Getting Into Whole Foods Isn't Always the Win People Think It Is

If you run a small product brand, there's a certain mythology around getting into major retailers. You imagine the moment: walking into a store and seeing your product on the shelf, friends texting photos from the aisle, customers discovering your brand for the very first time.

And honestly, that feeling never really gets old.

After years of building, pitching, problem solving, producing, shipping, and figuring things out as you go, seeing your product in a store you personally shop can feel incredibly rewarding. We've been lucky enough to experience that many times over the years.

But eventually, once the excitement settles, you start asking a bigger question:

Is every version of growth actually healthy for the brand?

What I learned is that growth doesn't always strengthen relationships. Sometimes it replaces them.

A brand can go from being a partner to becoming another SKU in a catalogue, and that isn't necessarily the type of business I want to be in.

One thing that's important for me to say is this: Herban Essentials is absolutely capable of growing in large retail. The issue has never been demand.

We've worked incredibly hard to build a company that can support large retail partnerships. Over the years, we've sold into thousands of retail locations, including more than 4,000 CVS stores, without relying on traditional third-party distribution structures.

So this conversation has never been about whether we can scale. We can.

The bigger question became whether every version of growth actually makes sense for the business long term.

Many large retailers no longer work directly with brands the way they once did. Instead, brands are often expected to work through distributors. In the natural products world, the two biggest distributors are UNFI and KeHE.

For customers unfamiliar with the retail industry, distributors act as middlemen between brands and retailers. Instead of ordering directly from hundreds of individual companies, retailers place orders through distributors that warehouse, ship, and manage inventory for thousands of products. On paper, it's an efficient system. But it also creates additional layers between the people making the product and the stores selling it.

For many natural products brands, including those pursuing opportunities with retailers like Whole Foods, working through distribution becomes a requirement rather than a choice. While that model works well for some companies, it can dramatically change the economics of running a small business.

Distributor margins, freight costs, warehousing fees, promotional requirements, chargebacks, free fills, and advertising programs all add up. A product can appear successful on the shelf while the brand behind it is absorbing significant cost and operational pressure just to maintain the relationship.

At a certain point, you start asking yourself who the system is really working for.

So when people ask why we're no longer in Whole Foods, the answer isn't that demand wasn't there or that we couldn't support the business. The reality is that the economics and structure of large-scale retail changed, and we ultimately decided to focus our energy on growth channels that felt more sustainable and aligned with our values.

At one point, we sold directly to Erewhon for years and genuinely valued the partnership. It was collaborative, intentional, and human. They understood our product, we understood their customer, and it felt like an actual relationship, which is increasingly rare in retail.

After years of selling on their shelves, we were required to move into distribution. Like many small brands, we agreed because it was presented as the natural next step (plus we didn't have any option). We invested heavily into supporting the rollout because we believed in the partnership and wanted it to succeed. Shortly after moving into distribution, we lost the business entirely.

That experience stayed with me, not just financially, but philosophically too, because it highlighted how quickly a real partnership can disappear once layers of intermediaries enter the picture. Suddenly the brand becomes another SKU in a catalogue instead of a relationship.

I think stores lose something in that too.

Some of the most interesting products in retail come from smaller emerging brands. The slightly weird ideas. The products someone obsessed over perfecting for years. The things customers discover unexpectedly and become irrationally loyal to.

That’s what makes shopping interesting, at least to me. I think people can feel the difference between a store that thoughtfully curates brands and one that simply orders from the same distributor catalogue as everyone else.

I really do love retail, and we still actively pursue retail partnerships. I believe Herban Essentials belongs in stores like Whole Foods.

We've also had wonderful experiences over the years with retailers like World Market, The Container Store, CVS, Anthropologie, and so many incredible independent stores around the country without requiring the kind of heavy distribution structures that can make things unsustainable.

So this isn't about walking away from growth. It's about being more intentional about how we grow.

We want partnerships that feel collaborative, sustainable, and mutually beneficial. Relationships where both sides succeed together.

Because eventually, customers feel the pressure when brands are forced to make decisions purely to support increasingly complex systems. Quality changes. Packaging changes. Ingredients change. Customer service changes.

The magic quietly disappears.

And I refuse to let Herban Essentials become that kind of company.

I still believe customers want discovery. I believe stores benefit from carrying brands with real points of view, brands that aren't solely focused on growth, but also on creating quality products that genuinely resonate with their customers.

So if there's a store you'd love to see Herban Essentials in, tell them about us! Truly. Some of our favorite partnerships over the years started because a customer asked for us by name and a buyer reached out.

If you'd rather shop directly from us, know that every order helps us continue building the kind of company and products we believe in.

To the retailers and buyers reading this, we'd love to connect. Because despite everything I just wrote, I know the right retail partnerships can be incredibly powerful.

And yes, I'd still love to see our lavender towelettes back in Whole Foods someday!!! I've never stopped believing we belong there. I just believe the best partnerships are the ones where everyone can succeed together.

If retail continues moving in that direction, we'll be first in line.