About Us
Koch & Associates Retail Team Sells and Merchandises Displays on Every Call
Koch & Associates Food Brokerage was founded by Tom Koch in November 1989. Tom had significant experience and connections in the grocery industry, and was acutely aware that it required retail coverage, promotional activity, and headquarter coverage to make a brand succeed. While the big brokers cut retail manpower, Tom developed an old school brokerage where every merchandiser called on every store in their territory and worked every SKU on every single call. He quickly discovered the relationship between top tier retail associates and sales. Tom made it his mission to offer the absolute best retail coverage in the industry, where Koch employees do not merely check stores- They sell product, correct out of stocks, add new items, sell displays, rotate, merchandise, check and correct pricing, and fix order system errors on each and every call. This dedication to retail support quickly increased vendor sales and allowed Koch & Associates to develop an incredible reputation in the industry for getting things done at retail. Couple this with their highly focused headquarter staff and you can see why Koch & Associate principals have obtained extraordinary sales growth year after year.
Mike Cheshire of SuperValu, Lindsay, and Tristan spreading holiday cheer with GFIA.
Tom brought his daughter, Lindsay Koch, into the organization in 2009. Lindsay started as a retail employee and has moved through the ranks to retail sales manager, vice President of Sales, and eventually to President & C.E.O. of Koch & Associates in January 2021. Lindsay recently graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Global Business Executive Masters of Business Administration program. This highly respected program gave Lindsay the knowledge and experience required to take our vendors’ brands into a competitive, data-driven marketplace where online shopping, customer-specific programs, and creative retail avenues are the new normal. Lindsay masterfully brings her skills and technical knowledge to allow Koch & Associates to be at the intersection of business and technology.
Lindsay and Nick Tedesco, Retired Sales Manager of Vigo Importing Co and a wonderful friend.
This small brokerage has grown into the largest Independent Brokerage in the South East. Koch & Associates has achieved this growth thanks to an immense dedication to detail. Koch merchandisers work every SKU on every call, at every retail store in the marketplace on a four to six week rotation. No other broker, big or small, does this. Koch Representatives have excellent relationships with store managers, scan coordinators, department managers and stockers to get out of stocks corrected and automatic replenish systems operating correctly. All items enjoy shelf tags, are properly merchandised, out of dates are pulled, product is rotated correctly, and insure promotions are reflecting. They also work in new and missing items and sell displays at every single store. Our customer service and promotional teams are dedicated to getting all promotions, deductions, and issues handled quickly and correctly to keep both our vendors and customers happy. This excellent retail coverage and partnership with both vendors and customers is enforced by Koch & Associates executive experience at headquarter calls and allows us to execute all headquarter plans down to the individual store level. This combined headquarter and retail execution results in sales and distribution increases for our vendors. Although the big brokers are virtually nonexistent at the retail level, Koch & Associates maintains the dedication and excellence at the store level that drives sales. A lot of things have changed since Tom founded this brokerage in 1989- A need for great retail people who can work with individual stores is not one of them. Retail coverage is imperative to growing brands, and the reason Koch & Associates dedicates the time, energy, and resources to make our brands successful.
Active In Local Government to Support Vendors & Retailers at the State Capital
Additionally, we have twice been named a Best Place to Work in the Grocery Business by the Griffin & Shelby Reports. Koch & Associates’ employees have the relationships at all levels to make us successful at both headquarter and retail. Koch & Associates have been the proud recipient of numerous “Broker of the Year” awards from our vendors due to sales and distribution increases. We aim to be the absolute best broker you have ever hired, from headquarter execution to store retail distribution and merchandising and at the administrative level.
Last, Koch & Associates is an organization that values trust, respect, and communication. A Koch team member will not lie to you, will return your calls and emails, and will notify you of problems as soon as they arise. We are here to grow your brand.
Please contact us to show you how we can grow your brands with our mutual customers.