Foodservice distribution
Reviewed by Dasha ShakovVP Marketing, Proton
Updated
What is foodservice distribution?
Foodservice distribution is the business of supplying restaurants, schools, hospitals, hotels and other places that cook for people away from home. Distributors deliver food, beverages, disposables, cleaning supplies and kitchen equipment; broadline distributors carry thousands of products across all these categories, while specialty distributors focus on one area, such as produce, meat or equipment.
Foodservice distribution example
A restaurant’s chef puts produce, dairy, to-go containers and dish detergent on one order before the afternoon cutoff, and the broadline distributor delivers it on a refrigerated truck the next morning.
Related terms
- VerticalA vertical is the industry segment a distributor operates in, such as electrical, plumbing, HVAC, industrial, jan/san, foodservice or medical supplies.
- DistributorA distributor is a company that buys products in bulk from manufacturers, holds them in stock and resells them in smaller quantities to other businesses.
- Group purchasing organization (GPO)A group purchasing organization (GPO) is an organization that negotiates supply contracts for members that buy and use the products, such as hospitals.
- Lot and serial number trackingLot and serial number tracking is recording which production batch (lot) or which individual unit (serial number) of a product went to which customer.
