Tonight's Dinner Fell Off the Sysco Truck

One of my favorite restaurants is Milk & Honey in Harlan, Iowa, a small town in the western part of the state. The restaurant is run by Ellen Walsh-Rosmann, who is also a farmer and a mother. Milk & Honey has a delicious homemade strawberry jam that’s way better than the normal mediocre corn syrup-based jam packets served at most diners. Their skillets include chorizo made from pork raised on Ellen’s farm. It’s one of the best breakfasts I’ve had, and on top of it, it’s basically the same price as a McDonald’s breakfast meal. Quality and price can go hand in hand when done locally.

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The Milkweed reported that one Pennsylvania diner noticed that the burger patties it bought from Sysco weren’t frying the same on the grill. When the owner looked closely at the label, he discovered that the patties contained soy protein as a filler. Sysco sells the cheapest option possible, which naturally means a downward spiral for quality.

I see the poor quality in Sysco bagels, which my college provided as a breakfast option. Those things were like hockey pucks, and I swear I saw more end up in the trash can than actually being eaten. I wouldn’t learn until years later, on my first trip to New York City, how chewy and fluffy a good bagel could be.

This race to the bottom is best seen in seafood. An investigation by the St. Petersburg Times found that the company was selling mislabeled fish (grouper in this instance). Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that the company sold shrimp from India processed in grueling labor conditions. Recent media investigations have also noted the use of forced North Korean and Uyghur-region labor in processing seafood sold by Sysco.

Sysco is also lobbying to expand industrial fishing in the United States, which is analogous to the production models used by the Hog Barons and the Dairy Barons. In 2023, the company was even found to be distributing products from a factory under investigation for potential child labor violations. The company does not generally audit its US suppliers. Like the Berry Barons, its ignorance to abuses is one of its selling points.

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Sysco’s international distribution system does not favor fresh or local food. The company prefers to work with companies like the Berry Barons because they engineer their berries for durability and can produce enough volume to supply Sysco warehouses across the country. Sysco would rather not deal with a different berry supplier for each of its warehouses, even if the supplier can produce a better-tasting local option. That explains why there’s not usually any crab from Maryland in dishes sold as “Maryland Crab Cakes.”

This low-quality reputation is far from the original company that John Baugh built. In fact, quality was one of his key principles. Back before frozen food became common, he worked to overcome the standard view at the time that frozen food was of lower quality. He even did demonstrations for customers so they could compare and see the difference. He also worked hard to make sure he had the best of a crop.

But his zealousness for frozen food was taken too far. There’s a difference between frozen ingredients and pre-made meals. As far back as 2000, The Wall Street Journal reported that Sysco sold pre-made frozen appetizers that were assembled in Mexico. It might be cheaper for a local restaurant to serve a jalapeño popper made offshore (or nearshore in this case) than it is to stuff one in the kitchen, but some degree of quality is sacrificed.

With Sysco’s dominance driving food procurement decisions, you see how a lot of restaurant food quickly starts to taste the same. It is why home fries are the same at every breakfast place in town. They’re likely serving the same Sysco frozen bag. The only difference is often how long they cook the potatoes.

This conformity turns every independent diner into an off-brand Denny’s. None of the food is bad. None of it is amazing. It’s all just OK. But this interchangeability undermines local restaurants the most. It means that their specialness is gone. This phenomenon is especially bad in nonurban areas where Sysco’s dominance is greatest.

A common theme in concentrated industries is that innovation and quality declines. As one restaurateur told me, “Sysco is like Walmart with its poor customer service and cheap, low-quality food.” But given how concentrated the marketplace is, it’s hard to fault local restaurants for relying on Sysco. These spots are running uphill against the largest chains, which can lock in lower prices from suppliers and leverage preferential treatment from landlords. Against this backdrop, Sysco is often the only option for a local restaurant trying to stay afloat.

Ellen Walsh-Rosman, the owner of Milk & Honey, tried to circumvent the company by creating her own small distribution company. She realized that it was the only way for family farmers like her to get market access to restaurants in Omaha and Des Moines. But she will be the first to tell you that she wouldn’t do it again knowing what she knows now and the money her family lost on the endeavor. In Sysco’s early years, a city like Chicago would have around 300 suppliers for restaurants. But that robust marketplace is long gone.

Sysco’s dominance means that something essential is being lost. As local businesses fade away, a sense of a distinct regional and local identity disappears with them. The breakfast menu at a diner in northern Maine looks the same as one in the Texas Panhandle. As independent restaurants disappear in record numbers, we’re losing a core part of our culture.