Food Service
Industry Center

Descartes Reduces Delivery Costs and Turns Food Service Distribution Operations into a Competitive Weapon

Being a food service company has never been easy—rising costs, demanding customers combined with fluctuations in supply and demand. There used to be a greater level of customer predictability; however, the pandemic made the food service market even more challenging.

Customer ordering patterns are changing, making it harder to plan deliveries. Services times are increasing, negatively impacting productivity and the customer experience. Customers also have more same-day orders, which is challenging traditional delivery models and can be quite expensive if not properly managed.

Descartes helps food service companies meet the broad range of challenges they face by providing advanced solutions that enable the differentiated services that can help them grow and improve margins.

Strategic route planning to determine the best service strategy
Hybrid operational planning that reduces costs and keeps customer service levels high
Proactive route execution that minimizes the impact of disruptions
Engagement with customers from the time of purchase to post delivery
Better management of drivers that improves retention, productivity, and safety

Descartes’ modular platform allows food service companies to focus on improving their most pressing challenges. All these capabilities are underpinned by a modern, cloud-based architecture and use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics.

End-to-End Delivery Solution

A Single Platform for Distributors' Fleet and For-Hire Transportation Needs

Whether its parcel shipments for smaller items, using couriers for small packages, or common carriers for inbound or intracompany shipments, food service companies have transportation management needs that go beyond the fleet.

Descartes is uniquely positioned to help distributors execute their vision of an enterprise-wide transportation platform that gives them visibility and control of inbound shipments, intracompany shipments, couriers, and parcel shipments. We combine fleet and for-hire transportation to holistically manage all modes of transportation including fleet, truckload and LTL, parcel, courier, and gig economy.

Our solution brings the depth and breadth food service companies need to get the most from their transportation operations.

Comprehensive Delivery Footprint

Unified face to customer
Manage mode-specific requirements
Flexible delivery strategies
High-tech to no-tech integration
Combine inbound and outbound operations

Let Descartes’ Experts Help You Understand the Art of the Possible

From our work with leading food service companies across the globe, Descartes has built the domain expertise and proven solutions to help food service companies with the simplest to most sophisticated transportation requirements. Our experts are fully versed in the leading-edge strategies and tactics in areas such as last-mile delivery that are creating competitive differentiation and increasing profitability.

Talk to a Descartes Food Service Expert