New to Foodservice

Discussion in 'LTL and Local Delivery Trucking Forum' started by GladhandSW, Sep 7, 2020.

  1. GladhandSW

    GladhandSW Light Load Member

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    I been driving for 4.5 years now. Most of my experience has been Over the Road, with a short stint as a Walmart dedicated driver with Swift. This past year was with a small reefer company out of South Dakota. Finally hit the point that I dont want to live in a truck anymore so I left OTR to move from New Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona.

    This isnt a thread where I am necessarily asking questions about it. I have already researched the heck out of this and made the decision to do this. So I making this thread to share my experience with this side of the industry and hopefully give someone a good idea of what this is like.

    I have interviews with Mclane Foodservice and Shamrock Foods this week. Hope to be starting work next week. Been off for a month and I am getting bored. Hoping this thread is helpful for anyone that is OTR and thinking about getting out of it. I'll be your guinea pig so to speak.
     
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  3. Brettj3876

    Brettj3876 Road Train Member

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    Don't know anything about shamrock but if you stick it out at McLanes you'll be making 90-100+ a year in no time
     
  4. Dockbumper

    Dockbumper Road Train Member

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    • Look forward to your adventures. Good luck. It is my understanding that there is some good money to be made in that end of the industry
     
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  5. GladhandSW

    GladhandSW Light Load Member

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    Good money is possible with both. It's just a matter of which will be a better fit. They are both night work delivering to restaurant chains. That's what I wanted so I'm not dealing with that much customers. Just roll in and roll out. Also nice when those little parking lots are empty.
     
  6. Brettj3876

    Brettj3876 Road Train Member

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    Key drops at night were always my favorite Lol no a-hole managers to deal with or asking if you can rotate their stock haha

    Edit: Being new to food service don't go all superman right out of the gate, don't F up your back. Give it a couple of months and you'll learn how to handle the big cart loads with ease. With time you'll figure out how to be efficient. The 1st few months will be ####ty but if you get put on the same routes you'll be surprised how much quicker you'll get. Everything from how you set up the trailer/ramp combo to how you set down your stacks in the freezer/cooler
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2020
  7. Brettj3876

    Brettj3876 Road Train Member

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    Some people like the hard rubber tires (I liked em better for going down stairs, less bouncy.) IMO if your run has multiple places with stairs I'd get the hard tires. Where i worked they would swap tires for you if you wanted. If your ramp has fairly tall sides rub one of the tires on the rail going down. It helps a lot to slow you down. And if it goes over let go LOL don't let take you with it
     
  8. GladhandSW

    GladhandSW Light Load Member

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    Interview with McLane went well. Said they would contact me by the end of this week. Like what I heard. They do a mix of lift gate and ramp work. The easiest run being Jack in the Box. Those guys just drop pallets at each stop. Still interested in Shamrock. Will gauge my choices after the interview with them.
     
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  9. gpf87

    gpf87 Heavy Load Member

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    Good luck !

    Please take care of your back and wear good shoes ; don't get hurt .
     
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  10. gpf87

    gpf87 Heavy Load Member

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    Also , Phx is one of the best cities for local trucking . You have tons of options if food service doesn't work out (51st & Buckeye especially)
     
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  11. Brettj3876

    Brettj3876 Road Train Member

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    Being the new guy it'll probably be a while until you can get a liftgate/pallet jack run. The handful of McLane drivers i ran into were in there 40s and planned on staying until retirement. I've heard the grocery/C store side was easier than the restaurant side....don't know how true that was?
     
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