size and often lacks the colorful label designs of the consumer version.

A food service distributor is a company that provides food and non food products to restaurants, cafeterias, industrial caterers, and hospitals and nursing homes. A food service distributor functions as an intermediary between food manufacturers and the food service operator, usually a chef, food service director, food and beverage manager and independent food preparation businesses operator owners. Food service distributors procure pallets and bulk inventory quantities that are broken down to case and sometimes unit quantities for the food service operator. Most food service operators purchase from a range of local, specialty, and broad line food service distributors on a daily or weekly basis.

Often times a food manufacturer may hire a food service brokerage company to represent the manufacturer in a local market. The broker helps the food manufacturer market its products through the food service distribution system, which ranges from getting items stocked at the distributor to working with operators to purchase items from the distributor. A broad line distributor services a wide variety of accounts with a wide variety of products, while a system distributor stocks a narrow array of products for specific customers, such as chain restaurants.

Food service distribution companies can range in size from a one truck operation to massive corporations, such as SYSCO and U.S. Food service. There are many independent broad line food service distribution companies that service chain and multi unit restaurants based on master distribution agreements with national food service groups. These groups provide distributor members’ procurement capabilities rival the purchasing power of largest distributors. These distributor groups also provide distributor members group private label brands as well as marketing and quality assurance services.