Built for brands that are new to US foodservice
Foodservice doesn't buy the way retail does. On the commercial side, chain culinary and purchasing teams decide what goes on the menu. On the non-commercial side, contract feeders and GPOs decide what goes on the approved list. Distributors and brokers sit between them and you. We've spent 30 years inside both.
International brands entering the US
You have a proven product at home and no map of the American channel. We build the route: importer, logistics, pricing, brokers and distribution, plus who to call first and what it really costs to get in.
Emerging brands moving beyond retail
You've earned shelf space and want the volume of restaurant chains, campuses, hospitals and workplaces. We translate your brand into the packs, pricing and programs operators buy.
You're a fit if
- You need a senior foodservice leader but not a full-time one yet
- Distributors listed your item and nothing moved
- You want onto chain menus and don't know how R&D and purchasing decide
- Hospitals, colleges or corporate dining are on your plan but not your books
- You're weighing a broker and don't know how to judge one
- Your price works on a shelf but not on a menu
What we do
Strategy and execution together. We work as part of your team, part-time, and we're in the meetings, not just the slide deck.
Fractional sales leadership
We run your foodservice channel as your senior sales leader: setting targets, managing brokers and distributors, and walking into the buyer meetings with you.
Go-to-market, pricing and distribution
Which segments and markets to win first, a price build that works backward from the operator's plate, and the specialty, regional and broadline partners to carry it.
Commercial and chain accounts
Chain restaurants are where foodservice volume concentrates and where a new item proves itself on a menu. We work with quick-service, casual-dining and convenience-store chains, with their culinary and purchasing teams on menu development, limited-time offers that can earn a permanent spot, and the systems distributors that serve them.
Non-commercial and GPO access
Positioning for contract feeders and group purchasing organizations, then funding the pull-through that turns an award into orders.
Experience with Foodbuy, Entegra, Avendra, Vizient and Premier.
How an engagement runs
Six phases from first diagnosis to repeat orders. Every brand starts somewhere different, so the plan and the pace are set together in the first weeks.
- 1
Diagnose
Product, packs and pricing measured against what US operators and distributors require.
- 2
Target
Pick the first markets, chains and segments. Shortlist distributors and brokers.
- 3
Open doors
Introductions, buyer meetings, samples and cuttings with the people who decide.
- 4
Get stocked
First distributor listings backed by named operators ready to order.
- 5
Pull through
Turn listings into orders, tracked from distributor sales data.
- 6
Scale
Repeat business in the first markets and a plan for the next markets, chains and contracts.
Track record
Three decades on both sides of foodservice: convenience, quick-service and casual-dining chains, and the healthcare, education, travel and military channels emerging brands find hardest to reach.
- 30 yearsFood and beverage commercial leadership, including Campbell Soup Company
- 14 yearsStarbucks, building non-commercial channels
- 7,200+Quick-service restaurant locations in a global chain coffee rollout led at Starbucks
- 3 segmentsChain accounts opened in convenience stores, quick-service and casual dining, with national and regional leaders in each
- 2 marketsSupply chains rebuilt in Canada and the U.S.: importer, logistics, pricing, contracts, brokers and distribution
- $40M+Strategic accounts portfolio built from near zero
- 5 GPOsMajor group purchasing organizations navigated as a supplier, across healthcare, education and contract dining
Michael Culhane
Founder & Managing Principal
Michael has spent his career on the manufacturer's side of the foodservice table: opening chain accounts across convenience, quick-service and casual dining, leading a global chain rollout, opening military, travel and hospitality channels, rebuilding Canadian and U.S. supply chains, building strategic account portfolios from near zero, and selling integrated equipment-plus-consumables beverage programs to the largest operators in the country.
He founded Fractional Foodservice Advisors because most emerging brands need that experience before they can justify a full-time hire. He holds an MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College and works from the Orlando area with clients nationwide.
Let's talk about your US launch
Tell us what you make, where it sells today and where you want it to go. We'll tell you honestly whether foodservice is the right next step, and what it would take.