How Leading Companies Are Elevating Delivery Operations in Food and Beverage Logistics
Key Takeaways
- Food and beverage distributors face growing pressure to deliver on time, preserve product quality, and manage increasingly complex operations.
- Leaders in food and beverage logistics are adopting smart fleet management solutions to gain real-time visibility, ensure on time delivery, and reduce operating costs.
- By leveraging better data and connected workflows, companies are improving delivery accuracy, enhancing customer satisfaction, and ensuring cold chain compliance.
In food and beverage logistics, delivering fresh, time-sensitive products is both a promise and a challenge. As customer expectations rise and supply chains become more complex, distributors are recognizing the need for smarter, more connected logistics systems to stay competitive.
Modern cold chain distribution requires more than refrigeration—it demands real-time visibility, dynamic routing, and seamless communication. Distributors like Pepin Distributing, Halperns’ Steak & Seafood, and Fortune Fish & Gourmet are investing in food and beverage distribution software to overcome common pain points such as poor visibility, disconnected teams, and inefficient operations—demonstrating how unified data and intelligent tools can transform delivery performance.
Pepin Distributing: Driving Visibility and Productivity in Beverage Delivery
Based in Tampa, FL, Pepin Distributing plays a critical role in stocking retailers with top beverage brands. But the company lacked visibility into its field operations—especially travel times, stop performance, and service consistency.
To address these challenges, Pepin implemented Descartes’ fleet performance and route execution tools, gaining real-time tracking across merchandisers, delivery drivers, and sales teams.
Key Results:
- Full operational transparency across field roles
- More productive start times, reducing delays and traffic-related inefficiencies
- Improved resource allocation and communication between departments
- Smarter route sequencing and improved stop time accuracy
Gain more insights by reading Pepin’s full case study.
Fortune Fish & Gourmet: Scaling Smarter with Real-Time Insight
Known for high-quality seafood and gourmet products, Fortune Fish & Gourmet needed to ensure time-sensitive deliveries remained reliable as the business grew. Manual processes and reactive decision-making made it hard to maintain service levels and optimize driver performance.
Using Descartes’ route planning and delivery execution tools, Fortune Fish integrated real-time tracking and data into its workflows, enhancing reliability and enabling proactive management of their temperature-controlled delivery network.
Key Results:
- Higher stop counts and optimized delivery sequencing
- Real-time visibility into driver performance and delivery timing
- Stronger accountability and service-level consistency
- Improved customer communication and satisfaction
“It has been eye-opening to look at our business closely and make changes where we need to. We took the question out of ‘is a stop profitable?’—and being able to boil it down to dollars is incredibly valuable.” — Kevin Hunt, Transportation Manager, Fortune Fish & Gourmet
Gain more insights by reading Fortune Fish’s full case study.
Halperns’ Steak & Seafood: Leveraging Modern Solutions to Elevate Service
Operating 250 trucks and serving more than 7,000 customers, Halperns’ Steak & Seafood has built its brand on tradition—but outdated processes were creating modern challenges. The company faced a high volume of “Where is my order?” (WISMO) calls and a lack of delivery visibility, leading to miscommunication between drivers, sales reps, and support staff.
By implementing Intelligent Dispatch, Driver Safety, and Customer Engagement tools from Descartes, Halperns’ brought its operations into the digital age. A unique rollout strategy—starting with the sales team—allowed for rapid gains in transparency and collaboration.
Key Improvements:
- Real-time order tracking for sales reps and customers
- Direct communication between drivers and sales teams
- Automated arrival notifications to reduce support workload
- Scalable rollout strategy with minimal disruption
“With Descartes Customer Engagement, sales reps now see exactly where orders are, cutting back on ETA calls and emails. Drivers also have direct contact with sales reps, eliminating delays caused by phone tag between multiple departments.” — Patricia Carlsen, Assistant to the Director of Transportation, Halperns’ Steak & Seafood
Gain more insights by reading Halpern’s full case study.
Conclusion
To succeed in today’s competitive food and beverage logistics environment, distributors must balance operational efficiency with exceptional service quality. Achieving this requires scalable solutions that deliver real-time visibility, seamless communication, and flexible, data-driven planning.
From temperature-controlled distribution to last-mile excellence, companies like Pepin, Fortune Fish, and Halperns’ show that modern food and beverage distribution software doesn’t just support operations—it transforms them.
By investing in the right food and beverage fleet management solutions, these distributors are future-proofing their supply chains, reducing delivery friction, and setting a new standard for smarter, more connected delivery operations.
Transform your logistics—let’s get started today.
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