In a day when more and more of us are demanding to know where our food is coming from, what’s in it, and everything about our dining experiences, a major restaurant and other institutional foodservice provider will help clarify lots of those questions through what they are calling a new transparent Clear Choice program.
Gordon Food Service, the privately held and family-managed foodservice distributor with operations on Mall Drive in Benton Harbor and scattered all across North America, has announced the roll out of its Clear Choice program.
Inasmuch as consumers want more from their dining experience – they want to know what is and is not in the food they purchase, where it comes from and how it is processed or made, the suburban Grand Rapids-based Gordon Foods wants to be more transparent for everyone.
With consumers also looking to lessen their impact on the environment by using recycled, recyclable or biodegradable plates, drinkware, cutlery, napkins, packaging and more, the program would appear to be a winning decision since, essentially, we want to feel good about out entire eating experience—from the food to the place settings and everything in between.
Gordon Food Service understands the growing desire for more transparency. As part of their own ongoing commitment to responsible sourcing, company officials say they are excited to announce the launch of Clear Choice, a program that provides visibility in their Online Ordering system to a portfolio of products that are responsibly and ethically sourced, have a short list of familiar, simple, minimally processed ingredients without synthetic chemicals and artificial ingredients, and/or minimize environmental impact through reduced waste.
Mark Eriks is Chief Supply Chain Officer at Gordon Foods. He says, “We’re excited to partner with our suppliers who are already leading in this space,” and adds, “Our suppliers are experiencing the same demand for transparency that we are and they’re eager to work with us on this program to increase visibility into the supply chain.”
Foodservice operators across all segments are working to increase the number of sustainable products they serve as they respond to customers’ demand for product transparency, cleaner labels, and responsibly sourced products. Industry initiatives like Healthcare Without Harm and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) STARS program are creating a movement to track sustainability efforts and encourage increased focus on transparency in healthcare and education organizations.
Gordon Food Service President & CEO Rich Wolowski says, “With Clear Choice we’re expanding our customers’ awareness and access to healthful and sustainable products.” He adds, “With a growing portfolio of thousands of products already in the program, we’re making it simple for customers to identify and purchase items that have the attributes they care about.”
Clear Choice is offered in addition to Gordon Food Service NearBuy, a program that helps operators identify local products by state or zip code radius. For more on the Clear Choice Program, you can visit online at this link: http://gfs.com/clearchoice
You can also learn more about Gordon Food Service responsible sourcing practices and other sustainability initiatives at this link: http://gfs.com/stewardship
For more than 120 years, since 1897, Gordon Food Service has delivered “uncompromising quality and heartfelt service for customers.” They began as a simple butter-and-egg delivery service, and have grown to become the largest family business in the foodservice industry by upholding the same approach for 120 years—remaining passionately committed to the people they serve.
Today, the company serves foodservice operators in the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest regions of the United States and coast-to-coast in Canada. They also operate more than 170 Gordon Food Service Store locations in the U.S. including the Benton Harbor store at 1350 Mall Drive in Benton Charter Township and stores nearby in both South Bend and Elkhart in NW Indiana and Kalamazoo, Portage, and Battle Creek in SW Michigan.
