Fairway Market to Host Retail Pitch Day

Indie teaming with Naturally New York on effort

2/7/2023

The winner of the Next Fairway Find pitch competition will receive product placement at Fairway's four locations and up to 20 Village Super Market stores.

New York City grocer Fairway Market will hold its first-ever Next Fairway Find event on Feb. 15 in the second-floor cafe of its Upper West Side location on 74th and Broadway, in collaboration with local community organization Naturally New York. The inaugural competition will enable 10 brands among Naturally New York’s members to pitch their companies’ best-selling products to a panel of Fairway experts, with one brand winning product placement at Fairway’s four locations and up to 20 Village Super Market stores, in addition to off-shelf placements for one month, and marketing and distributor support. The prize is worth $10,000.

Additionally, the event will help to increase visibility of early-stage brands, including diverse manufacturers and minority-, LGBTQ+-, woman-, veteran- and disability-owned businesses.

“Fairway Market was actually built around the concept of finding young brands and giving them an opportunity in New York City, the greatest food city in the world,” noted Perry Blatt, third-generation operator of Springfield, N.J.-based Village Super Market, the owner of Fairway Market. “Many of your favorite brands actually started here. New Yorkers are looking for the next big thing, it’s the NYC way, and that’s why it’s important to Fairway to partner with Naturally New York to find it.”

Brands can submit their applications now until Friday, Feb. 10 for a chance to be one of the 10 brands featured in the event. After submissions close, Fairway’s leadership and buyer panel will choose the candidates to take part on Feb. 15, and the winner will be revealed the same day. Eligible brand applicants must be Naturally New York members; live in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut; and have a representative available to pitch on the day of the event.

Naturally New York aims to provide intimate networking experiences for businesses of all sizes and to develop leadership within the greater New York natural-products community. Its mission is to harness, accelerate and elevate the power and impact of conscious business practices in the natural, organic and sustainable products ecosystem through community-based programming, networking, influence and collaboration.

Operating 38 stores under the ShopRite, Fairway and Gourmet Garage banners, Village Super Market is part of Keasbey, N.J.-based retailer cooperative Wakefern Food Corp., which comprises more than 40 members that independently own and operate 360-plus supermarkets. The company is No. 25 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 listing of North America’s top food and consumables retailers in North America.