Restaurants order from food distributors in four basic ways: through the distributor's online portal or app (Sysco, US Foods, and Performance Food Group all have one), through a sales rep by phone or text, by email to a customer service desk, or — for the small local vendors — however that vendor happens to work, which is often a text message before a cutoff time. Most restaurants use several of these at once, because most restaurants buy from four to ten vendors: a broadline distributor for the bulk of it, plus produce, protein, bread, dairy, and beverage specialists.
This guide explains how the whole system works — accounts, order guides, cutoffs, pricing, delivery, credits — for operators setting up purchasing for the first time, and for anyone who inherited "how we've always ordered" and wants to understand it before improving it.
The vendor lineup
Broadliners (Sysco, US Foods, PFG, Gordon Food Service, plus strong regional houses) carry tens of thousands of SKUs — dry goods, frozen, chemicals, disposables, and a passable version of almost everything. One truck, one invoice, one account rep. Most independents put 40–70% of their purchasing through one broadliner.
Specialty vendors beat the broadliner where it matters to your menu: a produce house that delivers six days a week, a protein supplier that cuts to spec, a local bakery, a coffee roaster, a linen service. Each is another account, another cutoff, another ordering channel, another invoice.
Cash-and-carry (Restaurant Depot, wholesale clubs) is the escape valve: no delivery, no minimum, same-day, and someone has to physically go.
The structural fact that shapes everything downstream: every vendor is its own workflow. Nothing about a Sysco account helps you order from the produce house.
Getting set up with a distributor
Opening an account with a broadliner is straightforward: they'll want business details, a resale/tax certificate, and either COD terms at first or a credit application for net terms (net 7/14/30 are all common in the industry). You'll be assigned a sales rep — the industry still calls them DSRs (distributor sales reps) — who sets up your initial : the subset of the catalog you actually buy, with your negotiated prices.