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Selected work in food market entry and distribution.
Four anonymized projects in coffee, tea and better-for-you food across the US, UK and EU. For each one: the challenge, what the team did, and how it turned out.
Ceylon tea brand — UK & EU retail entry, 2026
Challenge
A Sri Lankan tea brand with a wide range wanted to enter UK and European retail. The range had to become an offer UK buyers could list, and it had to reach the right buyers, not a generic mailing list.
What we did
- Structured the full range for UK retail, with a trade price list in the format UK buyers work with.
- Wrote a category proposal for UK and EU buyers: how the tea category is changing and where the range fits.
- Built a verified buyer program covering grocery, specialty, department-store and distribution buyers in the UK and EU, with each contact checked before outreach.
- Reviewed range names and on-pack wording with UK and EU claims rules in mind, ahead of buyer presentations.
- Set up a pre-show invitation program for buyer meetings at SIAL Paris 2026.
Outcome
Under way. Outreach and SIAL Paris meetings run in October 2026, and the brand goes into buyer conversations with a retail-ready range, a category case and a qualified buyer list.
Better-for-you snack and breakfast brands — export readiness and NPD
Challenge
Two related problems. A snack producer's packaging and labels were built only for its home market. A new breakfast range had to be formulated, made and labeled for UK and US retail from a blank page.
What the team did
- Redesigned packaging in English for export, SKU by SKU, for a range of dried-vegetable crispbreads.
- Wrote a UK market roadmap: target channels, buyer types and the order of entry.
- Developed instant porridge-cup recipes from oats, seeds, grains and plant protein, with specifications for contract manufacture.
- Produced UK labels and US Nutrition Facts labels for the same products, through several rounds of packaging review.
- Found and briefed co-manufacturers, so the products could be made without owning a factory.
Outcome
Export-ready packaging and market-specific label sets for UK and US buyers, and new products made through contract manufacturers.
What do these projects have in common?
- We start from the buyer's decision. What a category manager or distributor needs to see before saying yes shapes everything else.
- Compliance comes before commitment. Labels, claims and import requirements are checked before contracts are signed and packaging is printed.
- Each market gets a clear structure. One accountable partner per territory or channel, with terms in writing.
- Numbers are modeled before they are promised. Price waterfalls and sales scenarios, not guesses.
Frequently asked questions
Why are client names withheld?
Commercial work in food and beverage is usually confidential. Brands and their partners rarely want trade terms, distributor choices or market plans made public. So we describe the challenge, the work and the outcome, and leave out names and figures. On a first call we can go into more depth on the work closest to your category, within the confidentiality we owe the brands involved.
Is this Union Trade's work or Functional Brands Group's?
Each case says which. Union Trade was founded in 2024, and the Ceylon tea program is its own work. The other projects were delivered by the Functional Brands Group team. Founder Eugene Nikolaev and the group's leadership bring more than 20 years of food and FMCG experience. Union Trade is where that team now carries out the trade itself: sourcing, brokerage, negotiation, distribution and market entry.
Why don't the cases include sales figures?
Because we can't publish a brand's numbers without its consent, and we won't publish figures we can't back up. Outcomes are described in plain terms: what was put in place and where the work stands today. If a figure matters to your decision, ask us on a first call and we will tell you what we can share and on what basis.