Locally Made

Welcome to Naturally Chicago's Locally Made Program - a groundbreaking initiative designed to connect Illinois retailers with the region's emerging and top-performing brands.

The program is open to all Naturally Chicago brand partners with a particular focus on early-stage BIPOC-owned and women-owned companies. Our mission is to help natural product entrepreneurs increase sales, create jobs, and thrive in the competitive retail grocery segment.

About

Locally Made is a partnership between Naturally Chicago and KeHE Distributors, along with other industry-leading partners who have extensive relationships with retailers and a proven track record of securing shelf presence for early-stage and emerging brands.

We're also proud to introduce Naturally Chicago's first formal Mentorship Program, providing high-level guidance for professionals in the natural products industry.

Discover more about our mentorship program below.

Companies must be headquartered or products must be grown, produced, or manufactured within 150 miles of Chicago to be part of the Locally Made program.

Benefits
For Retailers

  • Plug-and-play Local Products program

  • Meet consumer demand for local products

  • Support local brands and communities

  • Increase awareness of natural & organic produccts

  • Enhance profitability through premium brands

  • Publicity through Naturally Chicago’s channel

Benefits
For Brands

  • Enhanced on-shelf awareness and POS support

  • Increased sales opportunities

  • Introductions to retailers

  • Access to KeHE category managers

  • Publicity through Naturally Chicago’s channel

  • Meet consumer demand for local products

For more information on becoming a Locally Made founding retailer, email Greg Keller at greg@naturallychicago.org.

Leading Retailers Partner with Locally Made

Get on the Shelves and Get Promoted

Locally Made gives retailers a plug-and-play program to procure and promote local brands and meet their customers’ desires to buy and support local. Brands that participate in the program may be featured in point-of-sale promotions (shelf talkers and end caps) highlighting Locally Made companies. 

The program will connect leading retailers with local brands. Retailers committed to participate in Locally Made include Fresh Thyme Market, Go Grocer, Mariano’s, 7-11 Midwest, and Whole Foods Market.

Brand
Membership

Brand Partnership is required to participate in Locally Made and Naturally Chicago’s other programs for brands, including the mentorship program, peer circles, educational programming, Pitch Slam, and our many fun social and networking events.

Because of capacity limits, Brand Partnership does not guarantee immediate admission to the Retail Access Program. Retailers will specify to us what they are looking for, and they will choose among the applicants to bring in for a showcase or pitch. There is a new opportunity with every retailer every quarter, and there is no limit to how many times a Brand Partner can apply.

Brand Partnership guarantees brands the opportunity to apply for participation in the Retail Access Program. Brands will be asked to complete the brand self-assessment, and schedule a consultation session with Greg Keller, Locally Made’s Senior Consultant and the former longtime national sales manager for Frontera Foods. Greg will work with retailers to assure brands meet their requirements.    

Those who are not ready yet will have access to mentoring, networking and educational programming to help them get ready.

Upon completion of membership, fill out the brand assessment to complete your application. 

Mentorship

The Locally Made Mentorship Program provides one-on-one guidance from industry veterans to professionals in the natural product industry, including early-stage producers.

Prioritizing support for women-owned and BIPOC-owned companies, our program assists in navigating retail, distributor, and broker relationships, developing financial models, and offering advice on raising financing.

Partners

KeHE Distributors, Locally Made’s leading partner, is the largest distributor of natural & organic, specialty, and fresh products to more than 30,000 retailers throughout North America. With over 6,800 employee-owners, KeHE, a Certified B Corporation based in Naperville, Illinois, drives its mission of serving to make lives better, throughout all aspects of its operation.

Scholarships

Naturally Chicago supports BIPOC and women-owned businesses, and to ensure equal opportunities and access to the Locally Made program, Naturally Chicago is offering scholarships to brands, with a focus on women-owned and BIPOC-owned businesses. 

· Scholarships are decided on a case-by-case basis. 

· Brands that are awarded a scholarship are asked to become individual members of Naturally Chicago.

· Scholarships are one year in length and can be renewed. A new application is required for renewal. 

· The application is meant to be simple and remove barriers.