KeHE Partners With CVS to Expand Access to Fresh, Healthy Foods

To boost access to fresh, healthy food, KeHE Distributors has inked a deal with CVS Pharmacy. Through this new partnership, the health and pharmaceutical retailer can access products from the natural, organic and specialty food distributor’s broad supplier network.

In addition to providing CVS shoppers with more options, the arrangement supports KeHE suppliers as they seek to widen their reach. KeHE’s vendors and manufacturers will have access to a variety of new distribution points in this channel. “This partnership with CVS is a significant advancement of KeHE’s strategic vision that will benefit our customers, employees, and suppliers. With many of the supplied products already distributed by KeHE to grocery and alternate channel formats, this newfound channel presents an opportunity for the company and our supplier partners to experience significant growth,” Kristen Christopher, KeHe’s VP of alternate channels, told Progressive Grocer. 

According to Christopher, shoppers will find products from new and emerging brands that support their interest in a sustainability lifestyle and their desire to become more conscious consumers by choosing quality, good-tasting products that align with their values. “Consumers today are more mindful of what they are putting in their bodies. They are taking more control of their health, curating their food and beverage choices for long-term success and results,” she noted.  

It’s good timing in another sense, given people’s growing propensity for shopping across the omnichannel. “Consumers are seeking quick, smaller format stores to grab the items they need while on-the-go. Shoppers are hungry for new, innovative products and flavors which KeHE has cultivated through our supplier brand network and leading-edge trends and insights,” Christopher added.

KeHE is the largest pure-play distributor of natural and organic, specialty, and fresh products, serving more than 30,000 natural food stores, chain and independent grocery stores, e-commerce retailers, and other specialty products retailers throughout North America. With 6,800-plus employee-owners, KeHE is a Certified B Corporation.  With its CVS Pharmacy subsidiary operating almost 10,000 locations nationwide, Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health is No. 7 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of top food and consumables retailers in North America.