To choose food distribution software, first decide which kind of tool you need: an ERP that runs inventory and accounting, an ordering portal for your customers, a marketplace, an AI order intake tool, a routing tool, or a combination. Then test the finalists on what makes food distribution different, such as customer-specific prices, catch weight, cut-offs and proof of delivery, and compare the full cost over a year, including setup, user and transaction fees. The checklist below covers each point, with the questions to ask on a demo.
The kinds of tools, and who each suits
“Food distribution software” covers several different products. Most vendors do one or two of these well.
| Kind of tool | What it does | Usually suits | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|---|
| ERP (for example NetSuite, Acumatica, or Produce Pro for produce) | Inventory, purchasing, accounting and invoicing, often the warehouse too | Distributors with buyers, a warehouse team and an accountant who need one system of record | Implementation often takes months; customer ordering may be an add-on |
| B2B ordering portal | An online ordering page for your customers at their prices, plus order handling | Distributors who want customers ordering online without changing their accounting | Usually sits beside your accounting system rather than replacing it |
| Marketplace | Buyers order from many suppliers in one app | Suppliers looking for new buyers | You are listed next to competitors, per-order fees are common, and the buyer’s account belongs to the marketplace |
| AI order intake | Reads orders from email, texts or voicemail and turns them into orders | Distributors whose customers will keep texting no matter what | Someone still checks the result, and customers get no page to see prices or order status |
| Routing and delivery | Plans routes, tracks drivers, records proof of delivery | Fleets with many trucks and stops a day | Covers the delivery only; orders come from somewhere else |
| Spreadsheets | Price lists, order sheets, packing lists | Very small operations, or a first step | Free, but every order is typed by hand and nothing checks it |
Many distributors end up with two: an ERP or accounting system for the books and something customer-facing for orders. That works well as long as you know which system holds which data, and how it gets from one to the other.
Before you book a demo
Write one page that covers:
- how orders arrive today, and roughly how many a week;
- where the office’s time goes: retyping, price questions, “where’s my truck?” calls, credits;
- how many customers order, and how many office staff, packers and drivers would use the system;
- what you have to keep, such as your accounting system, scales, printers and price lists;
- your budget for the first year, everything included.
Bring that page to every demo. It keeps the conversation on your problems instead of the features a vendor most likes to show.
The checklist
Ordering
- Customer-specific prices. Can each customer have their own price per product, or a percentage off your list? Can you see what one customer pays without opening a spreadsheet?
- Catch weight. Can a customer order by the piece and be charged by actual weight? Can a packer record the weight, and does the total follow it? Ask to see it from order to invoice. Our catch weight guide explains what good looks like.
- Cut-offs and delivery days. Are they enforced per customer or route? What happens to an order placed after the cut-off?
- Minimums and fees. A minimum order, a delivery fee and a free-delivery threshold, per customer if you need them.
- What buyers must install. Can a chef order from a phone browser, or must they download an app and create a password?
- Phone and text orders. Can your office enter them into the same list, at the customer’s prices?
Operations
- Picking and packing. Pick lists by order and by product, shortages and substitutions, and how the customer is told about them.
- Delivery and proof of delivery. What does the driver record: delivered, who received it, refusals with photos, signatures, GPS? Decide which of these you actually need before you pay for them.
- Roles and permissions. Can warehouse staff work without seeing prices? Can a driver see only their own stops?
- Customer notifications. Is the customer told when the order is confirmed, changed, on its way and delivered? By email, text or both?
Tax and money
- Sales tax. Does it handle taxable and non-taxable items, resale and exemption certificates, and the states where you collect? Does the customer see the tax before ordering?
- Invoices and payments. Does it invoice and collect payment, or leave that to your accounting system? Know which before you sign.
Your data
- Imports. Can you load products, customers and prices from a spreadsheet?
- Exports. Can you export everything yourself, at any time, in a format such as CSV? Try it during the trial.
- Accounting. If it connects to your accounting system, what exactly syncs, and in which direction?
Cost and terms
- Setup time. Days or months, and who does the work?
- Pricing transparency. Is the price published, or only given after a demo?
- Contract length. Monthly, annual or multi-year? Does it renew on its own, and how much notice does cancelling take?
- Setup fees. Is there an onboarding, implementation or training fee?
- Per-user fees. What does adding an office person, a packer or a driver cost?
- Transaction fees. Is there a percentage of order value, or a fee per order?
Work out the full cost for a year
Monthly prices are hard to compare, because the other fees sit in different places. Add up a full year for each finalist.
An example with made-up numbers
Vendor A charges $400 a month with five users included, $30 a month for each extra user, and a $2,500 setup fee. With three extra users, year one costs $4,800 + $1,080 + $2,500 = $8,380.
Vendor B charges $250 a month plus 1% of online orders, with no setup fee. If customers order $80,000 a month online, the fee is $800 a month. Year one costs $3,000 + $9,600 = $12,600.
In this example the lower monthly price turns out to be the more expensive year, and the percentage fee keeps growing as more customers order online. Run the numbers with your own order volume and headcount.
Questions to ask on a demo
- “Show me a customer with their own prices placing an order from a phone.”
- “Show me a catch-weight item from order to invoice, including a piece refused at the door.”
- “Show me what happens when a customer orders after the cut-off.”
- “What does my customer have to install or sign up for?”
- “Can I export all my customers, products and orders right now? Show me.”
- “What would I pay in month 13, with 80 ordering customers and six staff?”
- “Who does the setup, and how long until my first customer places an order?”
- “What happens to my data if I cancel?”
- “What does it not do?” A vendor who answers this plainly will be easier to work with.
- “Can I try it with real customers before I sign?”
Red flags
- Long contracts that renew automatically. A two- or three-year term with a 60- or 90-day notice window can hold you long after you know whether the software works for you.
- Large setup fees. You pay before you know whether your customers will use it.
- Percentage-of-order fees. They charge you on your own customers’ orders, and they grow with your business.
- Buyers forced onto a marketplace app. If your customers must create an account in someone else’s app, they may be shown other suppliers next to you.
- No self-service export. Your customer list and order history belong to you.
- No trial, or a trial with demo data only. You learn the most from a week of real orders.
None of these rules a product out on its own. A large ERP project, for example, usually does need a contract and a setup fee. The point is to know about each one before you sign.
Where Supligo fits, and where it doesn’t
Supligo is a B2B ordering portal with order management, packing and delivery built in, for small and mid-size food distributors. It fits a distributor who wants customers ordering from its own page at their own prices, with catch weight, cut-offs, delivery records, customer emails and sales tax in one place, and packers who never see prices. Customers have no app to install and pay nothing to use it. Plans start at $249 a month with every feature in every plan, a 30-day free trial, no setup fee, no contract, no per-user fee and no commission; see pricing.
It is not the right tool if you need:
- An ERP or accounting system. Supligo issues no invoices and does not sync with accounting software. You keep your books where they are, and you can export everything as CSV files.
- Route optimization or live GPS tracking. Orders loaded onto a truck become stops in loading order.
- Payments. Supligo takes no payments; customers pay you as they do today.
- Scale integration, barcodes or printed pick lists. Weights are typed in, and pick lists are on screen.
- Standing orders or several warehouses. Neither is available.
For side-by-side comparisons with specific vendors, see Supligo compared with the alternatives.