Manhattan Associates Supplies The Key Ingredient To Next Day Gourmet's Improved Productivity

Next Day Gourmet is the third largest supplier of food service equipment and supplies in the U.S. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Foodservice, is based in Minneapolis, and services a total of approximately 340,000 customers from its four-warehouse distribution network. That network physically houses 13,500 SKUs (including some food staples), along with additional merchandise shipped direct from vendor factories. Customers range from national and regional restaurant chains to schools, hospitals and other institutional organizations. Next Day Gourmet also supplies merchandise to six of its own retail stores across the country.

In the competitive food services/supply industry, Next Day Gourmet places high value not only on merchandise quality and pricing, but also on maintaining the highest level of customer service and relationships. Ninety-five percent of customers can receive shipments within two days after ordering. According to Willie Voss, vice president of operations and customer contact, "We look for opportunities to be creative and solve problems for our customers."

In spite of the recession, sales remained strong for Next Day Gourmet. And though the distribution network kept pace with demand and maintained customer satisfaction levels, it was averaging only 4-6% improvement in annual productivity. This was not sufficient to meet the company's corporate goals for continuous improvement.