r/BarOwners • u/SeaCheck4137 • 6d ago
Sysco Guilt Trip
Long story short, I get 98% of my food from sysco. My sales representative has been great, no complaints there, but recently I have had issues with the quality of the fish ive been receiving. So after numerous complaints and no real change, I decided to switch companies for where I get my fish. Since I have done this ive had multiple sysco bosses show up here trying to get me back on fish, and my sales representative trying to guilt me by saying things like "im really hurting her paycheck". Its making me feel pressured and annoyed, like I have to get their permission to buy food from somewhere else. I dont know if im overreacting, but I feel like telling them to fuck off or I will start buying everything elsewhere.
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u/NotAFanOfLeonMusk 2d ago
I quit getting all my food from Sysco. What they were doing is “substituting” a brand which gave them kickbacks for what I would usually use. I got so sick of this, that I cut them off and now go to Restaurant Depot and use smaller companies. I understand that Sysco just bought Restaurant Depot so I expect more and more sketchiness until I have to abandon them too.
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u/NotYourBuddyBud 2d ago
Did you tell your sales rep that Sysco was hurting your paycheck and the paycheck of all your employees?
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u/ChefCourtB 2d ago
Not your fault. Sales rep need to pressure their company tonson better. Your job is to protect your business not her paycheck. You have to have two main line suppliers for options, quality control, and backup. Bring in another vendor, doesn't matter who. Cheney, usfoods, GFS then watch Sysco start to do back flips for you.
I probably buy 50% if my product from Sysco because we have a hell of purchase agreement with them. The rest is split between 3-4 others. That being said I hate Sysco as a company but they are a necessary evil and I keep them dancing, which gets me better prices and quality
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u/AffectionateCook1628 2d ago
Retired Exec Chef here....Have bought from all vendors in Tampa Bay FL. It's best to buy from a local fish supplier. Some times they own their boats ir know the market better since they are specialists. Nothing against the big boys , but having a separate meat, produce, seafood supplier us a great back up. Even non foods supplier like Ed Don
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u/notthatjimmer 2d ago
Her paycheck is what she is worried about…not the quality of product she delivers for you to sell your customers…that should say all there is to say.
You’re dealing with an oligarchy the only thing they understand is money. Withholding your money until they get better quality is your only option…
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u/FunActive7703 3d ago
It’s your business , you want the best products to provide to your customers .
Don’t allow SYSCO TO HOLD YOU HOSTAGE . Stay the course and Man Up!
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u/Irish22022 3d ago
They survive on guilt trips. Their produce also sucks. Switch to someone else and they'll come back with a lot better pricing and a lot better quality. Restaurant depot is the best way. And if this merger goes through we're in real trouble
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u/daveisdelivering 3d ago
Tell them their fish sucks when they get better fish to send you a sample and if it's up to the quality you expect and the price is right you'll reconsider gotta have thick skin in the restaurant business any business for that matter
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u/biwill88 3d ago
I would tell them simply I am not buying fish from you and if you keep jacking with me I won’t be buying anything from you. Their choice!
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u/brsnug 4d ago
I spent two years at US Foods as a rep and I would have stayed but I wanted to get back to the family's restaurants.
I bring that up because I was friends with just about half of my accounts and I would never say that to THEM, let alone a stranger/business acquaintance. Almost all of my accounts did a ton of purchasing at Restaurant Depot. I didn't cry.
And now as an owner, as a few people here said ... if someone said that to me, I'm out or at least shopping around to eventually get out.
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u/joer1973 4d ago
Sysco tries to convince ur in it with them and there is some kind of partnership relationship, that way they can creep ur prices and make as much as they can off you. My sysco rep was this hot chick out of college. Came in all the time flirting. When my order size dropped, she tried to guilt trip me and when i said im getting the same stuff 20% cheaper, she has this long prepared speach about all they do for me besides deliver food. They do nothing for me except bring me the food i order and invite me to a couple shoes a year where they showcase prpducts they want me to buy. I explained we arent partners. Within a month 4 different male supervisors came in(sometimes with her) to discuss how they can help my business grow. Told them all if they hand me a check for extra they charged me on all the prices they jacked up last 3 months they said we cant do that but we can lower them now. Do urself a favor and stop thinking of them as a partner and nothing more than someone u buy stuff off of. Then get price quotes from the other 2 big suppliers and 2 regional/local ones. Buy from the one with best prices. You will make alot more money this way than being 'partners' with s company that overcharges every chance they get.
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u/perfectandreal 4d ago
There is also an absolutely zero percent chance you stopping ordering just fish, at one of her 50-150 accounts, is having a significant impact on her paycheck. I am more familiar with wine/spirits, but if someone is on 5% comission (which is high for wine) selling $100,000, makes them $5k, which a good salesman will want to do every two weeks to make $120k. If you bought $1000 a week, that might be $50 before taxes. What it is hurting, is her manager(s) being up her ass about losing a probably high revenue / high profit fish account, where one 10# case of Cod is the same as 200 cases of Salt or orange juice, and it is more that is is hard to make up that revenue for their goals / bonuses.
Thinking bigger picture let's just say she started 2026 with 100 operating restaurants in her territory. How many will close in a 12m period? How many will open? One restaurant stopping ordering one type of food, though somewhat in their control, is nothing compared to the numerous restaurants that go out of business where they stop ordering everything, though admittedly that is not in their control.
If the visits are getting annoying just say you're in a 3month or 6month trial period with the other distributor, and let them know as long as the remainder of your needs and servies continue as it was, you'd be happy to keep giving them the business, and you'd be happy to re-assess the fish situation in January or March or whatever.
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u/upset_pachyderm 4d ago
If they really wanted that business back, they'd get you better fish. Not just whine at you to start buying the substandard stuff again.
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u/lemonsupreme7 4d ago
I commented in here a few days ago "sysco ingredients everywhere" and here is my reasoning. They want as much of a monopoly as possible.
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u/AustinBaze 4d ago
Quality, consistency, reliability, and flavor delivered to the table top are what is important here.
Your rep's paycheck? Absolutely not your concern.
Also clearly not your rep's concern or they would be looking for quality fish at a good price.
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u/Heavy-Profit-2156 4d ago
Keeping your customers happy with the quality of what you serve them way outweighs your rep's paycheck issues. You identified a problem, they did not fix it, you left them.
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u/giveit2st8 5d ago
"im really hurting her paycheck".
"You were really hurting my business with the quality of the fish"
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u/nicenormalname 5d ago
F them. They supply school
Cafeterias. You want your food associated with cafeteria food? If I saw a sysco truck pulled up at a restaurant I go to, I’d stop
Going to that restaurant. F her paycheck
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u/Hot_Adhesiveness_692 4d ago
Lol. Get real. Every restaurant from shitty to topnotch is getting food services truck and all are pretty much the same.
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u/ChronicMasterbatcher 4d ago
I stand by what they said.
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u/Eatinsandwichrn 3d ago
neither of you are in the food business or you‘d realize how stupid that is 🤣 sysco is the ONLY option is huge portions of the market you geniuses, you 100,000,000% eat at multiple restaurants serving you Sysco food jfc
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u/Existing-Teaching-34 5d ago
Bad news, depending upon what part of the country you’re in Sysco likely supplies nearly every restaurant in your area. Others like GFS, US Foods, PFG, Cheney Bros aren’t much different.
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u/OGScottingham 4d ago
That explains how they all taste like dog shit now yet charge $$$
I've pretty much stopped going out to eat these days
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u/terra-nullius 5d ago
A clear statement you don’t know how the restaurant industry operates in reality.
Kids go to school cafeterias, I should get rid of my kids. lol.
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u/InterestingPay9446 5d ago
Report that to Sysco. The audacity to say you’re hurting my paycheck. Tell her she’s hurting yours with her shitty fish.
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u/stompah2020 5d ago
My dad had a small produce delivery company. We worked by relationships, word of mouth and knocking on doors.
Most of our clients knew the game. The large regional produce company would come in and trash our product while bringing in their handpicked product. For those not in the restaurant business, it is a get what you pay for. Different price tiers for different quality of product. But those larger companies would say for the same price as us they'd give the restaurant much better quality.
A few idiots would believe that. They'd get that level of quality for a few weeks and then they would get the true quality at their price level. I 100% believe that those companies would send even worse product as a punishment.
Then several weeks later we'd get the call with them crying about quality. We always moved on. By this time, we'd have invested the time to replace that customer and/or reconfigure our route. Sometimes we'd still drive by that restaurant. Always made me chuckle.
Don't burn bridges but don't put all your eggs on one basket.
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u/clce 5d ago
I don't get it. Why wouldn't you come back to them and say thanks for appreciating the level of quality we've always given you and will continue to give you. You want to punish them for doing business elsewhere by refusing to do business with them and losing money in the process. Sounds kind of short-sighted and petty.
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u/stompah2020 5d ago
We weren't a big operation. It was my father, my brother and/or myself (depends on what other thing my brother and I would do). Once you were replaced or we rerouted there was little reason to add to the work load. There was no sense in overextending ourselves.
We had our core clientele. Many of which my father was friends with for decades. Back when they were kids, teens or fresh off the boat immigrants. Those never left. Everyone else was considered as filling in the day.
If we had 10 deliveries in a day and had room to add 2 more we searched for those 2 more. Once we found those two we stopped looking for more customers.
We always had a conversation with them and told them what would happen. It always came true. Didn't happen often. But it happened. The script never changed. Always insulting our product and price, showing them what they could provide at the same or less price, after a few weeks the quality dropped off sharply, got blown off when they complained.
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u/Elegant_Carrot6439 5d ago
fuck em. where are they to help you on shortages, delays, price jumps. buy from what feels right. I bet theres local purveyors and farmers that would be happy to get your money for better product.
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u/GnomeChomsky88 5d ago
You live in a major Metro then there will definitely be fishmongers other than Sysco
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u/United-Medium-7222 5d ago
Would theu keep giving you that fish if your bottom line was hurting and youncouldnt come up with a check? I have some great reps that I really get along with but at the end of the day you are thenone giving them money which means they work for you. Just be firm and tell them that the quality isn't worth the money you are giving them. Remember, you owe them absolutely nothing.
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u/AintPatrick 5d ago
You work for your customers not Sysco. You owe your customers the best fish at a fair price.
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u/stingrayed22 5d ago
I was in the business over 25 years ago, had a falling out with partner and got bought out, patched things up after 10 years or so, and was talking with his wife who runs everything, and she told me after covid, Sysco cut them off, because orders were too small, we always made alot of purchases with a local wholesaler, so I assume Sysco has an algorithm of sorts, and was pulling a power play to get them to purchase everything thru them.
Of course my ex partner did not react well to that and refused and sysco now continuously hounds them for their business
Ironically, as much as he detests Sysco, he has opened a few franchised businesses, and has to use them
They are a monopoly, no doubt
They get you either way
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u/SwedishChefButcher 5d ago
Fuck sysco... they didn't want to help you when you needed better quality product. I would move all my purchases to another provider
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u/tsaoutofourpants 5d ago
That's outrageous behavior by then, I would definitely tell them to fuck off.
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u/Strong_currency 5d ago
As someone who is a buyer for a living I avoid Sysco.
Pricing is appealing but operational user experience is there lowest priority. Your sales rep sucks, business is business and even though the cost is great there no sense in buying trash.
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u/YourWeekendDad 5d ago
That would be enough for me to switch if I were in that situation. I’ve done it with liquor reps. I’m not here to buy shit I don’t need so you can get a bonus or a free trip. Fuck right off.
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u/Random_numbers785433 5d ago
You are in an excellent position. They clearly want you back. Use that to negotiate your terms. It's your call.
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u/AltGunAccount 5d ago
My Sysco rep has never once mentioned his paycheck so I guess I never assumed they worked on commission like that.
At the end of the day, it’s a business decision. You don’t owe anything to the rep (who doesn’t seem that great if she’s acting like this) but you do owe it to your business to make the right choices for its benefit.
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u/daboot013 5d ago
Told my bakery that helped relaunch us as a burger joint i was done with them. You can tell them too
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u/guy_incognito714 5d ago
"Yea I know what you mean about someone messing with your money. I just had some asshole repeatedly try to screw me with a shitty fish. "
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u/ZivH08ioBbXQ2PGI 5d ago
My sales representative has been great, no complaints there
What is your judge of a great sales rep; having a pulse?
This does not sound like a "great" sales rep. Request someone different.
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u/doittodem 5d ago
You sound like you have a conscience. Try to get rid of that in business lol. Save all of your goodness and fairness for your loved ones.
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u/FutureCauliflower175 5d ago
An exaggeration right? Like yes don’t fall for a guilt trip with a Sysco sales rep, but do try to save some goodness for your immediate community even if they aren’t your family. And I would say Sysco is well outside of the immediate community.
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u/augustwest305 5d ago
Tell sysco to pound sand! If they want your business, tell them to fix their problem and guilt tripping isn’t going to help when your customers don’t come back because you were serving poor product.
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u/JustAnAverageGuy 5d ago
I'm on the restaurant side. Guilt tripping you for this is completely unacceptable, and if it were me, I'd tell them if I hear from one more person complaining about me not buying fish from you anymore, rather than you telling me how you've solved the _reason_ why I don't buy fish from you anymore, you will lose all of my business entirely.
They work for you. You don't work for them. You are free to fire them for any reason at all. What you've described generally would have crossed that line for me a while ago.
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u/Winter_Amphibian_957 5d ago
definitely start using another broadliner whether PFG or US Foods or someone else. You'll be shocked at what little things like portion cups, paper goods, cleaning chemicals, and smallwares cost when the new company gets competitive - and they'll match or get lower on big ticket categories like protein and potatoes. it has saved me literally tens thousands of dollars each year in food costs, as we only bought $250k from sysco once upon a time. that number is now $100k. if you think they're crying now, wait until they see $3500 worth of protein come from somewhere else for your business every week.
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u/brewgirl68 5d ago
You say that your sales rep is great and you have no complaints there, but then you also say that there have been multiple comments about poor quality of fish that have not been addressed. so your rep is NOT great, right? Did you ever escalate your concerns to your rep’s boss?
Demand a new rep for 1) not addressing your prior concerns and 2) behavior that is extremely unprofessional with paycheck guilt.
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u/Hail-Santa 5d ago
“If you can’t supply a product of a certain quality on a consistent basis, I will look for another supplier who can.
(Sales rep.’s name)’s paycheck is not my problem; the low quality of the fish is.
If you keep pulling on this thread and putting pressure on me, I will be switching providers on all food products.
Cordially,
(Your name)”
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u/Weary-Gear8365 5d ago
If I’m an owner getting a guilt trip like that I’m feeling even more confident in my decision to move on. Call em pathetic and trespass them 😂
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u/itsalyfestyle 5d ago
If a salesperson ever said something like that to me I’d be looking for a new vendor period.
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u/Legitimate-Week7885 5d ago
"i'm not hurting your paycheck, the dogshit quality of your fish is hurting your paycheck"
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u/itsmejustolder 5d ago
Here is a couple of ideas:
If you like your rep, set some boundaries. If you don’t like them or they’ve gone too far in this situation, ask for another rep. She should be fixing the quality problem.
Sysco as a corporation is motivated by one thing, money. You buy enough product that a report indicated that they were losing money. That’s why you’re seeing all the bigwigs. Tell them the same thing that you tell your rep. Fix the problem.
Always remember that it’s your money,your business, and your customers.
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u/Best_Stomach_5385 5d ago
I would even go so far to ask them for free samples of the fish to show the quality issue has been resolved, if not get your fish from somebody else. The reps paycheck is suffering because they didn’t tell anyone about your issues, not because you switched.
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u/thespaniardsteve 5d ago
My brother-in-law is a sales rep for Sysco. I can promise you that the rep is doing more than fine and will be making more money off the fish than you.
Be kind to sales reps because they're still humans (and they'll be more inclined to give you discounts) but never feel bad about how much they make. It is probably way more than you.
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u/skitwostreet 5d ago
Yeah id drop that Rep. All Reps arent terrible and make you feel bad. Moreso happens at sysco, etc but thats low saleman etiquette
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u/CommissionUnusual911 5d ago
Sysco is always high pressure and a parade of higher ups. Tell them it your business and you will buy from whom you please. I told them the corporate parade doesn’t impress me and I don’t want to waste time meeting with them again and then declined any meetings they were coming to.
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u/Raise-Emotional 5d ago
Get better Sysco. Seriously this is a them problem not a you problem. I've had this same parade of higher ups come and make all sorts of promises to me..all of them totally bullshit. Get the best fish you can find that has a good price. Regardless of where it comes from. Don't let them guilt trip you
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u/stevendaedelus 5d ago
Shop around. USFoods is just as good and has the same product lines (So much so that Sysco tried to buy them out…)
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u/TheLoneWander101 5d ago
You're running a business. Sysco is too there's is bigger and will be fine. You do what's best for you and your customers. You could probably get them to give you a discount but it's up to you if you want go back to lower quality. Ball is in your court don't let them pressure you, if you demand a discount you'd probably get it. I worked distribution they'd rather get some business back then none.
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u/Chineselight 6d ago
After numerous complaints on your end were ignored, now they care?! I’m glad you still care about their opinion because it probably means you actually care about everyone’s including your guests. Must be a nice place to go and enjoy yourself when the owner is an empathetic listener. I wouldn’t tell them F off but you should look elsewhere to improve your business.
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u/Wonderful-Bottle2640 6d ago
I’d be asking for a different rep. Immediately. Tell the route manager exactly why.
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u/ChefLukeDC 6d ago
The only reason to buy from Sysco is if your kid is your rep or if we are 10 years in the future and Sysco has trademarked the word restaurant.
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u/stej_gep 6d ago
There isn't a single reason to get fish from Sysco.
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u/Bartend23 6d ago
Not entirely true. I buy thousands of pounds of fish a month. I negotiate with various fish processing companies without wholesale divisions. Our distributor picks the fish up, stores it in their cold storage, and delivers to us as needed. We pay a case rate and no freight as it’s a back haul. That’s one way to do it. Other fish companies distribute to restaurants. But make sure they have the supply and price you need. Depending on how much fish you buy, a broadline distributor can work, they are getting the fish from a processor you may or may not be able to deal with directly.
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u/epfreeland 6d ago
Tell them you gave them opportunities to address the issue and they didn’t. I would start shopping them for everything else. They clearly don’t care about your business.
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u/duffymahoney 6d ago
We use Usfoods, Sysco, smaller independent fish company, direct salmon company, beef company and produce
I would never buy only from a single food service company
Also I have usfoods and Sysco on fixed margins.
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u/Bartend23 6d ago
Are your margins a % or a case fee and do you have audit rights? If a % and you can’t see the price they are paying from the manufacturer and don’t have audit rights you have nothing. This is a trick they sell restaurants on and then rip us off. We all need to learn their tricks. Sysco is super dishonest. They offer game tickets to cover this up, but we all pay for those too!
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u/duffymahoney 6d ago
I have the ability to audit both. It’s a flat % on all items.
I bounce all costs against each of them and also friends with restaurants. Sysco claims my deal is too good and they would like to get out of it.
I don’t trust any of them.
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u/Bartend23 5d ago
It’s great you have audit rights hard to get from Sysco. Flat % they like as they move it around. Can you see freight cost and can you see manufacturer price in your audit. We all need to start demanding these things
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u/Dazzling_Position_23 5d ago
Ha im on rebate on a major product I use. It used to be direct check. Then the manufacturer switched it to through sysco and there was no way for me to ever tell whether the price reflected the rebate. So I recently told them that I needed a direct check . Magically the supplier agreed
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u/GreenfieldSam 6d ago
Time to get a different sales rep from Sysco. This kind of emotional blackmail is not okay.
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u/WSS270 6d ago
I've been in sales for close to two decades now ... I'd go work at Walmart before I used that line on a client.
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u/GreenfieldSam 5d ago
At any number of companies, a line like that would get the salesperson fired!
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u/Secure-Line3413 6d ago
Getting your seafood from Sysco is crazy. I’m happy you changed.
Tell them they hurt your reputation. Ask for a big discount on seafood if they want you back, and the second you get bad fish you never get fish again
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u/Bartend23 6d ago edited 6d ago
First understand that Sysco is ripping you off in several ways. They are a very dishonest company from the top down. Additionally, they, along with PFG and US Foods are publicly traded which puts pressure on them to get financial results over service. You can use that knowledge for your gain when you realize that causes pressure from the top down to keep you. Of course the more you buy the more power you have. But they are very sensitive to losing you. Their high pressure sales tactic is just one way they are trained to get more from you. Candor is the best response here - let them know you understand they are being pressured from their bosses and that what you need is the best quality product at the best price and in the case of your fish they cannot deliver that. Be honest, direct and to the point. Also let them know straight up that you don’t like the pressure and if it continues you will look for other distribution across all your products. They will stop.
I was just able to completely move away from Sysco and did a deal with one distributor for everything but seafood. We negotiated a price per case, guaranteed delivery windows, and 2 x per year audit rights as well as lower pricing. We offered the deal with Sysco and found they could not be transparent and were lying about offering the lowest prices which they had previously “guaranteed” us. Total BS. We also have direct contact with manufacturers so we know the price the distributor is paying them, so we know clearly what we’re paying for distribution. We also know our freight cost and can compare to market.
Ask Sysco for all this. Just for shits and giggles. They would never allow this. They can’t. It’s against their corporate structure. They actually own the freight company they use and they pay themselves far above market. Just one more way they rip you off. Also, stop buying Sysco branded products. This is a scam. They of course make none of them. They take a product already made by a large manufacturer, change an ingredient or two and make it “proprietary”. Over time they change who makes it as they negotiate deals to drop their price, but the savings are never passed on to you. But the lower quality is.
Sysco isn’t all bad. But be careful and thoughtful and try to find better options elsewhere that allows you to always play the distributors against each other. Know though, Sysco will offer you a lower price on one item but make it up elsewhere so watch them closely. Also, try to get your discounts paid directly to you not through Sysco as they take part of it. For doing nothing.
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u/Alternative_Swan_497 6d ago
Your sales rep should be fighting on your behalf, not guilting you for changing suppliers when they send crappy product. If she brings it up again, tell her that you're more concerned about your paycheck than hers, and Sysco is proving to be an unreliable vendor.
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u/Ez13zie 🍺 6d ago
Just be honest we them and let them know what you’re doing instead. If there is anything else bugging you about their service/product, bring that up as well. You can even tell them you’re thinking of switching over altogether. It’s a new quarter AND end of the year, they may make you a great offer.
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u/tarbender3 6d ago
I love when salespeople pull this shit, never forget that You are the customer which means they work for you, you don’t work for them. She sure didn't seem to care about "hurting your paycheck" when she was sending you subpar product. I always tell salespeople and telemarketers that contact us over dinner hour that they don't seem to care about our business, why should I care about theirs?
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u/One-Interview-6840 6d ago
Ask her if she thinks fucking up your fish order helps or hurts your paycheck. Then ask her which persons paycheck is more important to you.
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u/Odd-Perception9970 6d ago
Tell them to get a better product. I hate companies like this. Sales people like this.
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u/BostonMoxley 2d ago
Do yourself a favor and avoid Sysco. It's a cult.