Buying wholesale
How do you open a wholesale account?
At Levant Direct there's no separate account application to fill out before you can order. Opening a wholesale account is simply sending your first inquiry — a list of products and quantities, along with your business name and a contact — and receiving a written quotation back. Once you confirm that first quotation, you're an active buyer; there isn't a second, separate registration step layered on top.
That's a lighter process than some buyers expect, especially if they're used to formal vendor-onboarding forms elsewhere. The inquiry itself does the work of introducing your business.
What opening an account actually involves
The sequence is the same one described in full in how inquiry-based ordering works: browse the catalogue and add products with quantities to your inquiry list, send it once with your business name and a contact, and receive a written quotation — usually within one business day. You then confirm, adjust, or decline what comes back.
There's no waiting period between sending that first inquiry and being treated as a buyer. The quotation itself is the response to your first order request, not a preliminary step before a 'real' account gets set up.
What's helpful to include the first time
A clear business name and a direct contact are the essentials. Beyond that, it helps to say what kind of business you're ordering for — restaurant, café, grocer, retailer — since that shapes which case formats and volumes make sense; see what information speeds up a quote for more on this. Some general sense of what additional details might be asked for on larger or recurring orders is covered in what documents does a wholesale buyer need, but none of that needs to be sorted out before you send your first list.
If you're not sure whether your business qualifies as a wholesale buyer at all, see who can buy from a wholesale food distributor — in short, any business ordering to resell or use commercially can inquire the same way.
It also helps to be realistic rather than exact about volume the first time. You don't need a finished purchasing plan before you inquire — a rough sense of what you're hoping to stock, and whether it's likely to become a repeat order, is enough for the first quotation to be useful.
Why there's no separate onboarding step
Some wholesale suppliers ask new buyers to complete a credit application or vendor form before any pricing is shared. Levant Direct doesn't add that layer: because every order is quoted individually through the inquiry rather than drawn from a standing price list, there's nothing extra to pre-approve before a first quotation can be prepared. The written quotation itself functions as the introduction to how your account will be priced going forward.
This keeps the barrier to a first order low, which matters most for buyers testing whether a product fits their menu or shelf before scaling up — see can a small café or shop buy wholesale for how that plays out for a smaller first order.
After that first order
Returning buyers don't need to re-introduce their business each time. Once a first order has gone through, later orders tend to be shorter follow-ups rather than fresh inquiries — see how wholesale reorders work for what that looks like in practice. The relationship builds from that first exchange rather than from a formal account status assigned in advance.
Over time, that means the effort of ordering front-loads onto the very first inquiry, when the details of your business and typical order pattern are still being established. After that, the same information carries forward, and each new list is judged on its own quantities rather than requiring you to restate who you are and what you buy.
Related questions
Is there paperwork required before I can place my first order?
No formal application. Your first inquiry — with your business name and contact — is effectively how the account starts.
Do returning buyers need to re-register every time they order?
No. Once you've placed a first order, later orders are typically simpler follow-ups rather than a repeated registration step.
What if I'm not sure whether my business qualifies as a wholesale buyer?
If you're ordering to resell or use commercially — a restaurant, café, grocer, retailer or similar — the process works the same as it does for any other buyer. Send an inquiry and it will be handled accordingly.