Picture this: It’s the holiday season, and all of your operators are ordering turkey and hams for the holidays. Your Distributor Sales Rep (DSR) takes an order for holiday food in the afternoon, but by the time they get back to the office and enter the order.. it’s all out of stock. Now they’re stuck trying to call the operator back and substitute for something else, all while more orders pile up in their voicemail and inbox.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

The end-to-end process from building an order guide to finalizing the product delivery is known as order confirmation—and as important as it is to the distribution industry, it’s still a common pain point for operators and sales reps alike. In this article, we’ll walk through the basics of order confirmation, and the steps we have taken at Pepper to make sure ordering is fast and accurate, every time.

Current State: Many Operators Ordering from Many DSR’s, in Many Different Ways

In the world of food distribution, order confirmation might seem like a straightforward task, but the reality of order taking quickly gets in the way. 

Orders can be placed in many ways—from operators calling DSRs, leaving voicemails, sending text messages, or sales reps simply driving to the restaurant and helping them figure out what they need to order. Combined with the fact that simply entering an order can take up to 20 minutes, and the process of just placing orders becomes a massive headache. 

This headache results in product availability and delivery details getting missed. It could be that the inventory was there in the system when the operator spoke with the DSR earlier in the day, but has now been taken by others—or perhaps there simply wasn’t any inventory left because the operator waited too long to text in their order and their DSR never gave them a heads up on low inventory. 

Either way—when operators cannot get the items they want, they have to turn to plan B. The DSR can suggest alternative items that they’re aware of, or if they’re lucky the operator knows a different product that could work for their menu. At the end of the day, it’s more time and missed expectations when orders aren’t properly confirmed.

Pepper’s Solution: Faster Orders Reduces Confirmation Chaos

You may have noticed a trend at play in each of these order confirmation scenarios—orders taking too long to place manually, leading to backups and blockages once the orders are put in. At Pepper, we’re committed to solving the root cause of these inventory and order confirmation issues by speeding order times and offering more complete information to everyone involved.

With a Pepper-powered app, operators are able to log in to an app and assemble their order guide, as well as browse the catalog for seasonal or holiday items they may not usually order. This provides a tremendous time savings for placing orders—the average order completion time with a Pepper app is under five minutes, the lowest in the industry.

But having an app that the operator can access doesn’t mean the DSR sits on the sideline— having Pepper turns DSRs into consultative sellers, giving them time to get to better know their customers’ needs, and be proactive in situations where an inventory issue might come up. DSRs can directly message operators to inform them of inventory levels, or send broadcasts to groups of customers to let everyone know of any potential problems.

But even with lightning-fast orders and consultative selling motions, Inventory and stock issues still occur. That’s where Pepper order confirmation workflows come in crucial.

Substitutions, Real-Time Chat, and More

One of the toughest challenges in order confirmations is handling substitutions. Even in the best of cases, operators will still place orders when the stock has recently run out, or when inventory levels have gotten too low to guarantee delivery. When an item is out of stock, ensuring that customers still get satisfactory alternatives requires a delicate balance of technology, timing, and communication—which is why we’ve created our substitutions workflow.

We’ve approached substitutions with careful consideration. Our system allows distributors to continue selling even when specific items are unavailable, but the accuracy of this process depends on the right data. Here’s how we handle it:

• Order Guide Notifications: Items with low inventory are flagged in the order guide, with inventory levels made visible on the order guide itself.
• Substitution Suggestions: Pepper suggests similar items that may be suitable in the event that something has run out.
• Two-Way Chat: Operators and Distributors can always communicate in real-time with Pepper’s chat function, with AI-fueled capabilities that allow each party to deeply understand what’s in stock and what can be ordered.

Championing Confidence in Every Order

Ultimately, what we aim to achieve with Pepper’s order confirmation and substitution system is not just efficiency but also confidence. In the foodservice industry, where accuracy, timing, and transparency are paramount, we wanted to provide tools that ensure every transaction is handled with care.

Our goal is to build trust. When operators place an order, they need to feel confident that it’s being handled with care. With Pepper, they’re not just getting an order confirmation—they’re getting peace of mind.

From produce to seafood and beyond, our mission is to empower distributors to deliver exceptional service and maintain meaningful connections with their customers. Order confirmations are more than just a step in the process—they’re a commitment to excellence. At Pepper, we’re dedicated to making sure every order reflects that commitment.

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