About the Food Domain: Wholesalers and Distributors

Wholesalers and Distributors
Wholesalers and distributors are responsible for transporting food and food products throughout the food system. Many wholesalers buy food from one segment of the food domain and then sell it to another.

Distributors are hired to transport food items and most do not buy and sell these items. For example, distributors that own refrigerated trucks are hired to take milk from the processing plant to the manufacturing plant or they are hired to take the finished milk products to the wholesaler or the retailer. The sale of the milk takes place between the processor and the manufacturer or the manufacturer and the wholesaler or retailer, not between the distributor and these organizations.

Wholesalers and distributors help to make the food system more efficient. For some companies, it is less expensive to hire distributors to move their food goods from place to place than to own the trucking equipment and employ the truck drivers. For others, it is more efficient to sell all of their products to one wholesaler than to sell the products directly to a variety of buyers.

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