Packed Out-The Birth of Modern Day Broadline Food Service Distribution

Packed Out-The Birth of Modern Day Broadline Food Service Distribution a mike2633 original series.

Over the years I've made some pretty lofty claims on here. In my JB Hunt thread I made a claim that 1991 was the birth of modern day broadline food service distribution system that we know of today. I know sounds pretty lofty, but I am here to defend my thesis. @Mike_77 asked me, well weren't restaurants and stuff around prior to 1991? Oh sure they were, but it wasn't the same thing.

Sure I could sit here in my house and watch that awful Dawson's Creek on Netflix Wasn't that some gawky teen show that aired on a now defunct second rate network that aired in the late 1990s and early 2000s and was marketed at well kids your age. Yes it was and as an adult watching it now, it's a lousy show, that Katie Holmes is such a stick in the mud I can't decide who is worse Katie Holmes in Dawson's Creek or Nev Campbell in Party of 5 you talk about 2 sticks in the mud...but here's the thing, if you want to know what things were like in a certain time or erra even if it's just fiction you have to watch TV shows or movies made in that time and era about that time in era. Do not watch movies made now a days about the 1990s these film makers in modern time now a days do not do the 1990s well at all. The cars are all wrong, it's all wrong, nothing is period correct it's awful. That netflix serries Manhunt which was about the 1996 Olympics bombing the story was good, but the production was all wrong, the police cars and regular cars and all of it was all wrong none of it was period or time correct. You want to watch a good thriller from the 1990s made in the 1990s watch the movie HEAT with Al Paccino. That movie was made in the 1990s about the 1990s everything is time correct, I'm a big stickler for stuff like that. 3am with Pam Greer and Danny Glover that movie at least to me is pretty time correct if your talking cab driving in New York City around the early 2000s lots of Crown Vics and Chevy Caprice 9C6s. Anyhow I'm getting off on a major rabbit trail. But the bottom line is this, you watch shows like Dawsons Creek and it would have been fairly accurate to what it would have been like to be in high school in the late 1990s. The cloths the parties and I'll tell you this, what a better time no cancerous social media or dating apps which have just become social cancer in a way, anyhow I don't want to go off on the great social ills our time, your not hear to learn about that from me.

Anyhow I'm here to defend my thesis of the huge claim I made in the JB Hunt threat about 1991 being the birth of modern day food service distribution.

September 2017 Clarksburg, West Virginia. This used to be food service trucking before the entire world went off the rails. This would also be the cover of my book if I was going to write one.

 

This was my old truck I don't know what happened to it, they took it away from me in 2017 and sent it to our Lorain lot and then I think from there it was ran into the ground. I have a picture of it, from right before I was taken out of it. They sent it to the shop and it came back with new tires and new rims all the way around real sharp looking.

 

Cleveland Food Terminal Summer 2015

 

Friday July 24 2015 6:32am Eastern Standard Time.

 

Friday in August of 2015

 

Anyhow that's enough memory lane from the golden era of food service work for now. Will pick this up again soon. Can't believe I'm saying that the were now past the golden era of food service work, how could this have even happened?

 

This is old school GFS early 2000s. This is a set of doubles leaving the Chicagoland area heading I think to Grand Rapids for reloading. I think this picture was taken before the Kenosha, Wisconsin warehouse distribution center was open. They used to run doubles from Grand Rapids (company headquarters warehouse) to Chicago every night.

All those early 2000s era Volvo's are all gone now, those are all out of the fleet and all those trailers have been retire and that style of converter dolly I think most of those are all phased out. I've never seen one of those at our yard in my career, although one of our transit drivers said as late as 2015 the warehouse outside of Detroit had still had a couple of those single tire 2 axle converter dollies. But none of them made there way down to our warehouse in Pittsburgh, PA when it opened in April of 2015. Those are all artifacts of the past now. GFS for many years had will say kind of non-standard different equipment. But around the middle 2000s they started going more traditional with the tractors and converter gears.

The one veteran transit driver told me he hated those 2 axle converters said the problem with them was they were an absolute pain to move around the yard.

Here's my old truck in 2017 when it came back with new rims all the way around. Look how shiny they are.

I remember our one transit guy saying yeah I hated those converters they were awful to move into place in the yards. You couldn't move them by hand at all. Although one of the other transit drivers liked them on the road he said they road nice and tracked well. I guess they distributed the weight a little better. I don't even think that style of converter is even being made anymore. That trailer number is 2128 our trailers are now 6 digits and that one was only 4 digits I haven't seen a 4 digit trailer in forever. I think all our early and mid 2000s super IIs are retired now. My guess is that trailer 2128 means it's a 2001 model year and that would look about right to me.

 

Agreed 100% totally worthless on Party of 5
At least Katie Holms tried to run a restaurant and do stuff.