Tackling Rising Labour Costs in Foodservice Distribution with Smart AI Solutions

Labour costs are sizzling… and not in a good way.

In foodservice distribution, hiring and retaining staff for admin and manual tasks has become a full-time job in itself. Whether it's finding someone to process orders at lightning speed or keeping your warehouse team fully staffed, the struggle is real. And expensive.

But what if you could rethink how your workforce operates — so your people can do what people do best (build relationships, close deals, solve problems), and let AI handle the rest?

Why It’s Hitting Foodservice Distributors Hard

Between minimum wage increases, inflation, and a shrinking talent pool, labour costs have shot up across the board. In Australia, the Fair Work Commission increased the national minimum wage by 3.75% in July 2024. Meanwhile, the Wage Price Index rose by 3.2% over the year to December 2024.

 For foodservice distributors, the impact is especially sharp because:

• Admin-heavy roles like order processing and customer service are time-consuming but essential to daily operations.

• Manual, repetitive tasks often lead to burnout, especially in fast-paced environments with high volume.

• It’s hard to find (and keep) staff who are both accurate and fast, particularly for entry-level roles that aren’t glamorous but are mission-critical.

The cost isn’t just in the wages — it's in the recruitment process, onboarding time, training investment, and the inevitable churn. Distributors aren’t just hiring staff — they’re scrambling to retain them, train them, and pay them more just to stay competitive.

Looking at the Data

Let’s talk numbers:

• An industry survey from the Australian Industry Group found that 65% of employers in supply chain and logistics roles reported “major difficulty” filling admin and warehouse roles.

• The same report revealed that accommodation and food services has the highest job turnover rate in Australia at 15.7%, underscoring how volatile staffing can be in the foodservice sector — particularly in front-line and administrative roles.

And that’s before you factor in the opportunity cost of having your senior team pick up the slack when roles go unfilled.

The Hidden Cost? Admin Overload on Sales Teams

While the labour shortage impacts hiring, it also weighs heavily on the sales team — especially when they’re stuck wearing too many hats.

Many sales reps in foodservice end up bogged down by back-and-forth emails, order re-entry, and tedious paperwork. That’s not just inefficient — it’s costly. And more importantly, it distracts them from doing what they do best: building strong customer relationships and driving sales growth.

When your top performers are stuck copy-pasting SKUs into spreadsheets instead of having real conversations with customers, you're not getting the full value of your sales team. It’s not that your team isn’t capable — it’s that the workload is out of sync with their strengths.

A Smarter Way Forward: AI-Powered Admin Assist

That’s where FOBOH steps in.

With Alan and Sal, our AI Foodservice Agents, you can more efficiently and accurately process orders and sell. That means:

• Admin gets done faster, smarter, and more accurately.

• Sales teams get more time back to actually sell.

• Distributors reduce costs and avoid the hiring panic cycle.

It’s not about replacing people. It’s about letting people do people things — like problem-solving, customer care, and closing that next big deal — while AI handles the admin backbone behind the scenes.

Let FOBOH help your team work smarter — not just harder.

Book a demo with us today to see how we’re transforming labour costs into labour wins.