FAQs
Food Brokerage FAQs
For more than 30 years, Marvell Foods has bought, sold and brokered surplus, close-coded, discontinued and overstock food for manufacturers, distributors and retailers across the country. As family-owned salvage food brokers, we get a lot of the same questions about how food brokers work, what we buy, and how deals are paid for and shipped. You’ll find the answers below. If you don’t see your question, talk to our national food brokers directly. Ready to start? Get a quote on your surplus inventory.
About Marvell Foods
Marvell Foods is a food broker and trader. We aren’t a manufacturer, retailer or distributor, but we work with all three every day. We buy surplus goods outright or broker them between sellers and buyers. That puts us in contact with the country’s leading food manufacturers on the supply side, and with national chains, independent supermarkets, convenience stores, distributors and institutions on the buying side. As third-generation closeout food brokers, many of these relationships go back decades. We’re headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, and we buy and sell nationwide.
No. We don’t operate our own cold or dry storage. When we buy goods subject to a sale, we sometimes use third-party cold or dry storage for a short time. This keeps our costs low and lets us move products straight from seller to buyer.
A food broker connects businesses holding inventory with buyers who want it, and earns a fee when the deal closes. Marvell Foods works two ways. As a broker, we match your goods with a buyer from our network and earn a commission on the sale. As a trader, we buy the goods from you at an agreed price, take ownership and resell them ourselves. Either way, you recover value on stock that would otherwise cost you storage, labor or disposal fees. The benefits of using a food broker come down to speed, reach and certainty: you get access to buyers you couldn’t find on your own, a faster sale, and someone else handling the negotiation and logistics.
What We Buy
Surplus food is excess inventory that’s still saleable: overruns, close-coded stock, off-spec items and products affected by a packaging or label change. It builds up for ordinary reasons, such as seasonal swings, forecasting misses, cancelled orders, spec revisions and discontinued lines. Some of it is first-quality product that simply can’t go to its original customer. Some is salvaged food recovered from damaged loads. Selling it through a broker recovers value and keeps it out of landfill.
We buy, sell and broker all proteins and shelf-stable goods, plus frozen, dairy and specialty products, usually in truckload quantities. As spot and opportunity buyers, we purchase seconds, surplus, salvage, floor sweeps, manufacturer overruns, off-spec goods and miscuts. We are active closeout food buyers in every major category:
- Meat and poultry: chicken, beef and pork, preferably frozen. See wholesale meat suppliers.
- Dairy: cheese, butter and dairy surplus. See surplus cheese wholesale.
- Deli and prepared proteins: sliced meats and ready-to-eat items. See surplus deli meats wholesale.
- Frozen food: full freezer loads of frozen product. See frozen food brokers.
- Frozen desserts: ice cream and novelties. See wholesale surplus frozen desserts.
- Shelf-stable: canned goods, snacks and packaged grocery.
Yes. We buy close-coded (short-dated) and past-code products, including past “best by” dates, plus discontinued lines. That covers frozen proteins for retail and foodservice (chicken, fish, beef and pork), shelf-stable products, grocery and canned goods. “Best by” isn’t a safety date, which is why there’s a market for this stock (see what expiration dates really mean). Browse our current discontinued foods for sale.
Yes. We buy and resell hundreds of truckloads of beverages every year. That includes still, flat and sparkling water, energy drinks, sodas and specialty beverages. If you can drink it, we can sell it.
Yes. We buy bulk ingredients and sell them to manufacturers, processors and pet food producers. Past-code ingredients often go to pet food manufacturers, suppliers and farms, and some pet food ingredients can be exported to Mexico and South America. If you need a specific ingredient found, our food ingredient broker service can source it for you.
Yes. We work with pet food manufacturers nationally and internationally, and buy finished pet food as well as ingredients. As pet food liquidators, we move excess, discontinued and short-dated pet food. We also place food that’s no longer suitable for human consumption into the pet food supply chain.
Selling to Marvell Foods
The quickest way to sell surplus food is through a food broker with buyers already lined up.
If you’re working out where to sell surplus food, send us a product list with quantities, codes or dates, pack sizes, location and your asking price. We’ll come back quickly with an offer or a buyer. Our process:
- You share the details of what you’re holding.
- We assess value and marketability.
- We make an offer to buy outright, or match you with a buyer from our network.
- We agree on freight and payment terms in advance, then the goods move.
Ready to start? Contact our team of national food brokers.
Yes. Manufacturers are our biggest source of product. We buy or broker first- and second-quality goods (fresh, frozen and shelf-stable), including overruns, miscuts and off-spec production. Many brands also care about where their product ends up. We can route goods to institutional and international buyers so they get no mainstream consumer visibility. Read how to liquidate discontinued products without hurting your brand.
Yes. We buy close-coded products from retailers and resell them to discount stores, food banks and institutions. When a product sitting on a retail shelf is approaching its “best by” date, we can buy or broker it and move it to our discount store clients and other buyers nationwide. Learn more about grocery liquidation.
Yes. We buy goods held by insurers after truck accidents, disasters and settlements. We have long-standing relationships with insurance companies nationwide and can recover value from damaged or displaced inventory. See how we handle insurance salvage claims.
Yes. If a warehouse is holding goods for a customer who can’t pay their storage bill, we’re a potential buyer. We’ve dealt with many cold storage and dry storage operators across the country, and can make an offer on abandoned or unpaid inventory.
Who We Sell To
Our buyers include big box and discount retailers, grocery chains, distributors, manufacturers, institutions and international clients. A sample of our network:
- big box club stores and national and independent discount chains
- grocery and convenience stores
- manufacturers, processors and suppliers
- state and federal institutions, including prisons (we’re an established prison food supplier)
- food banks, commissaries, churches, ministries and school food programs
- cruise lines, airlines and pet food manufacturers
Yes. When we have access to excess food, either our own or our vendors’, we can direct it to food banks and nonprofits. Sometimes we own the food, and sometimes our vendors are willing to donate it. If you represent an organization looking for food, please fill out our contact form rather than calling, and we’ll respond based on what’s available. Read more about food bank partnerships.
Fees, Freight & Payment
There’s no upfront fee. We’re paid only when a deal closes. If we broker a deal, we earn a fee or commission on the transaction. If we buy the goods, we pay the holder (manufacturer, distributor, store or warehouse) the agreed price, then resell them ourselves.
Freight is agreed deal by deal, before anything ships. We can arrange it for you. We work with hundreds of truckers, logistics companies and storage facilities nationwide. If you’d rather handle shipping yourself, that works too. Either way, costs are discussed and agreed in advance.
Have a Question We Didn't Answer?
Whether you’re holding surplus inventory or looking to buy it, our team will give you a straight answer. Contact Marvell Foods for a quote.