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Thoughts on ROMA

D

dickspizza

New member
Hi All,
Roma ,Preformance Foods, is a new distributor in my area (Milwaukee), are they worth it? Good customer service, products, fair pricing? What’s the skinny?

Thanks All
 
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In the South, I think we’ve been lucky to have Roma as a distributor, nearly 4 years now. Top of the line from product, sales, to delivery. A great company.
 
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In my misspent youth I worked for B & R Foods, which was one of the 1st PFG bought out in Fla…

B & R was a good company…

I also used Roma as a 2nd supplier many, many years ago and used VISTAR (before they merged with Roma)…

There’s been a consolidation of smaller distributor networks over many years…I believe PFG got a bit leg up when they took over BiggerBrothers & PYA Monarch back when…

Its all about cost control…dropping the most groceries off @ one stop consistently and focusing on getting the lowest price point…not much different than the pizza biz, in some respects…
 
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We’ve used them for amost 11 years now as
Multifoods then Vistar then Roma now PFG
The prices and products have been pretty good although we
do have a 2nd supplier so we can keep them honest on the pricing.
(when we used them for everything the prices seemed to go up- maybe someone got greedy)
Good customer service might depend on your rep - we’ve twice had to tell them to get us a new rep.
(The first time was before we opened up they gave us a brand new rep who didn’t know anything and we needed help)

Paul
 
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We are in the process of leaving them. Loved them at first…had a great sales rep and even though the pricing was a bit more we loved everything they were offering. The whole motto they sold us on is they wanted to win over the independents instead of trying to win over the giants.

After our sales rep left we really have not been happy. Our prices are totally out of whack. After getting bids from US foods and Sysco and those two literally beating every single price we paid we are switchin thursday to sysco. Can’t wait. New sales guy has come highly recommended from some other restaurant owners we know. I know they are probably low balling us on prices to get us in but most of the prices were so dramatic we have plenty of room to move.

Good luck.
 
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Kris, that’s interesting… Early this year, Sysco brought in a new rep, the previous guy was awful. The rep has been very aggressive and on the spot. Their biggest challenge is they cannot get close to the pricing we have with Roma. Nevertheless, I’ve brought them on as #2, they fill some voids Roma can’t and they’ve received enough of our business to continue to try harder. Sysco was absolutely critical to our success in dropping bi-weekly runs to the local SAMS for products not available through Roma. Still, by and large, Roma kills them on price. Roma reps must have a lot more control on pricing than I’ve been led to believe. From what I see, Sysco’s rep seems to need several up chain approvals for pricing. Dunno…

Hope it gets better.
 
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Some useless facts that might be considered when choosing a food company/rep…

of course knowledge is #1 as well as service, but newly hired reps are generally given the ‘best’ prices to quote, as it is their business to develop new customers & new relationships…hence the ‘low-ball’ price points…many of these reps are on a decent salary and are not required to show a certain % profit on the route…

But after a year or so on the route, many salespersons will need to show a “food cost” on their route of 85% or less… so many of the price points begin to change…

My volume customers always got a better price than those that only ordered a minimum drop every so often…just as we reward our best customers with special deals, they salesperson will work more with someone that gives them more business…nearly gone are the days of comparing one vendor to another…both parties loose…your time & the salespersons time have value…the more time/purchases you spend together generally the better price you’ll get…

Beef, in particular, only is marked up a fraction (3%) when compared to say cheese, flour, sugar etc., because everyone is fighting for the ‘center-of-the-plate’ business.

With many pizza shops, cheese is the price stickler but are few additional items in which to make the stop profitable…

I believe an old standard cost figure was $75/stop (for gas/depreciation/distribution/salaries etc.)…so figure a $500 drop net the distributor only $75 in gross profit…now they gotta cover equipment repairs/purchases, training etc…

Just like traditional grocery stores (1-3% profit), they make their money on big volume and may loose money on small accounts…

Grocery stores get $$$ for product ‘slotting’ fees and the SYSCO’s of the world are now tapping in on that as well…may our friend @ Burke’s can shed additional light from that perspective. That is why you might not see your fav product from a particular distributor…

Hope I didn’t bore anyone…
 
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Patriot…appreciate the insight.

Hoping to find a good relationship with our sales rep…we have had a couple through the years and it saves both of us time and money.

As for Roma I still think there might be a seperation between PFG and Roma. Although they show everything as being a consolidated company I don’t think that is the case. Who knows. Cannot wait to see food cost drop even more. Been going to Restaurant depot twice a week for some stuff and with that alone have seen a…drum roll please…about a $500 dollar savings. Well worth the trip for me.
 
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I swiched from Sysco to Roma/PFG about 6 months ago. I have nothing but good things to say about their company. Less problems than Sysco, lower prices than Sysco, and much better product line than Sysco(in the South anyway). Reps are nice, the drivers are professional, and most importantly I couldn’t find any distributor that could even come close to the prices they quoted me. I know that distributors are different depending on the area of the country you are in, but down south(New Orleans) Roma is the best I have worked with.
 
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I do, although its usually not required. Its more of an emergency backup. But when used, the drivers are great. All refer and frozen items go in the walk-in. Very professional.
 
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Papparella kept trying to put me on a Key drop for my regular deliveries, I refused. I only have three employees that have a key to the store and I am not going to give one to a total stranger. Also I can not imagine how badly everything would get damaged if the driver was behind schedule or just in a bad mood. Being there to reject broken cases and dented cans makes them be a little more carefull with stuff.

Rick
 
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Rick, it took me quite sometime before I finally did it - because of the same concerns. But ‘our’ driver has been with us since our startup, is very good and extremely professional, one of the trusted few. Besides, I’ve never had any concerns or problems that were not dealt with professionally and promptly beginning with the sales mgr to the driver. Roma, at least in my neck of the woods, runs an excellent operation.
 
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so I have been using Roma now for about 1 month as my second vendor, so far so good. a few mistakes but that’s to be expected with the magnitude of supplies out there but have been corrected and the prices are pretty good too. sales Rep nice and friendly.
 
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Patriot - I apologize for the delayed response, I just found your note.
Grocery stores get $$$ for product ‘slotting’ fees and the SYSCO’s of the world are now tapping in on that as well…may our friend @ Burke’s can shed additional light from that perspective. That is why you might not see your fav product from a particular distributor…
Click to expand...
At this time, retail-style slotting fees are not widespread among distributors. However, similar to grocery stores, distributors have limitations in their refrigerated and frozen food storage and must find ways to “ration” this space. Consequently, they rely on both customer demands and manufacturer co-marketing partnerships to help them determine which products to carry.

At Burke, we place a high importance on being a resource for the foodservice industry. For operators like yourself, we have built our blog–Out of the Oven–to make your job easier through sharing industry trends and menu ideas. Similarly, we partner with distributors to make their jobs easier through increased training, knowledge and marketing support.

Don’t get me wrong, we would love to have every one of our products in every distributor. However we understand there are limitations and that we must all work together to get as many quality products on their shelves and into your stores as possible.
 
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