Blog · Coverage and territory · Foodservice distributors
How a foodservice distributor measures share of each restaurant's purchasing by category from the order system, watches drop frequency for the early sign of a lost account, and builds the route list, reconciled to invoiced sales.
A foodservice distributor finds out that a restaurant has left when the orders stop. The order system knew two weeks earlier, when the account's three drops a week became one. This guide sets out the two measures that make the order history speak: category share per kitchen and drop frequency, rolled up per route and reconciled to invoiced sales.
Per account:
Category share = categories bought ÷ categories in the norm for the kitchen type Drop frequency = deliveries this week ÷ the account's typical deliveries per week
Per route:
Coverage = kitchens with a drop this week ÷ kitchens due Slipping accounts = accounts whose frequency fell below a threshold of their own norm
Account identifiers only.
invoiced sales = Σ depots = Σ routes = Σ accounts = Σ categories
The by-route equality catches an account moved between routes without a date. The by-category equality catches a category renamed in the ERP.
One casual-dining account, norm of five categories, this week.
| Category | Bought | Trailing 12 weeks | In norm | Gap at margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry goods | Yes | $18,000 | Yes | |
| Frozen | Yes | $9,000 | Yes | |
| Fresh produce | Yes | $3,000 | Yes | |
| Dairy | Yes | $1,000 | Yes | |
| Beverages | No | Yes | $1,400 |
Category share four of five, a small gap. Drop frequency: this account has taken three deliveries a week for a year and took one this week. It is on the route's slipping list before the revenue moves, and the rep's Monday note says so, with the fresh produce line, which fell fastest, named.
Frequency against a global norm. A hotel that always took one drop a week looks fine; a bistro that dropped from four to two looks fine against a global two. Measure each account against its own history.
Chains as one account. A chain's twelve sites under one account number cannot show which site slipped. Keep chain and site as two levels.
Seasonal kitchens. A beachfront restaurant closing for winter is not slipping. Let the rep mark the reason and keep it on a watch list.
Menu changes. A kitchen that removed a category from its menu will never buy it again. A gap the rep marks as not applicable comes off the value.
Mapped once, the weekly order export produces coverage, slipping accounts and category gaps per route, reconciled to invoiced sales. Covirage builds this from the export as it is. The foodservice distributors page describes the setup, and you can upload a sample order export and see the roll-up on your own rows.
Because it moves first. A restaurant that starts buying fresh produce elsewhere drops from three deliveries a week to one before its revenue with you falls by much, and weeks before it stops ordering. Frequency against the account's own history is the earliest signal in the data.
Quick service, casual dining, fine dining, hotel, contract caterer, and whatever else the distributor's sales team uses. The norm for category share is per kitchen type, because a coffee shop does not buy what a steakhouse buys.
Retail distribution is deliveries to stores, measured by store and SKU. Foodservice is deliveries to kitchens, measured by category and drop frequency, with menus rather than shelves. The roll-up is the same shape; the vocabulary and the signals differ.