3 years ago
We've been in the restaurant business for 30+ year...
We've been in the restaurant business for 30+ years and have used Sysco for a large majority of our grocery purchases over that period. Never again will I spend a dime with them. You would think that after doing business together for over 3 decades, that the company and our group would have developed a solid working relationship, and you'd be right; until the new leadership took over some few years ago. Our most recent stint with Sysco began a few years ago. We were purchasing from a different supplier at the time when the new president of Sysco Norman came by our restaurant to talk about acquiring our business again. He talked about how Sysco was better than ever, and that they were committed to focusing on servicing the needs of the family owned restauranteurs (like ourselves). Let me tell you, if things don't work out with Sysco, that guy has a bright future with used cars, because we fell for the pitch. Things rocked along for the next few years as they always have with this group, they're great for the first few weeks, but after that they just grind out your deliveries every week and don't provide much else. You have to constantly monitor your invoices or they'll be charging you full blown retail before you know it. That said, we loved our salesman, so we stuck with them for that alone. It wasn't until about 1.5 years ago that we realized that our biggest selling product, a Schwab 6:1 hot dog, was coming in short each and every case. This product is supposed to come in 10 pound cases with 6 hot dogs to each pound. According to my math, and the Sysco invoices, that would equate to 60 hot dogs per case, right? Not according to Schwab Meats. To keep a long story short, we started counting the boxes of dogs for a few months realizing that each and every one contained about 50 dogs in it. Now, on the surface this may not seem like a huge deal, but when you multiply that by the thousands of cases we purchase, you're talking a pretty good chunk of change. I brought this issue to one of the "owners" of Schwab Meats and her response to me was something along the lines of "I travel to Mexico each month, I don't have the time to deal with each case of hot dogs." My jaw hit the floor. It's an absolute shame that an Oklahoma institution that was run so well for decades unfortunately has people like this at the reins, but that's a story for a different day. When we realized that Schwab Meats wasn't going to stand behind their product, we went to Sysco for support. We found none. We met with the president yet again and as his empty promises went in one eat and out the other, I left realizing that I made a terrible mistake years ago when I bought his bill of goods. In our final correspondence, his statement to me that "This isn't personal, it's business and your only avenue for restitution is through the courts." It's easy for you to sit in your corner office and proclaim that "it's just business", as you continue to spew your deceit at no consequence to you, but my business is personal to me, Mr. "President". Do business with them at your own risk, at least you know that if you get screwed you have the courts at your disposal...