If you import food into your market and you are considering carrying American brands, you have probably noticed that the exporter side of the conversation is oddly opaque. Manufacturers point you at export management companies. Export management companies ask you a lot of questions before they will quote. And nobody explains what they are actually screening for.
This is a plain description of what a U.S. food exporter looks for in a distributor partner, what the first few conversations normally cover, and what you should be asking in return.
First, be clear about which side of the border each party covers
The single most common source of confusion is the assumption that a U.S. exporter has a warehouse in your country. Most do not, and we do not. Chihade International is a U.S. exporter based in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Everything we do happens on the American side of the shipment — sourcing, consolidation, storage, labelling, documentation and freight. Importing, customs clearance, in-market storage and distribution are the distributor’s side.
That division matters commercially, not just logistically. It means the exporter is not competing with you in your own market, and it means the distributor is not being asked to solve U.S.-side problems like manufacturer minimums or export certification. Each side does the part it is actually set up to do.
What an exporter is screening for
Distributor relationships in this business tend to run for decades rather than seasons, so the screening is deliberately slow. In practice it comes down to five things.
- You are an established importer of record. You already hold the licences and registrations your market requires, and you have cleared food shipments before. An exporter cannot fix a clearance problem from 7,000 miles away.
- You have real coverage of at least one channel. Modern retail, wholesale, foodservice distribution or franchise supply — depth in one is worth more than a thin presence in all four.
- You have temperature-controlled storage and distribution appropriate to the categories you want. If the plan involves frozen protein, the cold chain has to survive the last mile, not just the port.
- You have a sales team that can place a new brand. Warehousing a product is not the same as selling it. The distributors who succeed with American lines are the ones who can get a buyer meeting and hold shelf space through the slow first year.
- You are interested in a programme, not a one-off. Repeat, forecastable volume is what makes consolidation, exclusivity and better sourcing possible.
Questions you should expect to be asked
Expect an exporter to want specifics early, because the answers determine whether a workable programme exists at all:
- Which categories do you want to carry, and are any of them meat, poultry or dairy? Those carry establishment-level approval requirements that vary by destination and can rule a product in or out before anything else is discussed.
- Which channel will the product go into, and who is the end buyer?
- Do you need halal certification, and which certifying bodies does your regulator recognise?
- What language and format does your market require on the label, and does it need to be applied before the goods ship?
- What is your realistic order frequency — monthly, quarterly, seasonal?
- Which port do you clear through, and do you have chilled or frozen capacity at destination?
How a first programme usually comes together
- Scoping conversation. Categories, channel, market requirements, rough volumes.
- Product and specification alignment. We identify which U.S. manufacturers can meet the spec and whether their plants are eligible to export to your market. This is where a lot of wishlists get trimmed.
- Documentation and regulatory review. Certificates, halal requirements, labelling, shelf-life rules on arrival. Sorted before anything is loaded, not after.
- First shipment. Usually a consolidated mixed load rather than a single-product container, so you can test several lines at once.
- Replenishment. Once the first container clears cleanly, the cycle gets much shorter — the hard work is nearly all in the first one.
Our typical minimum is around US $5,000 per order, and roughly three weeks from confirmed order to departure, depending on product mix and whether the load is consolidating with other freight.
What you should be asking in return
The screening runs both ways, and a serious exporter will not mind being asked:
- Do you own or control the warehouse the goods ship from, or are you brokering?
- Are you certified — and to what standard? Ours is SQF, at a 64,000 sq. ft. facility with dry, chilled and frozen space under one roof.
- Can you consolidate multiple manufacturers into one container, or will I be buying full loads from each?
- Who applies the destination-language labelling, and where?
- Have you shipped into my market before, and do you know its current documentation requirements?
- Will you give exclusivity on any line, and what performance would that depend on?
Why partnerships usually do not proceed
It is rarely price. The common reasons are structural: the requested product comes from a plant not eligible to export to that destination; the cold chain at destination cannot support the category; the volume is genuinely one-off; or the importer expected the exporter to also handle in-market clearance and distribution. All four are better discovered in the first conversation than the first container.
Ready to start that conversation?
We are a family-owned U.S. food exporter, in business since 1979, shipping to distributors, retailers and franchise groups in more than 30 countries. If you import food and want to carry American brands, tell us your market and your channel and we will tell you honestly whether we can build a programme around it.
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