designed to connect those stages.

SALSA will continue to help producers demonstrate the robust food safety standards and technical capability retailers require, while IND!E will provide a commercial pathway through its network of retail partners and wider ecosystem of services for challenger brands.

Together, the organisations aim to create a more connected journey from retail readiness to growth: get ready, get discovered, get tested, get listed and grow.

Connecting brands with the right retail opportunities
At the heart of the partnership is TIND!E, IND!E’s digital discovery platform for retail buyers.

TIND!E gives buyers a simple way to discover and assess emerging brands, review key commercial and technical information and identify products they want to explore further.

The aim is simple: make it easier for great, retail-ready brands to be discovered, and easier for buyers to find them.

TIND!E is designed to support a broad spectrum of emerging food and drink brands and connect them with an equally broad retail audience. Depending on the product and route to market, this could include farm shops, delis, speciality retailers, garden centres, online grocery platforms and larger supermarket groups.

As the platform launches, IND!E will be inviting buying teams from across these channels to discover brands through TIND!E, including retailers such as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Booths, alongside independent and speciality retail buyers.

From there, IND!E can help facilitate samples and conversations, create opportunities for brands to test products in real retail environments, and support successful products as they progress towards wider distribution and growth where appropriate.

For retailers, the partnership creates access to a pipeline of emerging brands that are better prepared for the realities of retail, while IND!E can help manage some of the resource-intensive work involved in identifying, testing, onboarding and developing smaller suppliers.

For brands, it creates something equally important: a clearer route forward.

Matt Hopkins, Founder and CEO of IND!E, said:

“There are thousands of brilliant food and drink businesses in the UK, but becoming retail-ready and getting into retail are still two very different things.

“SALSA does an exceptional job helping businesses build the technical foundations retailers need. What we can add is the next part of that journey, helping those brands get discovered, tested with real customers and, when the evidence is there, scaled.

“Retail buyers absolutely want innovation and newness, but their time is increasingly stretched. Our job is to make discovering and working with challenger brands easier while giving those brands a much clearer pathway into retail.

“By joining the SALSA and IND!E ecosystems together, we can start to bridge that gap.”

John Tomlinson, Managing Director of SALSA, added:

“Micro and small businesses add so much value to the food and drink industry, from high product innovation to promoting regional communities and traditions, benefiting local economy and generating consumer excitement.

“However, they can often struggle selling into retail for a number of reasons.

“This new partnership is designed to support SALSA Members and turn technical readiness into commercial opportunities in retail.”

More than a directory
IND!E works with brands through a discovery, test, validate and scale model.

Brands can be discovered through TIND!E, tested through IND!E’s physical retail opportunities, supported with commercial insight and success plans, and ultimately progress towards wider wholesale distribution where appropriate.

IND!E’s ecosystem also connects brands with specialist support across areas including branding, packaging, technical services, manufacturing, logistics, retail media and other capabilities needed as businesses grow.

Brands applying for a specific IND!E retail opportunity will also be able to create the TIND!E profile required for that application without taking out a paid subscription.

Brands that want their profile to remain visible to the wider TIND!E buyer community can subscribe to the platform, with eligible SALSA Approved Members receiving the preferential partnership rate.

The two organisations will also work together on education, retailer insight, events and opportunities designed to help emerging businesses better understand what retailers are looking for and how to prepare for growth.

ENDS

About IND!E
IND!E is a UK retail growth platform built specifically for challenger brands.

Working with a growing network of emerging brands and retail partners, IND!E helps businesses move through the journey from discovery and testing to validation, distribution and scale.

Its ecosystem includes TIND!E buyer discovery, physical retail testing and pop-ups, wholesale distribution, D2C opportunities and a network of specialist partners supporting brands as they grow.

About SALSA
SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) is a widely recognised food safety certification scheme designed for smaller food and drink producers and suppliers.

The scheme provides an effective and affordable standard of food safety certification, helping businesses demonstrate to buyers that they operate to appropriate and robust food safety standards.

Media enquiries
IND!E Collection Ltd
Matt Hopkins – Founder & CEO
matt@collectionindie.com
Tel: 01423 229988

SALSA
John Tomlinson – Managing Director
johntomlinson@salsafood.co.uk