A cafe owner tastes a croissant at a farmers market on Saturday and decides she wants them in her shop. She emails the bakery that evening.
The baker reads it four days later, at three in the afternoon, having been awake since one in the morning. By then she has already agreed terms with someone else.
The teardown: the hours do not overlap
Bakers work when cafes are closed and sleep when cafes are open. Wholesale enquiries arrive in the middle of a baker's rest and are read in the middle of the customer's service. This mismatch loses more accounts than price ever does.
What cafes ask
Cafes usually ask which products are available wholesale, what the trade prices are, what the minimum order is, which days delivery happens, what time deliveries arrive, when orders must be placed, how far the delivery area extends, whether they can change quantities daily, whether products are delivered baked or frozen and what happens on bank holidays.
Delivery time decides everything
A cafe opening at seven needs bread before seven. Publishing delivery windows by area is the single most important piece of information, because a bakery that cannot arrive before opening is not a candidate regardless of quality.
Order cut-offs and flexibility
Whether orders can be adjusted the day before, whether standing orders can be varied and how late changes are handled. Cafes have unpredictable trade and value a supplier who can absorb a little variation.
Consistency matters more than range
A cafe building a menu around your sourdough needs it to be the same loaf every week. Explaining your consistency, capacity and what happens if a product is unavailable reassures a buyer whose own customers will notice.
Capture it while you sleep
SpideyChat for food businesses answers trade questions from your published terms at any hour, including the evenings when cafe owners do their admin, and captures the business details for the morning.
Cafe owner: Do you supply wholesale, and could you deliver before we open at seven? Assistant: The trade page lists the wholesale range with prices, the minimum order and the delivery windows for each area, including early morning slots. Could you share your business name, postcode and roughly what quantities you would need each day? The bakery will confirm what is possible for your area.
Samples close accounts
A tasting box delivered to a prospective cafe converts better than any price list. Capturing the address and what they currently serve is enough to send one.
Frozen and part-baked options
Cafes without a baker often prefer part-baked or frozen products they finish themselves. Explaining these options opens accounts that could not take fresh delivery.
Pricing that survives a year
Ingredient costs move, and a wholesale price list agreed casually becomes unprofitable quietly. Publishing how often prices are reviewed, and how much notice customers receive, makes increases a normal part of the arrangement rather than a difficult conversation that risks the account.
Retail work continues
Celebration cakes and counter trade run alongside, as covered in custom cake orders that need every detail, and trade routes matter for producers generally, as in trade and stockist enquiries for craft drinks producers and dropship and fulfilment enquiries from online sellers.
Getting started
Publish your wholesale range, prices, minimums and delivery windows, then capture trade enquiries at any hour. Clear routing helps every kind of customer, as described in AI receptionist for opticians. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.