Dot Foods supports 'independent independents' with food show

Nation's Restaurant News, July 25, 2005 by Caroline Perkins

Last week I wrote about Dot Foods' innovative Virtual Storefront, a service that provides operators with many more products than they might find in their distributors' warehouses. The redistributor, based in Mount Sterling, Ill., has another service that is just as unique: a customer food show.

How, you might ask, can a food show be unique? Nearly every distributor holds one or more a year for operator customers. Distributor marketing groups hold them for their distributor members. Manufacturers tolerate them because they have to. Everyone is glad when they're over. So, why would a redistributor--a business that is not a group and does not sell to operators --want to hold a food show?

The answer is that distributors want to keep their customers financially healthy and help them survive in a competitive environment.

There are two reasons why Dot started to hold a food show five years ago. The Tracy family, which runs the company, believes that smaller distributors have a better chance of survival if they join a distributor marketing group. The groups offer business education, training and purchasing power. So the primary impetus was to encourage Dot's independent distributor customers to join. The second is to give smaller distributors face time with suppliers they otherwise wouldn't have.

Gary Butler, vice president of distributor development at Progressive Group Alliance, a distributor marketing group, said, "These Dot events are not just food shows; they are conferences that provide educational seminars for the unaffiliated independent distributors."

Mike Duggan, vice president of sales at Dot, said: "Our objective is to help the independent independents, as we call them, to grow. We think we help them to be bigger, faster, stronger and more profitable."

He explained that Dot's show is not fancy, but it draws its intended audience. This year there were close to 250 distributors in attendance--one-third convenience-store distributors, two-thirds foodservice distributors--and the educational seminars were packed.

"It's surprising how well attended the seminars are," Duggan said. "They have to come in two days early, before the food show. It shows they have a thirst for knowledge."

The groups are provided with booths at the show so that they can communicate their benefits to attendees. One of the seminars is led by a former group executive--former to insure that the discussion is about information, not solicitation for any particular group. John Tracy, Dot president, said that between 10 percent and 20 percent of the customers who attend join.

Butler said that Progressive Group Alliance has gained several members this way. He cited one distributor who had sales of less than $20 million when it joined the alliance and is on track to ring up close to $50 million this year. "Dot is doing a great service," he said. "They are showing the unaffiliated independent distributors that they will be healthier in a group setting. We support that initiative."

The second reason for the food show was to provide these smaller companies with face-to-face access to suppliers that they wouldn't be able to experience otherwise because of their size. At the same time, suppliers see a new group of customers that may not have a national presence but do buy their products through Dot. Attendees receive some benefit from discounted show prices, but this is a short-term solution to competition. The long-term, as far as Dot is concerned, is to recognize that there is strength in numbers.