How to get leads for Wholesale Food and Beverage businesses

The easy way to generate leads for Wholesale Food and Beverage businesses for B2B sales using LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Find another industry

Step 1

Decide if Wholesale Food and Beverage is the right industry to target

The Wholesale Food and Beverage industry

The Wholesale Food and Beverage industry comprises businesses that distribute food and beverage products to retailers, restaurants, institutions, and other food service businesses. They are a critical link in the food supply chain, connecting food and beverage manufacturers with the businesses that sell or serve these products to consumers.

What businesses are included

This category includes companies that buy groceries, packaged frozen foods, dairy products, meat, seafood, produce, and other food and beverage items in bulk from producers and sell them to supermarkets, restaurants, schools, hospitals, or other food service providers. For instance, a company that buys coffee beans directly from farmers, roasts them, packages them, and then sells them to cafes and restaurants would also fall under this category, highlighting the wide range of products within this industry.

When targeting the Wholesale Food and Beverage industry on LinkedIn, your search will automatically cover all related sub-industries. To maximize the relevance of your leads, you may want to exclude certain sub-industries that don’t align with your ideal customer profile.

Sub-industries included in Wholesale Food and Beverage:

Which businesses are not included

It is important to distinguish them from businesses that sell food directly to consumers, such as grocery stores, convenience stores, or restaurants. While these businesses buy products from food and beverage wholesalers, their primary function is retail, not wholesale. Similarly, businesses that significantly transform raw food products into prepared meals, such as catering companies or food manufacturers, are not considered part of this wholesale industry.

Industry size on LinkedIn

Est. market size

82K

businesses

Est. market size

82K

businesses

Est. market size

82K

businesses

Est. LinkedIn users

410K

users

Est. LinkedIn users

410K

users

Est. LinkedIn users

410K

users

Est. LinkedIn adoption

2

/ 5

Est. LinkedIn adoption

2

/ 5

Est. LinkedIn adoption

2

/ 5

Step 2

Pick job titles to target

Focus your LinkedIn search on these key decision-maker roles within the Wholesale Food and Beverage industry to find high-value leads. These roles are typically involved in B2B purchasing decisions and are most likely to respond to your outreach.

Influential roles in Wholesale Food and Beverage

CEO

CEO

CEO

COO

COO

COO

VP of Sales

VP of Sales

VP of Sales

Purchasing Director

Purchasing Director

Purchasing Director

Category Manager

Category Manager

Category Manager

Setting your lead filters

Open LinkedIn Sales Navigator and select the ‘Leads’ tab. Use the filters on the left side to narrow down your search. Enter 'Wholesale Food and Beverage' in the ‘Industry’ filter, and add the job titles you want to target in the ‘Current job title’ field.

Screenshot showing LinkedIn lead filters
Screenshot showing LinkedIn lead filters

How many leads can I export?

You can export up to 2,500 leads per day from Sales Navigator. If your search results is higher than this limit, consider narrowing your filters or breaking your search results into multiple saved lead lists that can be exported over several days.

Do I have to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

Yes, to effectively target specific industries like Wholesale Food and Beverage, you'll need LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It provides the advanced filtering options you need to find the right leads and it has much higher export limits than the regular version of LinkedIn.

What does Sales Nav cost?

Sales Navigator offers a 30-day free trial, after which it costs around $90 per month.

Considering the quantity and quality of the targeted B2B leads you can export from Sales Nav, we think this is a bargain - certainly cheaper than almost any other way of generating leads.

Step 4

Export your leads

  1. Install the Exportli Chrome Extension

To start exporting your leads, first install the Exportli Chrome extension.

Exportli works seamlessly with Sales Navigator and does two main things:

  • It allows you to export lead lists into a CSV

  • It uses 20+ email enrichment providers to find and verify business email addresses for your leads.

When you sign up, you’ll receive 50 free credits to get you started.

  1. Run your lead export

With Exportli installed, you’re ready to run your export. The extension guides you through the process of exporting your selected leads into a CSV file.

Screenshot showing LinkedIn lead filters
Screenshot showing LinkedIn lead filters

Step 5

Import to your CRM or email tool

With your leads exported to a CSV file, you can now import them into your CRM or email outreach tools.

Most tools will let you import CSVs including:

Salesforce
Apollo
Hubspot
Zoho CRM
Pipedrive

Start exporting Wholesale Food and Beverage leads today

First 50 credits free, no credit card required