The Economic Impact of the U.S. Foodservice Distribution Industry

The International Foodservice Distributors Association engaged FTI Consulting to assess the foodservice distribution industry in the U.S. in 2017.

The International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) sought to understand the scope and influence of the foodservice distribution industry to educate officials on how legislation and regulations affect them; to illustrate their community impact to trading partners and allied industries; and to raise awareness among the public about what their industry does.

We collected data from a wide range of sources, including press releases, previous IFDA research, third-party published studies, company reports, trade publication articles and third-party data from government sources, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We also directly surveyed IFDA members and reviewed IFDA membership records. Once the data was collected, we conducted economic modeling, using the IMPLAN model to estimate total economic impact, tax revenues and national and state impacts.

The study found that the foodservice distribution industry generates $280 billion in annual direct sales and supports $51 billion in output across the broader economy, bringing the total economic impact to $331 billion.