Improving Fill Rates While Streamlining Inventory: Pet Food Expert’s Journey
Pet Food Experts, a leading U.S. pet food distributor with nearly 30 years in the industry, significantly improved its inventory management and fill rates by implementing the HIMPACT® forecasting and purchasing software, which proved crucial during its acquisition of United Pacific Pet and organic growth, resulting in 5–10% inventory reductions and 2–5 percentage point increases in fill rates, earning high praise from company leadership for its ROI and seamless vendor integration.
Pet Food Experts has been a cornerstone of the pet industry for almost 30 years. Over the last three decades, PFX has magnified its presence in the independent pet retail space and become one of the leading distributors in the country. At the time of the partnership, PFX was seeking to implement a new forecasting and purchasing solution to support its expanding business.
The Need
A year after implementing HIMPACT®, PFX acquired United Pacific Pet, which increased its service area by over 1,500 independent pet retailers throughout the West. The acquisition of UPP skyrocketed PFX’s standing and secured its spot as the second-largest pet food distributor in the U.S.
PFX was simultaneously growing organically outside of the acquisition, and with that growth came a request from manufacturers for projection sharing. The onboarding of HIMPACT synced with a period of substantial change for PFX and provided a solid foundation to support its expanding needs on a core level.
“HIMPACT is the most successful software implementation we’ve done in the last five years and it is the one with the most ROI.”
— Brian Wyrostek, VP of Strategy and Business Development, Pet Food Experts
The Result
The implementation of HIMPACT garnered PFX some early victories. Phylicia Proulx, Director of Purchasing, said, “As each vendor is turned on in HIMPACT, the inventory goes down by 5–10% and the fill rate goes up by 2–5 percentage points. The software allows us to track that and to see that change is phenomenal.”
With HIMPACT already managing purchasing, PFX was able to seamlessly transition their vendors and partners to the new system. Brian Wyrostek, VP of Strategy and Business Development for PFX shared, “We could have gone through this acquisition without HIMPACT, but with a lot more inventory and a lot more bumps along the way than if we didn’t already have it in place. HIMPACT is the most successful software implementation we’ve done in the last five years and it is the one with the most ROI.”
As each vendor was added, the inventory went down 5-10% and the fill rate went up 2-5 percentage points.
The BFC Difference
BFC Software is a food-focused solutions platform—from forecasting and warehouse operations to the final mile. Designed to evolve with industry demands, BFC helps customers stay ahead with data-driven insights that boost efficiency, improve performance, and optimize operations.
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BFC Software: Food Operations Platform for Distributors
BFC Software offers a comprehensive, AI-ready food operations platform for distributors that leverages advanced analytics to optimize inventory, product movement, workforce utilization, and compliance, resulting in 5%-30% increased fill rates and significantly reduced error rates, with modular solutions spanning buying, warehouse, outbound, and transportation operations to enhance real-time visibility, traceability, and decision-making.
Webinars
The webinars offered by BFC Software focus on optimizing food distribution operations by demonstrating how integrated fleet management—from route planning to driver pay—and warehouse best practices—such as inventory control and truck building—can enhance efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration while reducing manual work and protecting margins.