When Dot Foods Inc shipped its first case of fresh meat to the West Coast on April 6, it became the first food redistributor to offer both refrigerated and frozen meat nationwide. Dot started redistributing protein products to customers in the Midwest in August 2008, rolling them out to the eastern half of the United States in December.
According to Rodd Willis, director of protein sales and purchasing, Dot had to put several systems in place to make sure the meat was delivered with adequate shelf life remaining.
"This category is tricky because of the shelf life," he said. "We could offer frozen meat with our current systems, but the fresh meat presented unique challenges. We developed a new IT system to manage inventory based on days past production and established relationships with suppliers on the West Coast to ensure the product would not have to travel across the country."
Dot’s current protein offerings include boneless boxed beef, bone-in boxed beef, refrigerated and frozen ground beef, fresh and frozen pork, and frozen lamb. The firm warehouses the meat at its flagship distribution center in Mt Sterling IL to serve the Midwest and East Coast and at its Burley ID distribution center to serve the West Coast.
Visit www.dotfoods.com/products.html for a complete list of products.
