ArrowStream Foodservice Blog

With just over 2 weeks until ArrowStream’s re:Supply Innovation Summit, we’re delighted to present an interview with Andy Long, Vice President of Supply Chain at Performance Food Group. Andy has worked in logistics since 1989 and now has over thirty years of industry experience. He will be part of the panel discussion on ‘Rethinking Data Collaboration’ in which suppliers, distributors, and operators will discuss the pluses and minuses of data collaboration in foodservice supply chain.

ArrowStream’s re:Supply Innovation Summit will be hosted on July 28th, 2022 – bringing together top foodservice brands to collaborate, innovate, and move the industry forward through today’s challenges. In the lead up of the event, we are thrilled to present an interview with Gary Nash, Senior Director of Purchasing at Zaxby’s Franchising LLC. Gary began working in the foodservice industry at the age of fourteen, and now has nearly thirty years of industry experience. Prior to his time at Zaxby’s, Gary was the Senior Director of Supply Chain at Focus Brands and a Purchasing Manager at Hooters. Gary will be part of the panel discussion on ‘Rethinking Data Collaboration’ at the re:Supply Innovation Summit – a rare opportunity to see leading suppliers, distributors, and operators discussing foodservice industry news in conjunction.

ArrowStream – the leading foodservice supply chain cloud – is proud to host its inaugural re:Supply Innovation Summit on July 28th, 2022. The summit will bring together an elite group of operators, distributors, and suppliers across the industry for a day of collaboration and innovation. In anticipation of the re:Supply Innovation Summit, ArrowStream is pleased to present an interview with Ami Lindsay, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop Inc. and Wing Zone and a re:Supply Innovation Summit speaker.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – the same goes for supply chain sourcing.

Sourcing commodities from a variety of locations and suppliers allows your company to mitigate the damage from disruptions and shortages since you have alternative means of procurement. It allows for a resilient flexibility against changing circumstances and the ability to ensure that your company can reliably get the supplies it needs to operate. In the words of the ancient Roman writer Publilius Syrus, “A plan that cannot be altered is a bad plan.”

A vast majority, if not all, of the food you have consumed in your life has been processed. Everything that is sold at a grocery store has been canned, waxed, frozen, dried, bottled, wrapped, baked, packaged, or in some way altered. Food processing is the set of methods used to transform fresh food items into retail food products and how they are stored, packaged, and delivered. It encompasses the vast range of procedures involved in turning grapes to bottles of wine, wheat kernels to pre-sliced loaves of bread, and live animals to the cuts of meat available for purchase.

Recent geopolitical events have resulted in escalating commodity prices and supply chain instability. In response to the volatility of the global commodity market, ArrowStream’s Director of Commodities, Jerry Dalton, and Sr. Director of Product, Matt Heckroth, joined Ashley Berland, Vice President of Supply Chain at Restaurant Growth Services, and Adam Shrif, Vice President of Procurement at GA Goods, to discuss the context of the rising prices and difficulties with distribution, as well as forecasting solutions to the challenges.

Today’s employee spotlight is on Marilyn Bottenbley - data integration specialist at ArrowStream. Marilyn has thirteen years of experience working in data management and joined the ArrowStream team in 2020.

The eradication of hunger is a major global societal problem. A recent study has estimated that total global food demand is expected to increase by 35% to 56% between 2010 and 2050. 

Disruptions to the global food supply have been consistent and are expected to continue perpetually. After recently enduring the pandemic, the global food supply chain has faced inflation, natural disasters, and supply shortages resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian War. 

The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing regulations to prevent its spread largely paralyzed the global food supply chain. However, the chaos and destruction have paved the way for new advancements and innovations in the industry as companies have been incentivized to secure the integrity of their supply chains.