Despite the alleviation of dining restrictions in many states, the United States’ largest foodservice distributors had mixed sales results during the first quarter of 2021.
Sysco suffered the biggest losses, while many of US Foods’ numbers – such as case volume – stayed flat or moved ahead.
US Foods realized a “meaningful recovery” in terms of case volume with its restaurant and hospitality customers in the first quarter of 2021, chairman and CEO Pietro Satriano said in a press release.
“This momentum has continued into the early part of the second quarter as restrictions on in-person dining continue to be lifted in markets across the country,” Satriano said.
The distributor’s net sales dropped only 0.7 percent to USD 6.3 billion (EUR 5.2 billion).
“Both case volume and met sales improved throughout the quarter as COVID-19 vaccine distributions became more widespread and restrictions on in-person dining eased in various markets,” US Foods said in a press release.
US Foods’ total case volume decreased only 0.9 percent from the prior year, while total organic case volume decreased 6.4 percent. Plus, the distributor’s independent restaurant case volume hiked 8.1 percent in the quarter.
While US Foods posted some favorable numbers, its gross profit dropped by USD 63 million (EUR 52 million), or 5.9 percent, from the prior year, “primarily as a result of the negative impact of COVID-19 on case volume, an unfavorable year-over-year LIFO adjustment, changes to our customer mix and higher logistics costs,” US Foods said.
Meanwhile, Sysco’s global sales for the fiscal third quarter dropped 13.7 percent to USD 11.8 billion (EUR 9.8 billion) and gross profit decreased 17.2 percent.
“The decline in gross profit for the third quarter was primarily driven by lower volumes due to COVID-19,” the distributor said in a press release.
Sysco’s U.S. sales dropped 12.8 percent to USD 8.4 billion (EUR 7 billion) while gross profit declined 13.7 percent. The distributor’s U.S. product cost inflation rose 3.5 percent.
“A robust business recovery is now upon us. We are seeing consistently improving demand trends from our customers in the U.S. and we are ready to execute in International as markets reopen,” Sysco President and CEO Kevin Hourican said. “Sysco has made substantial progress against our transformation agenda, as we simultaneously invest in growth and transform our company to better serve our customers.”
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