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Restaurant food distributors estimate losses of $24B in 3 months

Huge losses are expected over the next 3 months in the restaurant food distribution industry (Photo: iStock).

March 23, 2020

The restaurant industry is hurting and so are its food distributors, which are expected to lose $24 billion over the next three months as the pandemic closes and limits restaurant operations across the U.S. and elsewhere, according to the International Foodservice Distributors Association.

"Right now, we have heard reports from distributors that business has declined up to 50% …" IFDA CEO Mark Allen said in a press release. "These are not businesses the size and scope of the airlines, but are family-owned businesses that have sustained wars, recessions and other challenges but who say two weeks of this is all it will take to have a significant impact on their business."

In an effort to lessen the financial impacts of COVID-19, IFDA and FMI-Food Industry Association launched a matchmaking partnership that connects foodservice distributors with excess capacity (products and transportation and warehouse capacity) to assist food retailers and wholesalers that require additional resources to fulfill needs at grocery stores, which are experiencing skyrocketing demand.

The IFDA respresents the $280 billion foodservice distribution industry and the 350,000 people it employs, who provide food to more than one million foodservice outlets in the U.S. every day.

For more insight on how COVID-19 is impacting the food truck industry click here.