Maintaining Supply Chain Resilience With Packaging, Procurement And People

Trisha McRoberts, Group VP Strategic Procurement, Golden State Foods

It has happened to most of us over the past few years. You get a hankering for that one delicious food that only a particular restaurant makes just the way you like (for me it’s a seasonal latte). Without hesitation, you place your online order, as your taste buds eagerly anticipate the moment they’ll soak in the abundant flavors and textures of the desired menu item. You await your delivery order or head out to pick it up, then it happens…

The food you want is not available. Supply chain issues, the restaurant explains, as your dreams of satisfying that craving quickly fade. Though you are not alone in experiencing this disappointment, my Golden State Foods (GSF) colleagues and I think consumers should not have to go without their favorite fast foods.

At GSF, we believe in the possibility of a more resilient supply chain. It starts now, and it starts with us, the reliable and capable supply chain professionals who will make sure that seasonal lattes do not go MIA again.

Throughout our 75-year history, GSF has endured countless disruptions and challenges, with the last three years seeing unprecedented bottlenecks and tensions for the international supply chain. Despite this, GSF continues to thrive as one of the world’s largest diversified suppliers to the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) and retail industries. Today, we rely on the same foundation we built in 1947: make the best products and provide the best service.

With GSF’s people-first culture, our work centers around our Creed and Values: a way of living, a way of doing business, and a reflection of the positive change we would like to see in the world. It is the golden rule halo that extends far and wide to GSF’s global ecosystem of 6,000+ associates, their families, customers, suppliers, vendors, and the consumers who crave the satisfying menu items that our supply chain aims to provide without interruption.

Packaging: Implementing Innovative Solutions

Within our centralized strategic sourcing group, we pursue supply solutions across our family of companies that span multiple business units that operate in more than 50 counties around the world. This means comprehensively identifying all single and sole-sourced input materials and determining alternative options to proactively mitigate supply chain difficulties. Additionally, our teams continuously design and implement sourcing strategiesfor packaging, food ingredients, and indirect spend categories within GSF’s North American food manufacturing divisions.

"It is people who team up and build steadfast partnerships among GSF, its suppliers, and its valued customers. In overcoming today’s supply chain challenges together, these people-driven partnerships enable consumers to enjoy their favorite QSR menu items every day"

An example of this teamwork-centered approach, GSF successfully launched an innovative solution for condiment and sauce portion-dispensing in partnership with Sealed Air and one of our long-time iconic QSR customers. Previously, our customers used rigid containers, which created operational challenges, higher packaging costs, back-of-house storage obstacles, and shipping inefficiencies. In supporting the customer’s continuous improvement priorities, GSF implemented CRYOVAC® brand FlexPrep® portion-dispensing pouches, which are designed for recycling and approved for labeling as RIC#4, polyethylene (PE).

Compared to a paperboard canister format, the new packaging innovation focuses on our customers and the industry’s carbon footprint, resulting in an overall decrease in greenhouse gas emissions over the product’s lifespan. With our commitment to sustainability and quality service, GSF effectively collaborated on a solution that boasts an 85 percent reduction in package weight, improves product yields by up to 10 percent; enables more product per pallet shipped, and requires fewer emissions-producing trucks on the road to supply our customer’s restaurants with 100 million pounds of liquid product annually.

Procurement: Embracing Tactical Planning

With the current priority of alleviating global supply chain challenges for all end-to-end (E2E) stakeholders, we have worked diligently to apply our key learnings from the first two years of the pandemic. All GSF teams across the globe have leveraged long-standing relationships, proactively managed disruptions, and qualified a greater depth of alternative suppliers, which have collectively helped our businesses overcome every type of interruption. To minimize our customers’ exposure and assure supply to them, our multi-pronged approach includes mapping out single and sole-source suppliers, while prioritizing product and package development initiatives.

Our top goals right now in the supply chain continuous improvement area are assuring supply; optimizing cost and transportation requirements; managing cash and inventory; providing best-in-class customer service; driving sustainability; and pursuing innovation. We also have teams solely focused on transforming GSF’s digital roadmap to support essential processes, such as Material Requirements Planning (MRP), as well as sales and operations planning efforts.

People: Recognizing Our Strongest Links

The strongest links in supply chains are the dedicated, knowledgeable, innovative people who work tirelessly to solve today’s complex challenges. We recognize and celebrate the teamwork, tenacity, and flexibility of our award-winning GSF supply chain professionals. From sourcing and packaging to product innovation and customer support, our operational leaders have earned recent industry recognition from the Association for Dressings and Sauces (Packaging of the Year Award), Food Logistics (Rock Stars of the Supply Chain), Food Processing (R&D Teams of the Year), and Jack in the Box (Supplier Innovation Award).

Ultimately, it is people who team up and build steadfast partnerships among GSF, its suppliers, and its valued customers. In overcoming today’s supply chain challenges together, these people-driven partnerships enable consumers to enjoy their favorite QSR menu items every day. So, when you’re craving that one specific sandwich, beverage, or sauce from your local drive-thru, you can count on GSF to assure the supply that satisfies your appetite every time.

About Golden State Foods

One of the largest diversified suppliers to the foodservice industry, Golden State Foods (GSF) is a multi-national company that’s values-based with proven performance in superior quality, innovation, and customer service. Established in 1947, GSF currently services 200+ leading brands (125,000+ restaurants/ stores) from its 50 locations on five continents. With its global headquarters in Irvine, California, GSF also operates the national non-profit, the GSF Foundation.

Trisha McRoberts, Group Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and a GSF associate since 2021, designs and implements strategic sourcing strategies for packaging, food ingredients, and indirect spend categories across GSF’s food manufacturing divisions. Previously, as Head of Americas Procurement with the global spice, herb, and flavor manufacturer, McCormick and Company, Inc., she led end-to-end supply chain solutions, consultant engagements, and the development of capabilities focused on margin-enhancing, strategic growth. In 2022, the Packaging Digest podcast, “Packaging Possibilities” featured Trisha’s supply chain thought leadership in an interview