Specialty Food Association Launches Online Transactional Marketplace

The Specialty Food Association (SFA), in collaboration with Specialty Food Partners, has launched Infinite Aisle, an online transactional marketplace that connects the association’s maker members with distributors and retail buyers.

Through the marketplace, retailers order products from makers, who receive the orders, print prepaid labels supplied to them and ship the product directly to stores. Partner distributors facilitate and guarantee the orders without having to take possession of or warehouse the products, allowing them to offer an unlimited number of items to their retailer customers, SFA said.

Makers can promote their products and assign attributes, while retail buyers and distributors can search the platform by product category, subcategory, attributes such as fair trade or gluten-free, or business distinctions such as B Corp, women- or veteran-owned. Buyers seeking local products can also sort makers based on their distance from the store. The program has no fees for SFA maker members.

“With more than 80% of the SFA maker members being new, smaller and scaling brands struggling to attain wide product distribution, the SFA’s new Infinite Aisle program allows their incredible specialty food products be discovered, sourced and purchased by thousands of new retailers through our distributor partners.” said Leo Squatrito, VP of member development and outreach for New York-based SFA.

SFA President Bill Lynch added: “The Specialty Food Association has been focused on responding creatively and effectively to these historically challenging times. Infinite Aisle is another example of how we’re responding to member needs with digital initiatives that generate business opportunities for all segments of the specialty food industry.”