Food Sales West Serves up Food for the Service Industry
 

Dave Lyons, president of Food Sales Wet, in the presentation center - a test kitchen - at their West Las Positas Boulevard facility.

By George Walsh
Network Editor

When most of us eat in a restaurant, we’re not really concerned how the ingredients for our meal got from the manufacturer or grower to our table. Nonetheless, if you’re dining in California or Nevada, there is a good chance that Hacienda’s Food Sales West probably had something to do with getting the food for your meal to the kitchen.

Food Sales West, located at 5880 W. Las Positas Blvd, Suite 39 is a foodservice brokerage organization specializing in the sales and marketing of nationally branded foodservice products. “We represent different food manufacturers like Tyson, Uncle Ben’s, and Nestle to the food service industry,” says Dave Lyons, president of Food Sales West. “Basically, we’re sales agents and sell products to restaurants, hotels, entertainment facilities, corporate cafeterias, and the like.” Other familiar companies that Food Sales West represents include Land O' Lakes, Simplot, and Tillamook Cheese. The company’s main office is in Costa Mesa CA and, in addition to its facility here in Hacienda, Food Sales West has offices in Fresno and Las Vegas. The company’s facility in Pleasanton employs 32 people and the company as a whole has more than 100 employees.

Food Sales West make presentations and sells products on behalf of a manufacturer on a commission basis. Everything the company sells is then shipped through distributors. Within the company’s 8,000 square foot facility in Hacienda is a sales office, warehouse space, and presentation center. The presentation center is a kitchen used to cook food for clients in the food service industry to demonstrate the quality of products from the manufacturers the company represents. “We have chefs in all of our markets,” Lyons says. “In this market we actually have three certified chefs on staff.”

Another interesting aspect of Food Sales West is that it is employee owned. The company was founded in 1974 but, three years ago, the employees bought the company from the original founders. “We’re what they call an ESOP, which is an employee stock ownership program where everybody shares in the company’s profitability,” Lyons says. “Everybody is entitled, after one year, to have ownership in the company.”

Food Sales West opened its facility in Hacienda eleven years ago to better serve its Northern California customer base and also to be closer to the distributors who ship the products it sells. “From a financial standpoint, Pleasanton was also more economical,” Lyons adds. “A better facility at a better price.” Food Sales West sells to a total of around 5,000 restaurants, hotels, schools, recreational facilities, and other food service establishments in the Northern California and Reno/Tahoe markets.