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Dot Foods in Liverpool Continues Growth Trend

a forklift moves items on a top shelf in an industrial warehouse aisleway
Scott Willis
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WAER News

Central New Yorkers may have seen Dot Foods trucks around the area, but always wondered: just what is Dot Foods? The Syracuse-area branch of the nation’s largest food re-distributor continues to grow, along with the rest of the company.  WAER’s Scott Willis recently took a tour of  their Liverpool facility to find out what they do and what makes them so successful:

The company was listed at number 85 on Forbes List of America's Largest Private Companies for 2013, the 14th consecutive year Dot Foods has been included on the list. It was founded in Mt. Sterling, Illinois, and debuted on the list at number 160 in the year 2006. 

Liverpool Center General Manager Joe Little says that the company's expansions have only been positive so far, because they've made even more growth possible: 

"We're a growth organization - it is part of our mission, it's part of our plan. The impact really is, as we're able to expand our product offering to our customers, it makes us more viable in other markets... the momentum generates more opportunities for us, and every time we can expand and continue that growth, it makes us more viable in other markets and more valuable to the distributors, with additional product offerings, better frequency in terms of sales and service, etcetera. The momentum generates itself, and sustains the growth."

outdoors at an industrial warehouse, trailers lined up along the outside loading docks
Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
/
WAER News
Trailer containers are lined up to be filled at the Dot Foods re-distribution center in Liverpool

Dot Foods made $5 billion in revenue last year, which helped it jump from its previous rank of 92 on the list in 2012. Little says he brought on 25 new employees last year, and he hopes to have 300 employs as part of the facility's next milestone.  

He also wants to improve the Liverpool Distribution Center's pilot program with the U.S. military, providing goods to troops overseas in the Middle East.

Tune in for more on Dot Foods and the company's work with the armed forces starting Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. on WAER News.  

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.
Hannah vividly remembers pulling up in the driveway with her mom as a child and sitting in the car as it idled with the radio on, listening to Ira Glass finish his thought on This American Life. When he reached a transition, it was a wild race out of the car and into the house to flip on the story again and keep listening. Hannah’s love of radio reporting has stuck with her ever since.