Sysco Produce

1. Sysco Produce Dan Martin, Director of Produce, Eastern Canada

2. Where to buy produce, where should your priorities be?

3. Traditional Priorities • Quality • Cost • Availability • Frequency of delivery

4. New Priorities to consider • Food Safety • Traceability • Sustainability • Local buy • Government regulations

5. Let’s review each priority listed to assist in making good decisions

6. QUALITY • What would you say if you walked in a store to buy something and they told you with a smile “we just need to let you know the more you pay here, the more inferior the quality will be! • Generally speaking that is the rule of the supply and demand world of produce.

7. QUALITY • When supplies are plentiful prices are low, growers are able to select top quality product out of their fields and leave the average quality product in the field. • When there is a demand exceeds supply circumstance prices are high and the grower will put anything in the box that resembles the product.

8. QUALITY • Solutions • Choose products within their peak availability whenever possible. Adding blueberries to a menu in November may not be a good idea. • Align yourself with a distributor that has strengths in their Quality Assurance program at their facility and at the field/packing facilities. • Expect good consistent marketing material from your supplier keeping you updated on market conditions. • Be sure your specifications and expectations are in line. Mother Nature does not manufacture product, it is not always perfect. Don’t expect #2 product to be #1 product.

9. COST Solutions • Understand your food cost and try to fit your produce program accordingly vs. “how cheap can I buy today?” • Over specifications is a common mistake. Do you need medium/large peppers vs. choppers, or fancy citrus vs. Choice….etc.

10. COST Solutions • Processing vs. whole product • Consider labor savings • Consider employee safety • Too many split packages! Buying partial cases of produce is very expensive. Buying it more often does not always mean it is fresher. Buy full cases whenever possible.

11. AVAILABILITY • Be sure to study produce availability charts when developing a menu • Although most products are available year round, certain products specifically fruits are very seasonal and have defined peak times. • This not only affects cost but FLAVOR. Peaches taste better in July from California than they do from Chile in January.

12. FREQUENCY OF DELIVERY SOLUTIONS • There is an old saying in the produce business, “It can sit in my cooler or yours.” Meaning most produce companies get fresh produce in twice per week. Getting more frequent deliveries does not necessarily increase freshness but it does increase cost. • If your cooler storage area is too small consider further processed items to save room and keep product fresh for your customers.

13. FOOD SAFETY • This is the #1 concern and priority of the industry today. We cannot afford to lose the trust and confidence in the integrity of our product by the consumer. This is a risk that you cannot afford to take.

14. FOOD SAFETY SOLUTIONS • What is being done • GAP – The most impactful component is assuring the supplier has Good Agricultural Standards audited by an accredited 3rd party audit company. This is a preventative method of reducing the risk of food borne illnesses. • GMP’s and HACCP – Auditing packing facilities to insure they are meeting set Good Manufacturing Practices. • Distribution facility inspections.

15. Traceability • All cases must have code and lot date information. • Formal recall program • Mock recalls • Country of Origin

16. Sustainability • Environmental responsibility • Social responsibility

17. Buy Local • Reduced cost due to less transportation • Consumer demand of the concept • Challenge of food safety

18. Government regulations • Mandatory Country of Origin in place • Mandatory Traceability requirements coming • Mandatory 3rd party audits coming

19. How does Sysco addressthese topics?

20. Sysco QUALITY • Sysco has 14 fulltime QA people in the field fully devoted to fresh produce • All lettuce fields proposed for Sysco brand are pre-inspected to insure they meet Brand specifications • All Sysco brand lettuce products exceed USDA #1 specifications • Our Natural produce Brand requires minimum ship-time from time of harvest. • All Sysco brand facilities are independently audited annually by Sysco QA

21. Sysco Cost/Availability/Frequency of delivery • Sysco has 2 produce buying offices in place (Salinas, CA. and Pompano FL.) employing 65 individuals exclusively dedicated to procuring fresh produce daily. • Sysco sells over $3 billion annually of fresh produce and distributes it through 110 distribution centers in North America • Sysco has centralized all of its produce purchases through periodic RFP’s allowing for true leveraged purchasing and guaranteed availability year round.

22. Sysco Food Safety • The industry leader in produce food safety • Largest QA staff in the industry of highly trained professionals • Verifies GAP 3rd party audits on suppliers that grow “ready to eat produce” through exclusive agreement with Primus data base.

23. Ideal Supply Chain h h R1a Buyer-A R4a G/S-A h R3a R2a Buyer-B h h h R1b R5b Buyer-C G/S-B h R4b R2b R3b h h h © 2007 Powered by PrimusLabs.com

24. Produce Supply Chain:Organized Chaos h h R1a Buyer-A R4a G/S-A h R R R R R3a Distributor-A Broker-A R2a Buyer-B h h Distributor-B Broker-B h R1b R5b Buyer-C G/S-B h R4b R2b R3b h h h © 2007 Powered by PrimusLabs.com

25. Search for suppliers by Product and Location

26. GPS Mapping- Visually view supplier activity- View supplier location to the field- Track increase activity to the field- View water sources: canal, well, etc- View area around fields: cattle, industrial, river, etc. © 2007 Powered by PrimusLabs.com

27. Sysco Food Safety • Environmental program for produce specifying microbiological sampling • Lettuce will not be packed in brand from field ditch, drain or edges. • HHA and Liability insurance for all vendors

28. Sysco Traceability • Sysco is one of 34 industry leaders that developed and endorsed the Produce Traceability Initiative this last October committing the industry to a timeline of specific initiatives to guarantee 100% traceability back to the field.

29. Sysco Traceability • All Sysco broad line distributor locations scan product in and out of our electronically in order to insure traceability today. • Formal recall program with crisis call system in place • Mock recall to verify ability to track product

30. Sysco Sustainability/Local Buy • Partnered with Wallace Center in development of local grower workshop to provide education on GAP’s understanding compliance. • Introducing concept of grouping local growers to help provide liability insurance

31. Sysco Sustainability/Local Buy • Integrated Pest management program. • Growers are not to use bio-solids on crops or genetically modified organisms used in the program. • Supplier code of conduct includes ethical and social responsibilities.

32. As you can see it is not as easy as it may appear to provide fresh produce to our customers. Sysco is committed to make all the investments to insure we are providing high quality, competitively priced safe and sustainable food to our customers.

33. Thank you