We sell your surplus. You approve the deal.
Sidestream is an AI surplus sales firm. We find buyers, pool demand, lock commitments, and hand you clean purchase orders — in days, not weeks.
Transportation and warehousing provided by licensed logistics partners.
Surplus sits because selling it is work.
No single buyer takes the whole lot. Your team doesn't have time to chase 15 small deals. So product ages out — or gets written off.
We do the sales work. AI agents run outreach, follow-ups, and negotiation across our buyer network. When one buyer can't take the full lot, we pool multiple buyers and lock each one's commitment. You get purchase orders. You ship once. Done.
Capabilities
Four steps. You control the first and last.
You set the rules
Pricing floor. Approved buyers. Allowed channels. Lot sizes. Pickup window. Your constraints, enforced.
We sell the lot
AI agents contact qualified buyers, follow up, negotiate, and collect commitments. Not a listing — active selling.
Buyers commit
One buyer takes the lot, or we pool multiple buyers into a group buy. Each buyer commits to their share. We lock allocations.
You approve
You see every buyer and every bid. You approve. Fulfillment is coordinated through licensed logistics partners. You get a clean closeout.
The Differentiator
One lot. Multiple buyers. You ship once.
Most surplus lots are too big for a single salvage store or discount retailer. That's why they sit. Sidestream pools demand from multiple buyers, locks each one's commitment, and handles the allocation so you can fulfill in a single motion.
Depending on the deal, that might mean buyers picking up from a hub warehouse, a multi-stop delivery route, or direct shipment — all coordinated through licensed logistics partners. You don't manage any of it.
This is how a 4.5-truckload lot becomes 10 purchase orders in 3 days.
For sellers
You clear the full lot without finding one whale buyer. Ship once and close it out.
For buyers
You get access to lots you couldn't buy alone — at the quantity that fits your store.
Who We Work With
Sellers
CPGs, food manufacturers, distributors, and grocery retailers with surplus — short-dated, overproduced, seasonal, off-spec, or slow-moving.
Buyers
Manufacturers, distributors, salvage stores, discount grocers, off-price retailers, dollar stores, buying groups, and regional chains — including stores in food deserts and underserved communities that need affordable inventory.
Why Now
$382 billion in surplus. 85% wasted.
The U.S. generates $382B in surplus food annually. 85% of it goes to waste destinations — landfill, incineration, compost — not because no one wants it, but because moving it is manual, fragmented, and slow.
Sidestream exists because AI can now do the outreach, negotiation, and coordination work that used to take a team of brokers. The economics finally work for moving lots that traditional channels skip.