City Line Distributors Case Study
City Line Foodservice transformed its paper-dependent, error-prone warehouse operations by implementing BFC’s industry-specific software suite, resulting in a 99.92% inventory accuracy, a 45% reduction in picking errors, and a fully modernized, efficient distribution process supported by BFC’s deep food distribution expertise and continuous support over 19 years.
The Need
By 2004, City Line faced an operation largely dependent on paper tracking and reliant on the expertise of veteran individuals. They faced common issues in the food distribution industry: selector picking errors, inventory inaccuracies, and inefficient return processes. They needed a system that could help them not only manage their warehouse but command it.
“We needed a system that was built for the nuances of food distribution,” said Robert Berkowitz, President of City Line Foodservice. “A system that understood our needs. A team that knew our industry in and out. BFC not only grasped our challenges but provided a solution that revolutionized our distribution.”
The Implementation
City Line’s phased adoption of BFC’s software suite rapidly modernized their operations, enhancing both workflow and profitability. “The seamless integration of BFC’s solutions, informed by their deep industry knowledge and backed by continual support, made all the difference,” Robert said.
City Line Foodservice has since fully integrated BFC’s suite of products, reinventing their distribution management. “BFC wasn't just an upgrade; it was a reinvention of how we manage our entire distribution process,” said Robert.
“The smooth transition was entirely because BFC's thorough understanding of the food distribution industry and their 24/7/365 support throughout the implementation.”
The BFC Difference
With BFC, City Line has significantly enhanced efficiency, achieving a 99.92% inventory accuracy and a notable reduction in selector mispicks and errors. This transformation underscores the impact of a two-decade journey of trust and excellence together.
City Line was able to improve their inventory accuracy to 99.92%.
City Line was able to reduce their picking errors by 45%.
City Line Foodservice Has Trusted BFC Software for 19 Years
With BFC, City Line has significantly enhanced efficiency, achieving a 99.92% inventory accuracy and a notable reduction in selector mispicks and errors. This transformation underscores the impact of a two-decade journey of trust and excellence together.
2004: Inbound & Outbound — Dakota WMS
A purpose-built warehouse management solution designed specifically for the unique rhythm of food distribution.
“We have experienced significant savings from BFC. We are over five times as accurate, and we have eliminated all checkers. We also had an increase in the speed with which selectors pick about 5-10%.”
— Robert Berkowitz, President
- 45% improvement in selector mispicks, now at a rate of 1 in 8500 pieces.
2011: Outbound — Deliver
Real-time off the truck delivery/scanning solution for food distributors.
“Deliver became a game changer. It not only helped us get closer to that perfect order delivery by reducing errors, it has also made the delivery process for the drivers quicker, easier, and more accurate and a necessary tool they won’t work without.”
— Steven DiZinno, Operations Manager
- 47% decrease in NOTs ("not on trucks")
2021: Inbound — Dock
An efficient inbound scheduling and dock management tool for food distributors.
“Dock is much better integrated with our whole receiving process. With our older dock scheduler, we had to manually start and end each load if we wanted it to be accurate. Dock better integrates with Dakota seamlessly starting and ending the load when the receiving process starts and ends.”
— Steven DiZinno, Operations Manager
- Time Saver: The transportation, carrier, vendor, and purchasing departments improved their coordination and scheduling for inbound load communication.
2022: Outbound — Select
Improves selection accuracy, productivity, and puts you in the driver's seat when it comes to managing your labor.
“We saw dramatic improvements moving to Select with a major impact in reducing mispicks and a significant reduction in NOTs.”
— Steven DiZinno, Operations Manager
- 45% decrease in picking error rate
2023: E-Commerce — FoodCarte®
A white labeled online ordering platform built to meet the unique needs of food distributors.
"FoodCarte® has been a great asset for City Line. Not only has it improved customer service by providing an easy-to-use online ordering option for our customers, it’s an avenue for them to place orders at their convenience. It's a 24/7 sales tool, selling while we're sleeping."
— Robert Berkowitz, President
Related
Professional Services
BFC Software’s professional services offer tailored implementation support, expert-led training, and industry-experienced guidance to food distribution warehouses, enabling customers to achieve over 99% inventory accuracy and an error rate as low as 1 in 8,500, thereby optimizing operations, reducing errors, ensuring compliance, and driving business growth.
BFC Deliver: Real-Time Delivery and Scanning Solution for Food Distributors
BFC Deliver is a real-time off-the-truck delivery and scanning solution designed for food distributors that ensures over 99% inventory accuracy and a 1 in 8,500 error rate by providing comprehensive case-level visibility, digital proof of delivery with image and signature verification, streamlined returns, and live delivery reporting with visual maps and notes to optimize last-mile traceability and driver efficiency.
Foodservice
The foodservice software platform offers comprehensive, tech-driven solutions—including inventory optimization, end-to-end traceability via a specialized warehouse management system, streamlined driver bidding, and delivery efficiency tools—to help distributors manage perishables, ensure timely deliveries, maintain regulatory compliance, and improve profitability through data-driven insights, phased low-risk implementation, and continuous 24/7 support.
3PL
BFC Software offers tech-driven, precision-focused 3PL distribution solutions that optimize picking, load building, and delivery accuracy while ensuring compliance with complex requirements like weight balancing and temperature control, as praised by industry leaders for significantly improving operational efficiency and profitability.
How Top Food Warehouses Perform
BFC Software specializes in food distribution warehouse management by offering adaptable phased implementations, data-driven operational insights, 24/7 support, and a dedicated focus on food distributors, enabling their customers to achieve industry-leading results such as 99.92% inventory accuracy, smarter purchasing, faster warehouse turns, and more efficient deliveries.
BFC Software Select: Efficient Food Warehouse Picking
BFC Software Select is a food warehouse picking solution that combines voice and scan technology to deliver over 99% inventory accuracy and extremely low error rates by optimizing picker movements, offering flexible workflows, near-zero training, employee productivity tracking, and specialized features like catchweight handling and language adaptability tailored specifically for food distributors.