The Chefs' Warehouse (CHEF) Investor Day 2025 summary

Strategic Growth and Market Positioning

• Expanded to over 49 distribution centers, 1,000+ salespeople, and 88,000 SKUs, focusing on upscale culinary clients and a hybrid specialty-broadline model.

• Growth driven by market share gains, investments in sales force, digital platforms, targeted acquisitions, and infrastructure scaling in key markets like Florida, Texas, New England, and the Pacific Northwest.

• Florida serves as a model for unified operations, integrating specialty, protein, and produce under one roof, driving double-digit growth.

• International expansion highlighted by Chef Middle East, with new distribution centers, test kitchens, and continued double-digit revenue growth through category expansion and market penetration.

• Strategic investments in high-growth U.S. regions and the Middle East are expected to contribute ~75% of incremental adjusted EBITDA by 2028.

Sales, Talent, and Digital Transformation

• Major investments in recruiting and training, including a full-time sales recruiting and training team and the launch of CW University.

• Team selling model leverages cross-category expertise, enhancing account penetration and sales synergies.

• Digital platform adoption exceeds 60% among specialty customers, enabling data-driven sales, improved SKU penetration, and higher profitability.

• Digital tools provide real-time insights for sales and operations, supporting price optimization, demand forecasting, and seamless customer experience.

• Digital transformation initiatives include advanced personalization, behavioral analytics, and hybrid selling to enhance customer experience and salesforce effectiveness.

Operational Efficiency and Technology Investments

• Built out a comprehensive data warehouse and analytics suite (Power BI) to support decision-making across sales, procurement, and logistics.

• Transitioning to a regional hub-and-spoke supply chain model and consolidating operations to reduce delivery costs and improve service.

• Developed an item lifecycle workflow to manage SKU complexity, vendor outreach, and inventory rationalization.

• Procurement enhancements through predictive demand forecasting, automation, and preferred supplier agreements to optimize costs and supply chain resilience.

• Ongoing investments in AI and machine learning aim to automate routine tasks and enhance value-added work.