"We had some big hits in 2003. I've been here since July 1999, when we did $44 million and now we're at $133 million. If you would take out industry acquisitions, we would be the fastest growing independent foodservice distributor in the United States for several years running," Goneau said.
Zanios' rang up sales of $100 million in 2002 compared with $83.5 million in 2001. The 45-year-old family-owned business added new system business last year, including Subway and Burger King accounts.
In addition, the company finished adding an 80,000-sq.-ft. expansion to its warehouse that is dedicated to the systems business.
Zanios, a member of UniPro Foodservice Inc. and Pro*Act, also introduced a voice-picking system, the IDS Power Voice, which creates an interface from its previously-installed IDS Power Warehouse system to the Vocollect Talkman system for forklift operators. Goneau said this voice-picking system has boosted picking accuracy, efficiency and service and paid for itself within 12 months.
Goneau supports industry predictions of continued growth in foodservice this year and said the broadliner would focus on boosting street sales in 2004.
More from ID Access’ interview with John Goneau of Zanios Foods will appear in the upcoming Jan. 16 edition of ID
Report
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.