CASE STUDIES
1: Getting Products On and Off the Shelf
Distributing high-quality food products means getting products on the shelf, but more importantly it means getting them off the shelf too…into the hands (and mouths) of consumers. Since 1983, we have been perfecting business and marketing systems that go beyond distributing and focus on helping retailers and foodservice providers understand how to better sell products not just on price, but taste and experience as well. Paris Brothers worked together with a small, Midwest cheese-maker that had developed an artisan product with an amazing taste profile, but was destined to go unnoticed without a name, a brand or a outlet to sell. Implementing the full-force of a mobile culinary and marketing team, Paris Brothers introduced the product through a series of chef demonstrations, cross-sell samplings and tastings that showed not only the product, but great ways to multi-purpose it in classic recipes. The effort not only sold cheese, it launched the brand into a retail staple item and an ongoing volume product for retail partners.
2: Valued Freight, Valued Service
Paris Brothers and sister company GFE worked with a large electronics retailer that was experiencing large charge backs from their customers, because their carriers were missing appointment windows or delivering freight short and damaged. We put their freight into a customized security program, using a linehaul solution that capitalized on security and speed of transportation. We also used a customized tracking and tracing system along with making single appointments for every shipment vs. trapping freight and trying to dump large quantities on the consignee. Result: our customer saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in chargebacks and claims.
3: Innovative Warehousing
A national food distribution program needed to find efficiency. Getting periodic bulk orders, picked, packed on skids and to the right destination was becoming harder as order volume increased. To invent the ideal warehouse and distribution system on their own was an expensive endeavor. Experts were needed. Paris Brothers developed full online order processing system to allow timely receipt of orders, accurate order picking and delivery to their entire West Coast operation within a 72-hour cycle. The pilot program was so successful, that the program became the basis for system-wide SOP’s and a performance measurement for all future contracts.
4: Specialists in Difficult Freight
Paris Brothers and GFE worked with a large furniture distributor. They were having problems with home deliveries and receiving invoices from their carriers that were not uniform, that is, they had no idea what they were going to get charged. We developed a creative pricing proposal that would give the customer a way to know what they were going to be charged on every shipment before it shipped, so they would know what to charge their customer and quote over the phone before the order was even purchased. We also established a linehaul and home delivery network to get this highly fragile product into homes with minimal damage and a high degree of customer service. A web tracking program was also developed, using an ID number or PO helped reduce customer call and minimize customer service overhead.
