For most businesses, growth has traditionally meant more. More customers. More sales. More products. More locations. More people.
But in today’s foodservice environment, we think there is another kind of growth that deserves just as much attention: getting more from what you already have.
The pressures facing our industry are well documented. The National Restaurant Association estimates that the total expenses of an average restaurant have increased 36% since 2019. Food, labor, utilities, insurance, occupancy, and other operating costs have all climbed, putting continued pressure on margins.
You cannot always sell your way out of that kind of cost increase. And there is a limit to how much of it can simply be passed along to customers. That makes productivity increasingly important.
For an operator, that might mean looking more closely at the menu. Which items are truly contributing to profitability? Which ingredients can serve multiple purposes? Where can waste be reduced? Could a value-added product save meaningful preparation time without sacrificing quality?
For distributors, the questions may be different, but the principle is the same. Can we make better use of the information we already have? Can technology streamline an inefficient process? Can we improve inventory management, routing, purchasing, or communication? Can we give our people better tools so they can spend more of their time serving customers and less time completing repetitive tasks?
Technology will certainly be part of the answer. The National Restaurant Association reports that operators are increasingly looking toward digital ordering, automation, and data analytics to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and strengthen long-term competitiveness.
But doing more with what you have is not simply about adding technology.
It is also about people. It is about recognizing where your team is strongest, giving them the resources to succeed, and continually looking for better ways to work. It is about understanding your customers well enough to identify opportunities they may not see themselves. And sometimes it is about simplifying rather than adding.
That philosophy is particularly relevant to what we are building at Legacy Food Group. Each of our operating companies has its own history, market knowledge, customer relationships, and strengths. Our opportunity is not to change what makes those businesses successful. It is to find ways to build upon those strengths by sharing resources, ideas, capabilities, and best practices across the organization.
Growth will always require us to look ahead and pursue new opportunities. But we should also remember to look at what is already in front of us.
Sometimes the next great opportunity is not about having more.
It is about doing more with what you have.
Steve Push
Executive Chairman
Legacy Food Group