A Day in the Life of a Food Product Distributor

Food product distributors are vital to the food & beverage industry all across the United States. They provide a bridge between supplier and consumer, delivering food and food-related supplies to restaurants for their patrons to enjoy.

But that’s just scratching the surface. There’s quite a lot that happens behind the scenes that many don’t know about, and takes place long before a plate of food ever arrives in front of a restaurant patron. In this blog post, we want to give you a better idea of all the hard work, communication, and planning that goes into being a food product distributor.

What Does a Food Product Distributor Do?

In a nutshell, food distributors act as middlemen, linking food producers to retailers (or restaurants) to sell (or serve) the best food products to their customers. They buy food products in bulk from partnering vendors, take orders from restaurants, collect the requested food products from vendors, and deliver the products ordered by the restaurants. 

Let’s dig a little deeper, though, and take a look at all the day-to-day responsibilities they handle.

Daily Duties of Food Product Distributors

Daily responsibilities of a food product distributor include:

• Purchasing food products and related merchandise from partnering food suppliers for restaurant and retail customers.

• Negotiating prices with food suppliers, including any discounts, specials, or transportation terms.

• Advocating for customers’ needs and preferences with sales staff and purchasing personnel. (At Carolina Food Service, we specialize in distribution to Hispanic and Latino restaurants, and most of our staff is fluent in English and Spanish, making communication between our team and restaurant operators even smoother.)

• Communicating with vendors to purchase or develop preferred food products for customers.

• Warehousing food products – pre packed or not – in a large storage area, and categorizing them as refrigerated, frozen, or ambient once they arrive. This task also involves breaking down the product into usable amounts and assembling orders for customers.

• Transporting the food products to various restaurants in a number of routes, ensuring that the food reaches its destination on time and in excellent condition.

• Managing inventory to make sure there’s always enough food in stock to meet customer demand.

• Providing staff with information updates such as any price markups or discounts, manufacturer number, season code, or style numbers.

• Marketing food vendors’ brands through sales staff by letting customers sample the products to increase sales.

Long Term Duties of Food Product Distributors

Looking beyond the daily responsibilities, food distributors are also tasked with a whole other range of duties to guarantee the long-term success of the company’s future. Some of these duties include 

• Ensuring consistent value and quality from the food products they provide 

• Competitively and fairly pricing merchandise

• Monitoring and analyzing sales records and industry trends.

Why Become a Carolina Food Service Customer?

Here at Carolina Food Services, we pride ourselves on providing the best service to customers all across North and South Carolina. We love to see customers in our community thrive, which is why we strive to serve as a trusted partner for them, sourcing the best food products in the country and providing helpful solutions for all their unique needs.