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Thought Leadership
The Pentallect partners’ personal executive experience, coupled with their reputation as provocative and outside-the-box thought leaders, have made their pragmatic advice, opinions and insights some of the most sought after in the food industry. The Pentallect team is honored to be regularly quoted in national and leading industry publications.
The “Big 3” Foodservice Distributor Latest Results: A Sign of Market Resilience and Top-Notch Performance
Despite industry-wide restaurant traffic declines, some trading down and ongoing (but moderating) cost pressures, the “Big 3” foodservice distributors’ third calendar quarter results for 2022 met or exceeded analyst expectations for sales and profitability and...
SKU Reductions: Manage with Care
Driven by supply chain issues, tighter operator menu management and internal inventory management initiatives, distributors are reportedly reducing the number of SKU’s they carry. We believe the major portion of the reductions are in manufacturer brands. Recently, US...
Second Quarter Results for The Big 3 Foodservice Distributors: Solidifying Their Position in an Uncertain Environment
The Big 3 foodservice distributor results for the second quarter of 2022 reflect success in passing along record-high product cost inflation (averaging 16.4%), the impact of recent acquisitions, improvement in the important lodging and B & I segments, increased...
Happy Anniversary Amazon & Whole Foods
Happy 5th Anniversary! Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017. At that time speculation was rampant as to how Amazon would further enter and disrupt the retail food, foodservice & food distribution channels. Questions abounded as to whom will...
Foodservice Category Management: What Happened?
We have long been vocal and active proponents of foodservice category management and have closely followed its adoption and developments. Prior to the pandemic, the potential benefits of category management, including fact-based decision making, collaborative business...
The Club Store/Cash-n-Carry Channel: A Major and Growing Factor in Foodservice Distribution
Understandably, most large foodservice distributors have been actively rationalizing low volume, high cost-to-serve customers or, at a minimum, imposing stricter requirements (such as higher minimum orders, tighter payment terms, delivery restrictions and/or fuel...
First Quarter Results of the “Big 3” Distributors: A Good Start to the Year
Like all other foodservice distributors, the “Big 3” broadliners - Performance Food Group, Sysco Corp. and US Foods - are facing a myriad of chronic and enduring challenges including record-high food cost inflation, product shortages, rising labor costs, the adverse...
Food Industry 2021 Results: Sales Recovering, Profits Lagging
The food industry generally performed well in 2021, as foodservice demand substantially improved, and industry participants took concrete actions to mitigate the serious headwinds affecting product and operating cost increases and a host of unprecedented supply chain...
Foodservice Distribution M&A
Situation 2022 foodservice distribution M&A has started with Ben E Keith acquiring Florida Foodservice and a merger of Troyer Foods and Stanz Foodservice. These come on the heels of a very active 2021 with 30+ deals having been completed. While...
Foodservice Industry Rebounds: “Big 3” Distributors’ 2021 Fourth Quarter Results Reflect Improved Market Conditions
Despite a resurgence of COVID-19, ongoing access restrictions, severe labor and product shortages affecting all trading partners and rapidly escalating (and alarmingly high) menu prices, consumer demand for foodservice continued to be robust, which fueled strong...
Food Industry Supply Chain Recovery
Food Industry Supply Chain Recovery:Getting Back on Track By: Rob Veidenheimer, Bob Goldin and Gary Karp February 2, 2022 As has been reported extensively, supply chain disruptions have impacted almost all food industry organizations – from raw...
Foodservice Cost Inflation and Full Service Restaurants: A Hazardous Gap
The “Big 3” distributors - Performance Food Group, Sysco, and US Foods -collectively reported 12% year-over-year (YOY) price inflation in their most recent quarterly results, a rate not seen since the early 1980s. These staggering increases occurred in spite of the...