Wings Etc. Announces Supplier-Vendor Relationship with Gordon Food Service
January 13, 2025 // Franchising.com // FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Wings Etc. Grill & Pub has announced an agreement to enter into a supplier-vendor relationship with Gordon Food Service.
Of the brand’s locations in the Midwest and South, 75 are now supplied by Gordon Food Service. The exceptions of Dexter, Missouri; Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Jackson, Missouri; Springfield, Missouri; and Topeka, Kansas, are supplied by SGC Foodservice. SGC is part of the same buying group that Gordon Food Service participates in and has agreed to the same contract that Wings Etc. signed with Gordon Food Service.
Gordon Food Service began supplying Wings Etc. on November 18, 2024. The agreement between Gordon Food Service and Wings Etc. is a three-year contract.
“With Gordon Food Service, we can ship out consistent product across the board,” said Eric Stuczynski, chief procurement and development officer and president of The Wings Etc. Foundation. “We’re using nine different distribution centers, but they all stock the same product, and that's huge for us. We can better control the pricing and better communicate the pricing to locations.”
Consistency has been another major benefit of the new relationship with Gordon Food Service. With one supplier, the brand can establish uniform recipes, standard operating procedures, chemical programs and material data safety sheets nationwide. And consistent pricing among distribution centers allows Wings Etc. to better track costs and make decisions on menu pricing.
Consolidating procurement also has the advantage of streamlining important data.
“Gordon Food Service uses ArrowStream supply chain software, which allows us to collect data from all their distribution centers and analyze it more quickly and easily than before,” Stuczynski said. “We were getting data from different companies, and the item numbers were different. Now it's consistent. We're also able to track inventory levels in all the distribution centers, as well as purchase orders that are coming in. The logistics amongst all of the distribution centers under Gordon Food Service is much better.”
Gordon Food Service allows for greater flexibility for Wings Etc. as well. “For instance, if we run out of a product in the distribution center in Shepardsville, Indiana, we can secure it from another distribution center through the Gordon Food Service network, and they can move that product around, making sure that all of our stores are well equipped,” Stuczynski said.
“Additionally, there are more than 175 GFS Marketplaces across the nation. So if a store needs to buy lettuce, or they’re out of cups, they're going to be able to go into a Marketplace near them and purchase at the contracted pricing.”
With an in-house chef and menu development department, Gordon Food Service offers expertise in menu ideation, helping further Wings Etc.’s commitment to menu items with “Big Flavor.” Wings Etc. also anticipates even better product quality with a larger number of vendor resources from Gordon Food Service. All new, comparable products introduced during the transition have been viewed, tasted and approved by Wings Etc.
“We appreciate the long-standing relationships that we’ve built with our existing suppliers,” Stuczynski said. “Jim Weaver, our founder, worked with Stanz Foodservice when he started the company in 1994. They've done a great job of helping us grow throughout the years. They really helped us build our whole procurement department early on, and they've been an integral part of who we are. All of our suppliers have been fantastic; I can't say enough about them. Our decision was based on the need to streamline the whole distribution process and make it more effective and more efficient.”
Stuczynski says that Wings Etc. worked with Gordon Food Service in the 1990s and early 2000s and has continued the conversation until now because their mission and purpose are aligned with that of Wings Etc. “Their DNA is intertwined with our DNA,” he said, “so we’re very excited to form this partnership with them.”
SOURCE Wings Etc. Grill & Pub
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