Hy-Vee Plans 6th Best of Local Brands, 1st Pet Products Summits

West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee will host its sixth Best of Local Brands summit in May to allow customers to purchase from local vendors at its more than 285 retail stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The grocer also unveiled its first Pet Products summit to be held in May as well.

Continuing its efforts to elevate and identify suppliers with diverse backgrounds and encourage minority-owned and women-owned businesses, May’s Best of Local Brands summit will consist of 15- to 30-minute virtual presentations from selected suppliers from May 18-20. Hy-Vee said it is now accepting submissions online through March 28 in the following categories of retail-ready products: grocery, produce, deli, general merchandise, frozen, dairy, and health and beauty care.

The employee-owned corporation with sales of more than $12 billion annually said more than 100 new brands were selected from the first four installations of its Best of Local Brands and that brand selection form its fifth summit, which was held in February is underway.

Looking to host the company’s first category-specific summit, Hy-Vee announced its first Pet Products summit on May 2. The summit will consist of 15- to 30-minute virtual presentations from selected suppliers. Hy-Vee said it is now accepting submissions online through April 4 in the following categories of retail-ready products: wet food, dry food, treats, toys, leashes, collars and other pet accessories.

All sourcing and product submissions will be made through RangeMe, an online product discovery and sourcing platform. All meetings will be conducted through ECRM’s virtual meeting platform, ECRM Connect. Suppliers not chosen for participation in this summit will still be accessible through RangeMe and may be reviewed by Hy-Vee merchants again in the future as business needs change.