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MATHEW TATE, 37
Director, Strategic Sourcing
Avendra
HQ: Philadelphia
Hometown: Crookston, MN
Hobbies: Spending time with family and dog, reading, playing board games
Personal/Community: Married; two children
Motto in life: Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.
Work history: After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 2004, Tate worked in a variety of retail manage-
ment positions before discovering produce at a Super Target in 2009. In 2010, he joined US Foods as a produce buyer in Grand Forks, ND. When US Foods went through a series of category management realignments in 2012, he took a posi- tion at the corporate office in Rosemont, IL, as an associate category manager. Within six months, he was promoted to category manager with responsibility for the fresh-cut cate- gory. During this time, US Foods launched new and innova- tive items in the produce category, including Shaved Brussels Sprouts and a pre-cut golden and candy-cane beet blend known as the Sunset Blend. Overall, he led contracting for a produce category at US Foods that exceeded $500 million
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in annual volume. In 2014, Tate took a position with Phila- delphia-based Aramark as produce procurement director. He was tasked with connecting Aramark directly to the grower/ shipper community as well as managing various distributor buying groups that serviced Aramark’s operations. After Aramark’s 2017 acquisition of Avendra, he was chosen to lead the produce procurement for the combined entity. Alongside his role as director for strategic sourcing, he is also the strategy leader for a produce category that represents in excess of $600 million in annual volume.
Q: What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started your career?
It’s just produce. What I mean is while it is important to fill POs, deliver on-time and keep the customers happy, at the end of the day you can only do your best. Mother Nature has thrown out the playbook, and every year brings at least one or two items that have a “season/market that has never been seen before.” Build great relationships with your growers, buyers, and logistics teams. You will get through it.
Q: What aspect of the business challenged you the most early on?
Technical/Institutional knowledge — I took a position as a buyer at the US Foods Grand Forks division and replaced a buyer that had been in the industry longer than I had been alive. He would start every morning with the largest clipboard I’d ever seen, walking the warehouse and doing physical slot checks. It was just so overwhelming. My director of purchasing told me to just absorb as much as I could, and we’d figure the rest out in time.
Q: What do you see as the most critical “hot button” issue facing the industry in the next decade?
Local, local, local. As Gen Z comes of age, the demands for locally grown/sourced product, not just produce, will only increase. While there is no shortage of local farmers to meet these needs, can these farmers meet ever-increasing food safety and traceability requirements?
Q: How has the industry (or you) changed during your tenure?
When I first started in produce, organics were all the rage. While this has mostly held true in retail, the trend never caught on as expected in foodservice.