121: Who are the big fish that really market and sell your foodservice brand?

Manufacturers pay lots of attention to the so-called Super 7... those foodservice distributor giants that are the household names in the industry... Sysco, U.S. Foodservice, PFG, Gordon, Reinhart, Maines and Services Group of America (known for its FSA broad line division).

But they are relatively small fish in the big scheme of things when it comes to marketing and selling national brand products to the coveted independent operator segment out there.  Yet, many manufacturers border on obsession over the Super 7 when they talk strategy about "distribution marketing"... even though the Super 7 represents less than 30% of the business!

Meanwhile, the other 70 percent of the business is seemingly an afterthought!

There are two good reasons why this situation has existed in the past:

• The roughly 28% of total foodservice sales that go through the Super 7 is nothing to ignore. There is a tidy chunk of sales concentrated in these few companies. Although some will argue that managing business among separate divisions within a large company is like working with separate companies any way (so the "economies of scale" are questionable).
• Until recently, it was impossible to even consider striking up deeper relationships with smaller distributors.. there simply was not enough time or money. Truly, how many "good friends" can one manufacturer have?! Brokers and corporate sales reps have to go where the concentrated money is... and that's not with the smaller guys in many instances.

Technology has removed this second hurdle in large part.  You can communicate and build loyalty among 2,000 key distribution companies nearly as easy as with 20 big guys now (although you might need to re-think how your organize resources across the "Up and Coming 25", "Brand Builders"  and the  Super 7).

More importantly, it's much easier today to measure the return on your marketing investment with individual distributors.  Contact us if "measurement" and "distributor marketing" seem like an oxymoron to you... this is an achievable goal!

Clearly, there wouldn't be such a diverse set of small, medium and large distributors if there wasn't a market need for each!  And regardless of a distribution company's size, the key difference boils down to the trust and confidence that an independent operator has in the individual DSR who walks in the door.

But there also are practical issues that encourage those 70% of independent operators to work with smaller independent distributors as DSR Live! co-hosts DSR Dave Miesse and Bill Hornung explore in this episode. 

And what does this all mean for marketing your brand?  Listen in below!