2016

NEW SEASONS MARKET VENDOR GUIDELINES OUR PLEDGE TO VENDORS

Whether you’re a vendor, a customer or both, we follow policies to make sure you know us as The Friendliest Store in Town. We play fair. We do business with our vendors the way our moms taught us to play with our friends: with honesty and fairness. We don’t charge slotting fees. Our goal is to create value for everyone—that’s why we never charge slotting fees. We like small. You don’t have to be a big business to sell to us. We prioritize small, independent farmers and vendors. We like local. We prioritize local farms and vendors. When we support our regional food economy, everyone benefits. We share. We love to sample products for our customers, and we rely on vendors to help support demos in our stores.

ABOUT NEW SEASONS MARKET We are a chain of privately owned grocery stores operating in the Portland Metro area of Oregon and Washington. Founded by three families and 50 of their friends in 1999, the company currently operates 13 stores. Many of the products offered are organic and produced locally in the Pacific Northwest. Our stores differ from most by offering natural and conventional products side by side.

OUR MISSION • Be the ultimate neighborhood grocery store. • Enhance more lives. • Create lasting customer relationships. • Nourish local communities. • Champion the regional food economy. • Inspire environmental stewardship. • Be financially responsible.

We really are friendly. We’re prompt, courteous and accountable, from front-door sales visits to back-door receiving. We handle it with care. We will receive and handle your product with care and attention—just as you created it. Welcome to our new vendor and item setup process! There are two forms we’ll need you to fill out now and some others you may use in the future. First, in order to be considered for authorization as a New Seasons Market vendor, you’ll need to share some details about you and your business by filling out a Vendor Profile. You’ll then need to fill out the New Item Form for all products you’d like to sell to us. In the future, you will use the Item Maintenance Form any time you need to change key information about your products. Incomplete information on any of these forms may cause a delay of getting your products on our shelves. Below is a step-by-step explanation of when and how to use these forms, and some information about our back-door receiving processes. Don’t worry—we’re here for you! If you find you need some extra help with your vendor profile or item setup, just call your merchandiser at the Store Support office at 503.292.1987 or email us at [email protected]. For questions about receiving procedures, contact our Retail Operations Specialist at 503.280.4853.

Questions? [email protected]

We will update this document as we refine our procedures, so please check for the most recent electronic version from our website: newseasonsmarket.com/talk-to-us/sell-to-us.

STEP 1

ENSURE YOU HAVE INSURANCE, LICENSES AND PERMITS The list below is provided as a guide and is not meant to be inclusive of all permits, licenses and requirements needed. It is your responsibility as a vendor to get the necessary permits to manufacture your products and sell them to NSM. To keep things safe and legal, there are a few regulatory documents you must have: • • • • • •

A valid business license for the state(s) in which your product will be sold Proof of liability insurance Consumable products require a production facility and resale permit from the Department of Agriculture and/ or Health Department from the state in which the product is made. Children’s products (non-consumable) are required to have a Certificate of Compliance under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Your Merchandising contact will work directly with you on this. Supplements may require a permit. Your Merchandising contact will work directly with you on this. A completed W-9 and applicable license information if providing a service, and not a product for resale.

There are some additional requirements for products that are manufactured and sold in the same state or across states: • Consumable products that contain beef, poultry or pork require a USDA permit. • Consumable products that contain seafood are required to have a Fish and Game permit.

STEP 2

FILL OUT THE VENDOR PROFILE This form will establish you with a NSM vendor number, which will allow the stores to receive and shelve your great products, and allows us to pay you properly for them. It will also provide our marketing department with information to help us to market your products. You’ll only need to fill out the Vendor Profile once, unless you have any changes to your information. Please allow us 30 days to process any changes. While the information below does not cover all sections of the Vendor Profile; it has some clarifying details that ought to help you along. Thank you for being thorough in your completion of the forms! If you (or your broker) have your product delivered through a distributor, re-distributor, or DSD company, you should first check to see if the distributor is already an authorized vendor at NSM. All distributors must be authorized and will be paid directly. If you are delivering product directly to our stores yourself or through a common carrier (UPS, Fed Ex, etc...), you must still fill out the Vendor Profile. Brokers should fill out a Vendor Profile for each of the vendors they represent.

Let’s get started... VENDOR INFORMATION Tell us about yourself. We need your business name, not your personal name (unless they are the same). Your accounting information may be different than the business name and contact. Please make sure to let us know so we can properly pay you. Some products are shipped to us via a common carrier such as FEDEX, UPS, or the US Postal Service. If this is how you will ship to us we will want to know the FREIGHT COST as a dollar amount on you Vendor Profile. We’d love to know if you are a certified B-Corp. New Seasons is currently a certified B-Corp, demonstrating our commitment to sustainable practices, our employees, and our communities. Additional information on B-Corp certification can be found at bcorporation.net.

Please identify for us what type of company your business is: • Individual — If your business is simply you as an individual. • LLC — If you have legally defined your business as an LLC. • S-Corp — An S-Corp is a federal income tax structure where the profits or losses of the business are passed through to the ownership of the company. The individual owners then report these gains or losses as income on their federal returns • C-Corp — A C-Corp is any entity that is taxed separately than its owners.

PAYMENT PROCEDURES Ensuring we get you the money Please select your available payment term options (from invoice date) from the drop down menu on the Vendor Profile. Requested terms will be reviewed by merchandisers for final term agreements. COD items will be paid for by check at time of delivery.

PRODUCT RECALLS In the rare case that there is a problem There is nothing more important than our customers’ safety and health. Product issues are rare but do occur. Contact us immediately if you have a product recall. We need to know whom to contact in the event we have a consumer inquiry or a product recall situation due to quality, packaging, foreign material, a consumer issue, etc. We expect prompt response in all of these situations. Recalled product requires a credit memo and follows the same processes as the rest of our credit guidelines.

STEP 3

FILL OUT THE NEW ITEM FORM Once you have completed the Vendor Profile, you are ready to move on to submitting your new products for consideration. Items may be recognized as Not-onfile (NOF) in our system if you have not submitted and received approval of your new products through this process.

New items require 60 days for set-up prior to delivery. The merchandising team will work with you to arrange a first delivery date at which time your product is authorized for receiving. We won’t be able to receive any unauthorized items, and invoices that contain them will be short-paid.

While brokers will have to fill out a Vendor Profile for each vendor they represent, they will only need to fill out one New Item Form for all the vendors/ items they represent. Please be sure to include a 300dpi photo of each of your items.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS List each of your items with a different UPC on separate lines. For new product submissions, each individual item will be evaluated on its own potential, and approval will be based on our merchandising strategies. We may not accept every item you submit. All products must have a V-item (a unique vendor item number created by you). We prefer products to have a UPC bar code. If you need help obtaining a UPC code, the merchandising team can provide you with one to use. List the entire 10-digit UPC code in the field without the check digit (the first digit, separated by a space). Enter the brand name and product description. Example: “Amy’s” is a brand name and “Frozen Quinoa Bowl” is a product description. For the product description we ask that you focus on two to three key attributes of the product and include the flavor or type. For example, “Cherry Ice Cream” or “Free-range Eggs”. NOT ENOUGH INFO: JUST RIGHT: Chocolate bar Almond Chocolate Bar Organic Bread Organic 8-Grain Bread Bar Soap Lavender Bar Soap Lip Balm Cherry Lip Balm For each of your products, we need to know the size so that we can add it to our product description. The SIZE column should contain numbers. The UNIT OF MEASURE column should contain alphanumeric information. Use “OZ” for ounces, “CT” for count, “LB” if products are sold by the pound and not by the each, and “pack” for multi packs. Most consumable items are in ounces or pounds. EXAMPLES 12OZ (Product is 12oz of fluid consumables.) 8CT (Product is an 8ct box of energy bars.) 1LB (Product sells by the pound.) 1CT (Product is a single lip balm or candle.) 18OZ (Product is a jar of honey.) 22OZ (Product is a package of cookies versus the count of the cookies.)

COST All cost or case count changes must be approved through the Item Maintenance Form process and approved by our merchandisers at least 60 days prior to changes taking place. NSM will pay the lower cost between the invoice and the NSM database. In these columns, you will tell us the cost for each of the products that you are going to sell to us. CASE COST is the total cost of the case, while the CASE PACK is the total number of units inside the delivered case. For example, if you sell a 12-pack case at $2.00 per unit then your case cost is $24.00. If you are selling/invoicing by the unit, then enter the case pack as ‘1’ and the case cost as the unit cost. For mixed cases and shippers, please include the case UPC and case cost as well as the product description and quantity of all items in that case/shipper. If a case cost is lower than a unit cost split from the case, please enter the split unit cost and the lower case cost on all forms. If you are giving us an introductory ALLOWANCE (discount to your regular selling price), enter that amount as a dollar or percentage in the column indicated, as well as the longer term allowance if applicable. Your merchandiser will work out the additional details regarding allowances with you. RETAIL PRICE is based on your delivered cost to us. We set our regular retail price from the base and allowance cost fields, but our promotional retail prices are negotiated separately. If you are selling to us through a DSD company, distributor, or re-distributor, you will enter the delivered cost to NSM and not the cost at which you sell your product to the distributor. Products with BOTTLE DEPOSITS or fees must be noted separately from both the item and case base cost.

PRODUCT DIMENSIONS Good things come in all shapes and sizes.

All of our stores operate on schematics (sometimes called planograms) in order to ensure that we have the proper number of facings (versions or flavors of a product) per item, that items fit on our shelves and that they are placed where customers can easily find them. We require the dimensions of your product to update our schematics and ensure timely cut-ins to our shelves.

PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES Why do we love thee? The product attributes must be populated for all items to allow us to identify the selling points of your item(s). There are currently five key attributes we are focused on that may be reflected in our shelf and display signage and our weekly ad. We may change these in the future based on changing customer trends. • • • • • • • •

Organic — If your product is USDA or Oregon Tilth Certified Organic, indicate “Y”. We may ask you for certification forms. Gluten-Free — If your product has been certified as gluten-free, indicate “Y”. Due to the serious nature of gluten diet restrictions your merchandiser will ask that you show the certification if we intend to reflect this attribute in our stores. Non-GMO Certified — Indicate “Y” if you have received certification that the ingredients you are using in your product are non-GMO. Please note if you have a single ingredient that is GMO, you cannot claim nonGMO certification at our stores. Vegan — Indicate here if your product is vegan (contains no animal-sourced products whatsoever). Allergen-tested — Indicate “Y” here if your product has been tested for any of the 8 most common allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soy). We may ask you for proof of testing. Local Finds — Would you like us to submit your information to our Local Finds program? Our Local Finds program makes it easy for small-scale local vendors—whether they are just getting started or have been around for a while—to submit a product and help prepare it for shoppers. Members get tailored support, with everything from packaging and FDA approvals to marketing. Home Grown — Our Home Grown program celebrates products grown, raised and produced in Oregon or Washington and Northern California, supporting our local food economy.

OTHER PRODUCT DETAILS There are a few additional product elements we need to know in order to set up your item. • • •

Non-selling vs selling product — A selling product is one that we make available to our customers for resale. A non-selling item is one that we use in our stores, but is not available for resale to our customers (such as coffee cups, or hand soap for our restrooms). Shelf Life — If your product has an expiration date you will need to tell us the shelf life you will guarantee upon delivery to NSM. Guaranteed Product — To guarantee a product means that if an item you have sold to us expires before it sells, or is damaged in our store due to normal retail handling or by a customer, you will credit us the full amount of the cost of the item.

All products are expected to be 100% satisfaction guaranteed to NSM customers. We will refund our customers if they are not satisfied with any product and will expect full credit on any such items.

WHERE DO YOU HOPE TO STOCK YOUR ITEMS? In this section, we just ask that you indicate at which of our stores you want us to stock your products. We do not require that items are carried in all stores, and sometimes all items may not fit in our smaller urban stores. Addresses and details for each store can be found online at newseasonsmarket.com/our-stores

ITEM MAINTENANCE FORM

For the most part, the Item Maintenance Form includes the same fields as the New Item Form, with the addition of a column for the old information next to the new so we can easily see what is changing. All item changes must be approved through the Item Maintenance Form process and approved by our merchandisers at least 60 days prior to changes taking place. The Item Maintenance Form is to be used any time you change any key product information such as: • Any costing information • Case pack • Product description • UPC

BEYOND THE FORMS An invoice must accompany all deliveries. Separate invoices should accompany special orders, purchase orders, credit memos, lockbox wine and free product—and invoices should be clearly marked as such. Items ordered for different departments will be ordered separately and require separate invoices. All invoices need to include the following: • Name of your company • An invoice number that is unique for at least the last 7 years throughout all New Seasons Market locations. • P.O. reference number (if applicable) • Invoice date • Date of shipment or delivery • Order date for all Supplements & Body Care invoices • Early payment terms • Store name or number and ordering department (on each box label, for shipped items as well) Line Item Information: • V-item • Item description • Case pack size • Quantity shipped, in units and/or cases (example: 2 cases, 5 units) • Unit of measure • Weight of item shipped • Bottle deposits & allowances (separate from item cost) • Extension of unit costs (after deposit & allowances) • Out of stock items (OOS) notated with a zero shipped quantity • Lot # & country of origin (if applicable) Totals: • Shipping/fuel charge (if applicable) • Total invoice item count, in units and/or cases (example: 41 cases, 16 units) • Taxes (if applicable) • Whole orders discounts or allowances • Subtotaled: (deposits, allowances, discounts) • Total dollar amount due (prior to early payment terms) of your product, to update our schematics and ensure timely cut-in to our shelves.

ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI)

DELIVERY SCHEDULES

EDI vendors are chosen at NSM discretion, and file formats must meet our specifications. Any changes to the EDI file or upload format have to be preapproved. We’ll need electronic access to invoices, as well as email delivery direct to NSM locations. All other new items, cost changes, allowances, payment, etc. should follow the processes explained here in the Vendor Guidelines. EDI vendors do not need to be scanned in receiving, but still need to be visually checked and temperature tested when appropriate. Any missed electronic feeds may result in missed payments.

Stores have designated receiving times according to neighborhood agreements and store logistics. Please keep within each store’s receiving hours. We schedule select vendor delivery times based on individual store location needs. Any changes to set delivery times need to be approved through each store’s receiving manager or operations manager. We appreciate notification if you will not be able to meet your set delivery time. New vendors should give their merchandiser possible delivery times for receiving managers to use to slot their set delivery time. Vendors should wait in order of arrival to be processed by the receiver. The receiving manager may limit the number of vendors in the backroom at a given time, and may ask vendors who arrive outside of set delivery times to return at another time due to backroom congestion. Timely delivery for special orders is extremely important to making our customers happy. Thanks for taking extra care to honor special order delivery dates.

CREDITS & RETURNS Returns and credits may not leave the store prior to being processed by an authorized receiver. Guaranteed-sale vendors may add outgoing returns to an incoming invoice, only if it’s done at the time of delivery. Old pending credits should not be combined with incoming invoices or new credits. Credits and product replacement submitted through a purchase order, as well as shipped credits, need to be invoiced separately. Mis-shipped, damaged or otherwise refused items will be deducted from the invoice and short-paid. Damaged, corked or mis-shipped wine and beer must be picked up and credited within 3 deliveries from notification. Credit requests will require a credit memo, emailed or delivered directly to the authorized receiver (rather than to the department manager or accounting), within 10 days of request or we may underpay your next invoice. Previously agreed-upon discounts or allowances that are found not to be honored will require credit within 30 days of notice.

ORDER FULFILLMENT Department managers are responsible for placing orders directly with vendors with the exception of merchandisers ordering for some buy-ins and promotions. Order deadlines will be agreed upon at time of new vendor setup. We prefer that back-ordered product not get auto-shipped once product is available, unless requested by ordering manager. Thanks for not changing order quantities without approval. Guaranteed-sale vendors are required to rotate, order (with department manager input), fill and face their own product. Purchase orders must be accepted either by email or electronically. Please let your merchandiser know if you have any changes to your requirements for acceptance of purchase orders.

RECEIVING PROCEDURES You’re almost done—we promise! Your professionalism in interactions with staff, customers, and neighbors is appreciated. Please be aware of the surroundings and people using the space simultaneously throughout the loading areas, receiving bay, and store. Please use the dock plate, receiving area and equipment in a safe and careful manner. Engines should be turned off while waiting for dock availability and during the unloading process. Refrigerated vehicles can keep the refrigeration running for productquality standards. Our docks are very busy so please remove your vehicle form the dock if you are doing anything other than delivering product. All vendors are required to enter through and check in at receiving. Please do not deliver directly to departments without checking in at receiving, even if you are approved to enter through another entrance. All items entering or leaving the store must be visually checked and scanned by an authorized receiver. Loads should be organized prior to the receiver starting check-in. Please bring your own cart for delivering product to departments, as there may not be one available at time of delivery. If you deliver product on pallets or totes, we ask that you take back at least the same amount of empty pallets and all empty totes. Large vendors, such as UG & UNFI, are required to take all empty pallets and totes upon each delivery. Please do not stock product prior to being checked in by an authorized receiver as it could lead to a missed payment. If you require a copy of the receiver, just let us know.

Here are a few steps that can make your check-in process quick and simple: • Wine should be stickered with UPCs prior to check-in. • The delivery person tells the receiver the invoice date and the complete invoice number (including spaces, dashes and letters). • Product scanning should be completed in the order of the invoice rather than by the organization of the load. • Show each item and quantity. Receiving will need to see and scan the actual product. • Scan sheets may be utilized during check-in only by a few approved vendors. • The delivery person informs the receiver of any fuel charge, additional discounts, the total dollar amount and the total quantities delivered of units and/or cases. Finally, the department to which you are delivering will do a final product-quality check. Thanks for staging product according to department or receiving manager’s instructions. Any products that are refused by the department or receiving manager must be processed by receiving manager and the invoice will be short-paid or credit written at this time.

PRODUCT QUALITY All potentially hazardous product, or product marked “keep refrigerated”, that we receive must be temperature tested and logged by an authorized receiver. If you have temperature-sensitive products you must produce your products in a temperature-controlled and safe environment. You must also maintain temperature controls throughout transit from the production facility to our stores. Products that are refused due to product quality will be marked, deducted from the invoice total and short-paid. All packaging and items must be clean and in good condition for all products delivered. All items must be obtained from an approved source. Specific requirements are: Meat & Poultry: 41ºF or colder. Stamped with USDA inspection stamp. Good color and no odor. Seafood: 41ºF or colder. Good color and no off-odors. Shellfish: 45ºF or colder. Clean, shells closed, and no broken shells. Shell stock tags must be readable and attached. Cooked and live shellfish cannot be received in the same container as raw shellfish. Fresh Produce: If produce is cut or processed, it should be received 41ºF or colder. Milk: 45ºF or colder. Dairy Products (other than milk): 41ºF or colder. Eggs: 45ºF or colder. Shell eggs: clean and un-cracked.

Frozen and dry eggs: pasteurized. Refrigerated Processed Food: 41ºF or colder. Label can be read and is attached to the product. Frozen Food: 32ºF or colder and solidly frozen. No large ice crystal or frost on surface. Canned Food: No swollen ends, leaks, rust, or dents. Label can be read and is attached to the product. Dry Foods: Packaging clean and in good condition. No sign of pest infestation. Label can be read and is attached to the product.

YOU DID IT!

Congratulations on making it through the paperwork—and thank you so much. We appreciate you, your business and all that you do to help us share your products with, and take care of, our customers. We will be in touch if we have any questions about your submission.