Guide · 5 min read
How to pitch an organic store, and what they check first
I would not walk into an organic store with a story. They read the pack first: the FSSAI licence number, the ingredient list, the packing and best-before dates, the MRP, and whether the word organic is backed by NPOP or PGS-India certification. Go on a weekday morning with three samples and one printed sheet, message the same evening, and keep the first order small enough to restock every fortnight.
What they check before they taste it
I fix the pack before I book the visit. At an inspection the grocer answers for that shelf.
Under the FSSAI labelling rules a retail pack has to carry the name of the food, the list of ingredients in descending order of weight, the net quantity and retail sale price, a lot or batch number, the date marking, the veg or non-veg mark, and the FSSAI logo with the licence number printed in a colour that contrasts with the background. The number on the label is the brand owner's, and if somebody else makes or packs for you, their number goes on as well.
Where the surface area is not more than 100 square centimetres, the label is exempt from the ingredient list, the batch number, nutritional information, and the licence number and logo, provided all of it appears on the multi-unit pack. I carry the outer carton anyway.
You apply through FoSCoS, FSSAI's own portal, and whether you need a registration, a state licence or a central one turns on turnover, production capacity and how many states you work in. Registration itself costs ₹100 a year. Without that number on the pack I stay home.
The word organic has a rulebook
I would not print the word organic on a pack I could not certify. A grocer can check that claim without asking you.
The Food Safety and Standards (Organic Foods) Regulations, 2017 say nobody may manufacture, pack, sell, offer for sale, market or distribute organic food without complying with them, and complying means one of two systems: the National Programme for Organic Production, or PGS-India.
The one exemption is narrower than it reads. It covers organic food sold by direct sale to the end consumer by a small original producer or producer organisation, which FSSAI's own FAQ puts at annual turnover not exceeding ₹12 lakh. A 2021 amendment extends it to aggregators who collect from those producers and sell direct to the end consumer, and on that route the food may not carry FSSAI's organic logo, the Jaivik Bharat mark. Read it as permission to sell direct, and nothing further.
If you are in conversion, say so in the first two minutes. Stock in conversion under PGS-India may be labelled PGS-Green, and under NPOP as in-conversion to organic with the year of conversion, and neither may carry FSSAI's organic logo. An owner who works that out after you have said organic will not see you twice.
Traceability has to run back to the producer, and a seller of organic food has to display it in a way that is distinguishable from non-organic food. That is why the paperwork looks heavy for four cases.
Margin and payment terms
I do not open with a margin number. Ask on the first visit, in this order.
- What margin on MRP, counted off the printed price, for a new line?
- Do you buy outright, or take a first lot on consignment?
- How many days to payment, from delivery or from the invoice?
- Anything for shelf position, or a listing charge?
On a ₹250 jar, a PTR of ₹175, what the store pays, leaves ₹75 with the owner. I say ₹75 out loud, never a percentage.
The margin calculator does that in one screen. No credit on the first order, and say so before you deliver. Credit after two reorders, written on the invoice, and a GST bill from the first delivery. Distributor or direct to retail carries it one layer out.
The pitch, in three steps
One. Walk in Tuesday to Thursday, before noon. Saturdays are wasted on me: four minutes of half attention. Carry three samples and the outer carton, and ask who decides the counter.
Two. Message the same evening. Six to eight, while your samples are still on the counter.
Three. Come back on a fixed day. Same day every fortnight. Keep the MOQ at one carton, because a month of stock on a slow counter turns into a near-expiry argument by month three.
Two messages you can copy
Fill the brackets. Neither asks for a meeting.
1. The same evening, after you walked in
Six to eight, the day of the visitI put the certification in the first message because the grocer will check it anyway.
2. The fortnightly restock
Two days before you are next in the areaCount their stock yourself and you read as a supplier who runs that counter. I offer the expiry return because three jars at PTR is cheaper than a dead line.
Why they say no
- The certificate does not cover the claim on the pack.
- Shelf life is short against how fast that category turns.
- Your price sits beside an imported line that already owns the customer.
Most of those are a not now with a date on it, and I ask for the date. What to do when a café says no sorts one from the other.
I would cut anything from that first message before the certification line. On the lanes you will not get to on foot, Mira researches each store before she writes.