Favorite Purveyor?

The "professional Forum" seem to be a bit stale lately. So I have to decided to atack it Coffee Talk style. Of all of your purveyors, who does the best all around job or who should others be using? Favorite Bakery, Fish Monger, Meat Dude or Veggie Slingin' Hippie.
I love MT dairy, Now knows as MT food service. These guys are the best when it comes to customer service. When I am in a pinch and need 4 dozen bagels in an hour , a case of disposable coffee containers or 30# of 6oz. chicken breasts they will allways get you what you need.

MT Dairy
312-733-7028

Justin,

It's all about customer service, and who is willing to go the extra mile for you. There are several food vendors that we use, who we can always depend on to go out of their way and pick up just about any weird item that we might need. Wierd stuff from Chinatown or Argyle, taramasalata from Greektown, brats from Paulina, kosher stuff, you name it.

Also, follow through is extremely important. We use two foodservice supply companies and the sales reps are like night and day. One rep, I can call anytime on his cell, and he will always make things happen for me, including updating me on specialty item status by email or phone. This is my go to guy. With the other vendor, there is next to no customer service.

We also use MT.

Right off the top of my head: MT, Edward Don, Metropolis Coffee, Gonnella Baking Co., Heritage Wine.

That's very funny - back in the day, when I was managing the cafe at Borders, I discovered MT Dairy - who I also loved; I used to wish they had a t-shirt with their logo on it because it was true.. I remember finding out with delight that they could deliver hummos in non-USFood sizes, and just one bunch of celery or one lemon at a time.

>>It's all about customer service, and who is willing to go the extra mile for you. There are several food vendors that we use, who we can always depend on to go out of their way and pick up just about any weird item that we might need.

I would agree that service is critical. You need someone who will find and carry products that you need. Also, you need a salesman who will deliver an emergency order on occasion.

Having said that, a lot of it comes down to payment terms. While I believe in paying vendors on a timely basis, nothing is more inconvenient than a "cash only" vendor. Don't get me wrong, I have bought truck loads of collards, yellow squash, etc. off of local farmers. It is just a hassle to have to drop what I am doing to run over to the loading dock and hand out cash.

Hands down, Midwest Imports. Todd, the owner (or one of the owners, it's a family-run business), has never failed to bend over backwards for me, whether it's to give me advice on how to save 3 cases of chocolate from a broken air conditioner in July, to accommodating my last-minute orders stemming from my clients' last-minute requests from their clients. They're like European Imports' little brother- same quality of products, but I think the customer service is way better.

I like MT's service, but have found them to be a bit spotty- orders never seem to be 100% right on the first try.

for me its all about the rep
tier 1 2 and 3 distributors are out for themselves and the only thing that chages that is the rep
the benifet of the rep to me is to be kept up to date with prices trends and new items
it is not to use them as a delivery guy
hard for me to imagine getting fair pricing and more than one delivery a week unless you are doing some volume
no matter who they are it is my feeling they need to be kept honest i do that my competive shopping at rest deopt, sams and costco
the distributors either get prices in line or they dont have our business
so to sum things up factors for us
1 the rep does he work on our behalf
2 is the distributor close enough we can pick up something if we need it
3is the distributor big enough and am i big enough to get best pricing and fair delivery
good luck

im sorry i missunderstood
allen bros and stockyard are as good as anybody in the country for meats
breads the big two and highland bakery as well as the smaller crusty bread operators all wonderful
wiitcha packing does a great job for us with pork
and supreme lobster is a top line seafood house
natural juice and brian duffy were among my very first customers
lots of good and great guys out there
you have to devlop a business realtionship that works for you and them

I am fairly new to LTH but I need to call it in here. I have used many produce people over the years and now I have “Lee farm fresh produce” (847.358.1518) lee delivers and he has one other truck. I agree with the above post that it is all about the rep and the delivery driver lee is both and he does a great job.
We also use sustainable greens in the summer and Kinnikinnick farms delivers twice a week.
Jeff
Va Pensiero