IFDA Learning Exchanges

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June 23-24, 2025

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Nashville, TN

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Topics

While agendas change from meeting to meeting according to what’s top-of-mind for participants, below are examples of what topics will be discussed at this year’s Learning Exchange meeting. Participants are encouraged to leverage the opportunity to discuss their biggest challenges and opportunities with peers at other foodservice distribution businesses. While each company is unique, there’s a great deal of commonality across the industry. How did another business solve for the problem you’re currently grappling with, who has tried a solution you’re considering, are there learnings to be had from someone else’s journey?

Recruitment and Retention Tactics
  • Best practices and creative ideas for attracting and keeping the best people. Where do you find qualified employees, how do you entice them to stay with your organization, what incentives and career paths do you offer, how do you communicate?Grappling with near-and long-term inflation
Artificial Intelligence Benefits and Challenges
  • AI is now part of everyday operations and whether your company is at the leading edge or practicing caution in this area, it’s a hot topic in the industry. In what functions can it be put to best use, what are common pitfalls, do you separate stand-alone and generative AI from built-in traditional AI in your policies, what’s next to explore in this area?
Warehouse and Transportation Technology
  • Various forms of technology can make your team safer, happier and more productive if customized to your operations and fleet. Whether on-truck hardware or warehouse-related software, creating a technology environment in your company that’s cohesive and integrated is critical to success. What products, systems and integrations work for you?
Cybersecurity and Knowledge Management
  • Office functions are primarily digital, online and in the cloud in today’s industry. Navigating how to store and manage data is imperative to running a successful business. How are you keeping your company’s data secure yet accessible for employees who use it daily, what type of systems work best for managing specific business tasks, and how do those systems integrate with your other systems?

Specific questions discussed at previous Learning Exchange meetings have included:

Finance
  • Grappling with near-and long-term inflation
  • Pay structure and incentives
  • Business Intelligence uses and integrations
  • Top financial KPIs for executive dashboards
  • Effective forecasting tools
  • Vendor fee collection processes and software
  • Accounts receivable/payable automation solutions
  • Tackling aged accounts
HR
  • Creative ways to handle driver shortages
  • Motivating warehouse employees
  • Addressing absenteeism
  • Creative scheduling – eliminate night shift, longer or shorter shifts, etc.
  • Pre-employment screening practices
  • Recruiting Gen Z
  • Creative benefits to boost retention
IT
  • Use of Artificial Intelligence
  • IT security for remote employees
  • Cybersecurity
  • Warehouse robotics and automation
  • Cloud-based vs onsite data storage
  • ERP upgrades and integration
  • On-truck technology 
  • Choosing and installing new technology
Operations
  • Building expansion lessons learned
  • Slotting processes and best practices
  • Proper temperature and product separation on routes
  • Solutions for reducing picking errors
  • Order tracking
  • DOT audits