Jordano Food Products
Supply Chain Profile
Jordano Foods
Tracie Shannon, Vice President for Logistics at Jordano Foods (Jordano), had just sent the following e-mail to members of the executive committee of the company:
I just returned from a lengthy meeting with Susan Weber, CEO of SAB Distribution. She is under great pressure from her Board of Directors to continue to grow market share and improve profitability. SAB has received a recent tender offer from another larger food distributor to buy the company and several members of their board have recommended that the offer be seriously considered. Susan feels that SAB can continue to improve their "bottom line" with additional changes in service offerings. Ms. Weber is meeting with all of SAB’s major suppliers and customers to discuss new services that SAB can offer to enhance the competitiveness of the SAB supply chain.
Background On Jordano Foods
Jordano Foods was founded in 1950 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, by two brothers, Luigi and Mario Jordano. Their parents operated a restaurant in Burnham, Pennsylvania, featuring Italian cuisine. Marie Jordano was famous for her culinary skills. She developed her own recipes for pasta sauce, meatballs, fresh and dry pasta, and other Italian food items. Luigi and Mario worked in a restaurant prior to establishing Jordano Foods. The brothers felt that they could capitalize on the family recipes by selling pasta, sauces, and other related Italian food products to other restaurants in nearby communities in central Pennsylvania.
Their initial venture was so successful that they expanded their product line and began selling their products too small to medium-sized wholesalers and distributors throughout Pennsylvania. They built a plant in Lewistown to produce their food products and subsequently built another plant in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and a warehouse in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
Current Situation
The 1990s and 2000s were times of signiἀcant growth for Jordano. Mario and Luigi were still active in the company as president/CEO and chairman of the board, respectively. Revenue now exceeded $600 million per year, and a third plant had been built in the western part of Pennsylvania near Uniontown. A group of professional managers has been developed in the company to head up the major functional areas. Tracie Shannon was hired in 2010 to manage the logistics area which had not received much attention.
Tracie realized that the Jordano brothers had managed and developed the manufacturing and marketing functions during the formative years, and these two areas had been considered as cornerstones of the company’s success. Logistics was a relatively new functional area for Jordano, but had received more attention during with Tracie’s vision and leadership. The new vision of Susan Weber for SAB had tremendous potential for all members of their supply chain, including Jordano Foods. Now, Tracie has to help orchestrate the transformation of Jordano.
1. What is your overall evaluation of the potential for Jordano Foods in this new relationship with SAB? Explain your position.
2. What areas of logistics do you think have the most potential for Jordano and SAB to collaborate for the beneἀt of SAB’s customers? Why?
