Thought Leadership

November 15, 2021 The collectively impressive third quarter 2021 results of the “Big 3” foodservice distributors – Performance Food Group (PFG), Sysco US Foodservice and US Foods – are a clear indication of a sequentially improving market, customer wins, improved...

September 29, 2021 Amazon’s announcement that they will add a $9.95 delivery fee to all Whole Foods grocery delivery orders is a sign that the e-commerce turned bricks-and-mortar giant has understandably lost its appetite for subsidizing the popular service, even for...

August 26, 2021 Paced by the restaurant segment, the foodservice industry is experiencing an unexpectedly strong recovery in the face of major labor and supply chain challenges, rising menu prices, and an unfortunate and alarming increase in Covid-19 cases.  The most...

July 12, 2021 Taking Transformation to Operations Part 2 – The Messy Middle The first part of this paper covered foundational work done as the organization begins a Transformation Program.  The executives (and strategy consultants) have laid out an ambitious...

June 22, 2021 Part 1 – Ambition and Enthusiasm Many businesses are engaged in some type of Transformation Program at the direction of their board or executive leadership with the expectation for huge synergies, a dramatically improved company image, or an aggressive...

May 17, 2021 To mitigate  the economic ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, foodservice distributors implemented a variety of critical initiatives with a true sense of urgency.  To varying degrees, they engaged in serious cost cutting, product and customer mix...

April 2, 2021 The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic caused a fundamental food industry demand shift that benefitted retail and adversely impacted foodservice. Despite an unprecedented 12% growth (+$95 billion) in retail, the significant (-27%, or -$220 billion) decline in...

March 4, 2021 We all are aware of how challenging the last business quarter and year have been for all foodservice trading partners. The recent Pentallect POV discussing the results of the top three public foodservice distributors, Sysco PFG and US Foods (read it...

February 19, 2021 Due to the Covid-19 surge, the foodservice industry experienced a significant and unfortunate slowdown in the final weeks  of 2020.   During the quarter, major markets - most notably the densely populated Northeast, Midwest and West Coast - were...

    By:  Barry Friends | Bob Goldin February 1, 2021 Foodservice distribution “old-timers” may recall the shivers they felt when Walmart acquired the McLane Company back in 1990, and their eventual relief when Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway bought the...

    By:  Bob Goldin | Barry Friends November 8, 2020 On the heels of a brutal, pandemic-induced second quarter that resulted in an average organic case volume decline of 38.8%, the “Big 3” foodservice distributors reported improved results for the most...

    By:  Rick Abraham | Rob Veidenheimer September 23, 2020 Driven by dramatic declines in the foodservice channel due to the COVID-19 crisis, the total food industry is projected to contract approximately $200 billion in 2020 as retail channel strength will...