Disley Food Services

Disley Food Services is a Toronto-area distributor of premium food products. The food distribution industry has seen declining margins and bankruptcies as it has been attacked from both sides: food buying has shifted away from small independents to superstores with direct purchase models, while large distributors with huge product lists have squeezed smaller players with aggressive pricing and one-stop business models.

Disley had faced dual problems where it seemed only one could be solved at a time. Profitability was not meeting expectations at the same time as staff and ownership were working very long hours, all of which was leading to turnover and dissatisfaction. The analysis identified a range of gaps in processes across sales, operations, and finance.

• Helped the company understand which customers and orders were profitable
• Coordinated implementation of revised pricing to increase profits
• Implemented non-financial performance measurements for each key department — customer service, sales, warehouse and delivery
• Implemented an order cut-off with minimal customer defections
• Coached the owner on negotiations for selected products
• Documented and trained sales best practices in a structured sales pipeline
• Documented and trained an improved, integrated process for inventory control, purchasing and invoicing
• Installed financial controls and plans, clearly linked to daily operations

• Management has a more positive outlook on the future
• Staff are working an average of 15% fewer hours
• Sales are up 5%
• Margins are up 1.5%
• Profits are up 45%
• Turnover among staff is significantly reduced
• The company was able to move into a new facility twice the size