What Foodservice Distributors Can Learn from Other Industries About AI Adoption

AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s already transforming how businesses run, serve, and scale. From personalising shopping experiences to predicting financial risks, AI has been embraced across industries. But in food distribution? The uptake has been slower.

It’s not because food distributors aren’t innovative. It’s because the industry is complex. Orders change daily, customers range from restaurants to aged care homes, and the stakes are high when your product spoils. But that complexity is exactly why AI has so much to offer foodservice (and why it’s time to look beyond our own backyard for inspiration!).

Here’s what food distributors can learn from the way other sectors have successfully adopted AI — and how to apply those lessons to your operations today.

Retail

At the forefront of emerging technology, retailers like Amazon and Sephora use AI to tailor every shopping experience; recommending products, predicting demand, and adjusting inventory based on real-time data.

Distributors serve a wide range of customers, yet most ordering experiences are still one-size-fits-all. In foodservice, it doesn’t have to work like this. With AI, you can:

• Personalise product suggestions based on a venue’s past order history.

• Predict reorder cycles and prompt customers proactively.

• Recommend complementary or high-margin items, automatically.

Imagine if your system could suggest bulk sauces to a burger joint or highlight trending vegetarian items for a school canteen. That’s not magic or just from your sales team — it’s AI.

Takeaway: Personalisation isn’t just for consumers. Use AI to treat every operator like a segment of one.

Logistics

Global logistics players use AI to optimise routes, streamline warehouse operations, and minimise delivery delays.

Distributors are logistics powerhouses! But many still rely on spreadsheets, and phone calls, and a lot of back-and-forth. AI can:

• Adjust delivery routes based on weather and traffic in real time.

• Forecast product shortages based on past trends.

• Reduce spoilage risk by optimising delivery timing and load prioritisation.

By automating these logistics decisions, your team can focus less on firefighting and more on growing customer relationships.

Takeaway: The smartest distributors treat logistics as a tech problem. AI gives you control, even when conditions change.

Finance

Banks and fintechs use AI to flag fraud, automate loan approvals, and respond to customers 24/7 through chatbots.

A lot of distributors and suppliers in foodservice have in-house finance teams, yet they still aren’t leveraging AI like the industry to its fullest potential.

You might not think you have much in common with a bank, but foodservice is full of paperwork and pattern recognition! AI can:

• Automatically enter, validate, and route orders.

• Flag unusual spending or churn risk based on customer buying habits.

• Follow up on overdue invoices or payment issues, automatically and politely.

Admin shouldn’t take up half your team’s day. With AI, it doesn’t have to.

Takeaway: AI is your new admin superhero — always on, always accurate, and never bored

Healthcare

In an industry so reliant on human touch, it's hard to imagine how AI could ever be leveraged by healthcare processes.

In reality, AI supports doctors with diagnostic suggestions and patient trend analysis, enhancing (not replacing!) human expertise.

AI in distribution isn’t about replacing reps or account managers. It’s about making them better. For example:

• During sales calls, your AI copilot can suggest relevant products, promotions, or questions to ask.

• It can highlight customers at risk of churn or alert you when someone hasn’t placed an order in weeks.

• It can even generate clean order notes and reports for follow-up.

In short: AI can do the heavy lifting, so your people can focus on the relationship.

Takeaway: The future isn’t AI vs. humans. It’s AI with humans—working better, together.

Bringing it all back to Foodservice!

The biggest lesson? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Retail, logistics, finance, and healthcare have already shown what works and now foodservice has the chance to learn from their success.

At FOBOH, we believe food distributors deserve the same powerful tools that other industries are already using. That’s why we’ve built AI agents specifically trained for foodservice: to manage orders, automate your admin, supercharge your sales team, and more.

Think of them as specialised intelligent assistants:

• Alan for automating orders

• Sal for smart inventory suggestions and sales boosts

• Daz for data-driven insights and sales optimisation

• Shaz for mastering invoices and cashflow

We’re not just bringing AI to foodservice — we’re bringing the right kind of AI. The kind that understands food codes and changing menus. The kind that learns your business—and grows with it.

Other industries have shown us what’s possible. Now it’s foodservice’s turn to lead.

Let’s get there — faster, smarter, and together. Let’s chat!