Hi, I'm new to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. I moved here from Chicago so I know suppliers there but I don't have resources here yet. I know there are some of you in this area on the forum from other topics. Can anyone recommend suppliers that might have specialty food items like fondant, fresh fruit compounds, baking nut compounds, etc. I've used Hero and Amoretti products in the past and I'm looking for those or anything similar. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

Please use google. That will lead you to local distributors for these specific brands.

Hi passionflour. I'm a close neighbor. You didn't tell what volume you are looking for. Is this for home use or will you be able to buy bulk and volume?

If you can buy bigger quantities, we have a fine food supplier in our area. It is Sysco Foods. They had all of my gourmet ingredients. And what they didn't have, they found.

Welcome to Cake Central.

Thanks Spc,
I am familiar with Sysco and used them in Chicago, although they weren't able to get us special ingredients in Chicago, so thank you for letting me know about that. Unfortunately my volume will probably not be great enough to meet their minimums. It is a home business and I'm probably only going to be making a couple cakes a week.

I haven't had much luck on google finding wholesale baking product providers, which is why I'm trying the forum. Most places the searches turn up are actual bakeries or cake supply shops, or else they do not carry the products I would like. The one supplier I know about that carries fondant does not show up in google searches. I just know about them from working with them in Chicago.

Here's how I find brand names:

google the brand and product (try "hero fruit paste") and then follow the links like "foodservice"

email the contact info shown asking for your specific area's wholesaler

Baking nut compounds? I have switched to bulk whole nuts because I can control the texture with a food processor as well as the exact ratio of sugar. Last year my former bulk supplier of almond paste started using lactose instead of glucose...UGH

For fondant there are as many brands as you care to try.

passion, don't make the same mistake I did. I too, assumed I wasn't big enough and didn't call them until I was bigger. The minimum is only twenty units per order. If you plan carefully, it is doable and the prices are very good for such quality products.