In the food and retail industry, we talk endlessly about product quality, price architecture, and promotional strategy. But there’s one ingredient that nobody puts on a project plan. That ingredient is the relationship between supplier and retailer.
I spent 20+ years on the supplier side, customer-facing. I know what it feels like to prep for a buyer visit like the whole business is riding on it. Now, as a leadership coach – and with a team of coaches who’ve sat in retail seats themselves – I get to see both sides clearly for the first time.
We’re in an era of AI, automation, and algorithmic buying decisions. And yet. The thing that still determines whether a supplier keeps a listing, or gets a call when there’s a problem, or gets a fair hearing in a tough negotiation – is whether there’s a real human relationship underneath it all. That hasn’t changed. If anything it matters more.
The pressure gap nobody talks about
Here’s what I see constantly: each side thinks the other has it easier.
Suppliers preparing for a buyer visit are performing calm while privately bracing for impact. The buyer team travelling out to site is glad of the change of scenery, but mentally three meetings ahead before they’ve arrived.
Neither side is wrong. It’s just what happens when two organisations under real commercial pressure meet without any shared frame of reference. And if you’ve only ever sat on one side of the table, you cannot know what the other side is carrying into that room.
It shows up in the small stuff too — the terse email about a missed delivery window, the buyer chasing a mislabelled sample at 5pm. What looks unreasonable from the outside usually has a perfectly rational explanation. You just can’t see it from where you’re standing.
Collaboration isn’t a soft skill, it’s a commercial skill
Research by McKinsey into supplier-retailer relationships found a clear link between collaborative ways of working and stronger commercial performance. It’s the kind of finding that confirms what many in the industry already know but this but struggle to make it happen.
The partnerships that actually work tend to look the same: a full 3- year plan instead of a perpetual scramble and knee jerk reactions, joint commitment to promotional investment, and targets that give both sides a genuine stake in the outcome.
For suppliers, this means investing time in the relationship beyond the immediate range review. For retailers, it means recognising that a supplier who feels valued and kept in the loop will go further to solve problems when things get difficult (and things always get difficult!).
Honest communication under pressure
Price increases, supply chain volatility, and availability challenges are now a constant backdrop to every supplier-buyer conversation. Those pressures make honest communication harder, but also even more necessary.
The temptation, when things are difficult, is to “manage” the relationship rather than be straight with it. But transparency (about capacity constraints, cost pressures, timeline risks) builds more trust in the long run than polished reassurance (or BS as we might also call it!) that later unravels. Both sides ultimately want the same thing: great products, strong sales, and a partnership that lasts.
Empathy, in a professional context, isn’t about being nice. It’s about being effective. When you understand what your counterpart is accountable for, what they’re worried about, and what a good outcome looks like for them, you’re far better placed to find solutions that work for everyone.
Ready to strengthen your supplier and retailer relationships?
Fearless Foodies has built a practical programme to help food and drink professionals communicate with confidence, build stronger cross-functional partnerships, and navigate the unique pressures of the supplier-retailer dynamic. Find out more at https://fearlessfoodies.co.uk/fearless-relationships/
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