KeHE’s Fresh Marketplace “helps make stores worth leaving home for.” We know that in-person store visits provide an opportunity for our retail partners to establish deeper connections with their customers. The right fresh experience provides a pathway to connect with their culture, their mission, and their brand.
KeHE believes grocery distribution transcends brown boxes, truck routes, and forklifts. It’s what is inside those brown boxes that matters most. Yes, we are freight people, but we are also food people. KeHE knows retailers want a compelling fresh assortment that sets them apart. That is why we partner with some of the most food forward suppliers in the industry and connect them with our retail partners in celebration of great food.
KeHE is the only national distributor to deliver five pillars of fresh on the same truck as center store products. This maximizes existing routes and minimizes costs for our partners. Our assortment of 24,000+ products are curated by experts in each category.
With more than 9,500 SKUs in our assortment, the KeHE cheese team has curated a best-in-class portfolio of products designed to bring cheese departments big and small to the next level through revenue generation and labor reduction. KeHE offers:
- A robust domestic and imported artisanal & commodity portfolio of products
- A category management team with decades of retail experience and multiple Certified Cheese Professionals
- State-of-the art cut & wrap programs
- Merchandising & promotional planning solutions
- Competitive market sales analysis
- Innovation-focused, solutions-oriented programming
- Value added & import programs
- Trend spotting & deep dive data analysis
Meat:
Our category managers work with over145 manufacturers to offer more than 1,300 SKUs of packaged, frozen meat and plant-based protein products. We seek suppliers who prioritize integrity and taste. KeHE offers:
- Natural and specialty capabilities
- Specialized case-ready programs
- Core program pillars that include organic, grassfed, humanely raised, and regenerative agriculture
- A full selection turnkey assortment for any size meat or meat alternative department
Seafood:
Our teams are obsessed with finding next level packaged and frozen seafood products, and work with seafood suppliers throughout the world that share our passion for taste, quality, and sustainability. KeHE offers:
- Specialized case-ready programs
- Products with third party, certified sustainable accreditation (ASC, MSC, BAP, Global Gap)
- Commodity seafood purchasing programs
- Customizable, ready to cook seafood entrees
Our bulk items are hand-selected by our category specialists, with a focus on quality, taste, and differentiation. KeHE offers a highly desired, sought-after assortment of key volume drivers and unique seasonal flavors. In addition to traditional bulk items, we offer comprehensive repack and private label capabilities. KeHE offers:
- Turnkey programming
- Sourcing of multiple quality standards
- 4K+ on-trend SKUs with over 1,200 organic SKUs
- Customized buying & programming options
- A passion for products in the following categories
- Nuts & Seeds
- Mixes, Blends, Granola & Trail Mix
- Chocolate, Candy & Confections
- Dried Fruit
- Baking, Spices & Seasonings
- Coffee, Tea & Liquids
- Grains, Rice & Beans
With nearly 4,000 SKUs stocked in our warehouses, our supplier partners offer some of the best tasting staple, seasonal, and special diet bakery products in the industry. The KeHE team of category specialists have worked to curate products that will support retailers big and small with the right mix throughout the year. Bakery tastes and smells drive visits. KeHE offers:
- On trend natural and organic itemization
- Special diets including elevated gluten free, keto, low carb, high protein, and vegan
- Programs with a wide range of labor utilization - from food service components for artisans to low labor solutions that save time and money
- Major & micro seasonality
- First-to-market solutions with proven case studies
- Strong vendor relationships domestically and abroad
- Regional & national programs
KeHE specializes in premium and packaged service deli programs that set our retail partners apart. Products that flat out taste amazing, offering products that truly drive store visits. KeHE programs have been designed by our category managers – many of whom are former retailers, who understand the value of offering a highly curated assortment and labor-saving solutions. KeHE offers:
- Labor saving prepared meal programs, including exclusive products offered only to KeHE retailers
- Ethnic and on trend hot bar assortment
- Contactless case ready programs available across all category segments
- On-trend assortment focused on better-for-you solutions and special diets
Interested in Fresh?
Featured KeHE Fresh Partners
Our partners True Story are on a “journey for better”. They envision a society that cares about where its food comes from: that respects its land and its livestock, takes care of its farmers, and appreciates eating well. Family owned and operated, they started True Story because they wanted their communities to have clean, high-welfare meat that just tastes great.
Our partners at Mazzone have spent their lives creating superb foods that you can serve with pride and confidence. Everything about their products, from the ingredients to the recipes to their state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, reflects their passion for family and the best of Italian food traditions.
