Ian Navarro’s Post

Foodservice Sales are extremely competitive. There are so many options for chefs and foodservice operators on how they access food. How are you adding value? Leading with cheaper pricing is not a long term strategy. Your customer wants to know you have their back. A couple of years ago we shorted a customer that was located about 4.5 Hours away product that they needed for a very important event. As you can imagine, the chef was PISSED. The salesperson for the region was beat up for the chewing he got and the potential of losing the business with the account because we failed him at a very critical time. I found the product in the warehouse, loaded some coolers up and booked a first class flight (to avoid paying for weight overages and bag checking) to the city the customer was it, drove to the airport and within 4 hours of finding out what the problem was, the problem was solved. Do you think that left a memorable experience with the customer? Things are 100% going to go wrong in foodservice distribution. Quality is going to be bad when they cut into something, mispicks are going to happen, shorts are going to ruin your day, but how you react to the problem can be your defining moment for the customer. Find unique ways to add value to your customer.