With brands like Kettle Chips and Green & Black’s among its biggest sellers, D&D Snack Foods is big on premium adult nibbles. MD Steve Dussek told Better Wholesaling that London is the heartland of D&D’s customer base and as such it gives suppliers a chance to test out exciting new products in a relatively low-cost way.
But it is not without risks – for the supplier or the wholesaler. Stock up on an absolute turkey of a product and you risk getting burned. But if you get behind and energise a great product in its infancy and you could see four to five years of fantastic returns before the multiples get their hands on the product.
So how do you know which products to back? Dussek explains that it’s a bit like being a record label A&R man: “Twenty products come in a week. It’s like the rock star you didn’t sign. There’s stuff you say yes to, stuff you say no to, stuff you wish you’d never said yes to and stuff you say no to that you wish you’d said yes to. It’s got to feel right. It comes a bit with experience and it’s about trying to keep in touch with all age groups.”
For the full interview make sure you read the May edition of Better Wholesaling.
