Restaurant Operators Show Interest in Order and Delivery Innovation

IFDA today released its Aligning Distributor Strategies with Operator Needs report at its 2025 IFDA Solutions Conference in Columbus, OH. The report details research data on how restaurant operators approach their relationships with foodservice distributors.

The survey of 500 restaurant operators covered a range of insights, including operators’ thoughts on AI and hypothetical options for innovative alternative ordering and delivery models. The data reveals that operators are very interested in subscription-models for ordering at least some products, and are curious about distributor delivery pickups and receiving deliveries by autonomous vehicles and robots.

This interest indicates that distributors might want to explore more non-traditional ways of serving their customers and keep thinking of innovative ways to get orders to foodservice establishments.

In addition, operators see the value of AI to improve processes in ordering and inventory, as well as helping DSRs be more efficient.

The report is free to IFDA members online.