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Comment by ro_bit | Hacker News Reader

The title scared me a bit before I opened the article and realized it was talking about restaurant->consumer food delivery services. While that isn't great, I was initially thinking was that the companies that facilitate the food delivery supply chains around the world were massively consolidated (I sure hope they aren't)

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I'm pretty sure the food supply sources are massively consolidated. I don't know about the delivery part or why that would matter more than the actual food production.

A quick search will lead to quotes like "Four companies now control more than half of the market in chicken processing (Tyson, JBS, Perdue, and Sanderson), close to 70 percent in pork (Smithfield, JBS, Tyson, and Hormel), and nearly three quarters in beef (JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef)"

Margins on food staples like Chicken are very low, which suggests that consolidation is inevitable.

Supermarket margins are also very low.

I've worked in the industry for over a decade and food distributors can squeeze the manufacturers more than the other way around. That's a very silly statement if you read it with any knowledge of the space.

I certainly don't know anything about the space, but by "matters more", I was thinking about caring more about what I am eating as opposed to how it was distributed. I suppose both are important, though.

The fact is literally no one in this space cares what you're eating. They just want to make money. Doesn't matter what side of it they're on.

Then there is the whole industry of facilities management and food service at places like stadiums and airports. Also run by a few big players.

I built one of the trade promotion management (TPM) tools used in that space and had to deal with these companies daily for the last decade.

There are absolutely a bunch of acquisitions/ consolidation in that food distribution space, but there are still hundreds of different distributors just in the US. However, most volume does flow through the largest distributors.

For example, I had to build a specific feature to merge distributors after an acquisition happens in the industry, to make the product work properly because that's such a common occurrence. Had the same type of feature for manufacturers (my customers) also, because they kept buying each other.

Thanks for your response! I love this forum for how many experts chime in in the comments section

The food service industry certainly has some major global players too. Names like Bidfood, Sysco, PFG, etc. In some cases, these same companies cater/supply everything from prison, school, and hospital kitchens through to fancy airline lounges and high-end restaurants!

> Bidfood

Wow - I didn't realise bidfood.co.nz was a US chain bidfood.com (Bidcorp).

Food markets keep closing down.

The consolidation of restaurant suppliers really affects the quality of taste a restaurant can get. My ex was a cook and the worse restaurants wouldn't even make their own sauces like Hollandaise - she would tell me what brand it was (often a restaurant supplier brand). It is noticeable when the chef has hand-selected their supplies e.g. tomatoes that have flavour.

The root cause is that consumers tend to optimise for cost.

Quality is harder to give a number to.

We're not completely screwed yet - with time/effort (and moderate means) you can find some amazing places at normal prices.

And there are people willing-enough to spend time/effort plus wealthy-enough but that market is much smaller (more exclusive). And unfortunately there are a lot of expensive places that don't optimise for food quality (because people desire other things for their money e.g. obsequiousness, rent-a-vibe cuisine, gastroflex, mealfluencing, yadayada). Aside: Roget's gets spanked by AI when looking for modern words.

> "Wow - I didn't realise bidfood.co.nz was a US chain bidfood.com (Bidcorp)."

It's actually a South African/UK headquartered group, I believe. But operates in many countries around the world.

As somebody that built a TPM product for the industry, I hate prison and school bids. It's so fucking dystopian.

Can you tell us more?

It's lowest bidder, shit tier quality food that is usually a different SKU than they sell retail / food service (because people wouldn't buy it for themselves).

The people making the decision to buy this slop aren't the ones who have to eat it.

restaurant food distribution is event more consolidated. For example in the Midwest there is really only 1-2 companies you can get your seafood from. It has its pros and cons. Source: I work in restaurants and I also supply these distributors

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