FEDA NEWS & VIEWS
INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
How Top Dealers Set T emselves Apart in a Consolidating Market
As distributors face pressure to scale, the ones that fi nd the most success often share three critical traits.
During the more than 20 years I have covered foodservice equipment and supplies companies, one of the most striking trends I’ve observed is the consolidation that has reshaped much of the industry. Looking back to Foodservice Equipment &
Supplies 2015 Distribution Giants study, the top 100 dealers had sales of $7.2 billion. At that time, the top 10 dealers reported combined annual sales of $3.98 billion, equal to 55.2 percent of sales generated by the top 100 dealers in the country. Fast-forward to 2025, and the top 100 dealers have more than doubled their earnings to a total of $15.74 billion. Even more notable, though, is the undeniable fact that big got even bigger. The top 10 dealers now account for $11.24 billion in sales, or 71.4 percent of the revenue generated by the top 100 dealers. At least some of that growth can be traced to consolidation. Over the past decade, three of the top 10 dealers have each acquired at least four distributors that were previously ranked in the top 100. Looking deeper, a total of 24 companies that were on the Distribution Giants list in 2015 have since disappeared due to acquisition by other dealers, mergers or simply going out of business. That’s a considerable amount of turnover for such a mature industry segment. Even though the largest dealers make up a greater share of the overall market, smaller dealers have also shown their ability to grow — sometimes at an even faster pace. Take, for example, Crest Foodservice Equipment, which came in at No. 100 in the 2015 Distribution Giants list with slightly more than $13 million in annual sales. Today, the company has nearly doubled its revenue and made an impressive leap to No. 66 on the list. Moving forward, the pressure to scale will continue to mount for some distributors. With scale comes other competitive advantages, including meaningful footprint consolidation, better route management and more effi cient
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distribution systems. Scale often gives these dealers the resources necessary to enhance the technology they use, which, in turn, increases their business intelligence capabilities and can make them more effective and effi cient. From my observations, scaling a business solely for the sake of doing so represents a fool’s errand. It takes more than size for a company to remain relevant. Over the years we have learned that successful foodservice equipment and supplies dealers, the ones that endure the tests of time, all share three critical traits. The fi rst is vision. These companies understand where they are going and what they want to be as they grow. That clarity shapes everything from their acquisition strategy to the people they hire. That leads me to the second trait these companies share: a people-centric culture. The most successful dealers strive to create working environments that stay true to what made them successful in the past while empowering their people to take ownership of their roles and responsibilities so they can work freely to propel their companies forward.
Finally, the true industry blue bloods understand what they can and can’t do well. They don’t try to be something they are not. If that means stepping away from certain product lines, like smallwares, then so be it. In some cases, that may require companies to self-refl ect on where gaps exist in their toolset, leading them to bring in other industry partners to effectively and effi ciently serve the operator customer. I’ll explore these traits further and share more insights at the Gold Awards Breakfast during the 2025 FEDA Annual Executive Leadership Conference. I hope you’ll join me to refl ect on where our industry has been — and where it’s going next.
Joe Carbonara is the editorial director of FE&S Magazine. He can be reached at joe@
zoombagroup.com.
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