IFMA honors top foodservice industry distributors

The International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) announced the winners of the eighth annual Distributor Awards, which acknowledge distributor leadership and overall excellence within the foodservice industry. Winners will be celebrated at the Presidents Conference, set for November 2-5, 2014 and co-hosted by IFMA and the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA).
2014 IFMA Distributor Award recipients are:
•Gordon Food Service received the IFMA Excellence in Distribution Award. This award recognizes a corporate or independent distribution organization that has demonstrated excellence in the categories of management and leadership, customer relations, supplier relations, and industry/community contributions. Gordon Food Service started out as a butter-and-egg delivery business more than a century ago. Today, it is the largest family-owned broadline foodservice distributor in North America—and one of the largest privately held companies in the United States. Gordon Foodservice was nominated by the Par-Way Tryson Company.
•Reinhart Foodservice was awarded the IFMA Distributor Sales & Marketing Performance Award, which recognizes a single independent distributor or an individual operating company of a distributor with multiple locations that has demonstrated successful planning and execution of creative sales and marketing. At close to the half-century mark, Reinhart Foodservice has grown from its first 8,000-square-foot distribution center in La Crosse WI to become the fifth-largest foodservice distributor in the nation. Reinhart Foodservice was nominated by Consumers Packing Company, Schreiber Foods, and Sugar Foods Corporation.
•Malcolm Sullivan, chief executive officer of Pate Dawson Co, was named winner of IFMA’s Distinguished Industry Achievement Award. This award recognizes an individual who has brought about positive change in the foodservice distribution community and has been a pioneer in management, marketing, and operations.
Sponsored by J R Simplot Co, the awards will be presented November 4, 2014 during the IFMA/IFDA Presidents Conference at J W Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix AZ. For more information, access www.ifmaworld.com or contact John Lehmann at 312-253-4683.