Sysco and KASL and/or Escalon?

[ihavezippers]

Does anybody know if Sysco food distributors carries KASL and/or Escalon?  I use to think they did, but checked their website this morning and the site seems to suggest they offer more "catered" type food than anything else.

Anyhow, I got a Sysco hookup now, at least through the summer, and want to exploit it if I can...and if I am allowed by my hookup, I suppose I might be able to help out other Seattle-ites who need KASL or Escalon.  But first things first: does Sysco carry these products (Peter, I'm looking at you, oh knowledgable one)?

Thanks

[Pete-zza]

ihavezippers,

I'm afraid my knowledge has run out with this one. However, Sysco is the largest food distributor in the business (I believe it is bigger than the next two largest competitors combined), so it is possible that they carry the KASL and Escalon products or possibly comparable products like All Trumps or Stanislaus. If they don't it may be because they tend to serve the largest food preparation companies like McDonald's and other major chains that order in enormous quantity. They also tend to promote their own brands (as you may have noted from their website) because of the higher profit margins. My experience is that distributors often carry more brands than you will see at their websites. So I would just ask.

Peter

[Lydia]

I'm jealous, I wish I had a hook-up with Sysco.

Sysco was the first place Escalon recommend to me. I was also told that my local Sysco dosen't regularly carry ALL of their products, and it also sounded like what the warehouses carries will vary by location.  It was recommended that I  "request" a specific item (I'm not in food-service so, none of that was relevent, Sysco won't sell to me).

So hopefully you'll be able to get some variety of Escalon tomatoes.

[ihavezippers]

Yes!  Escalon, how I have waited for you...Stanislaus is very good, but I am ready to try what many on this board deem the best in canned tomatos.  It would be nice to get a 50lb bag of KASL, as believe it or not, my 50lb bag of Pendelton is almost gone after its December purchase...but getting some Escalon is much better than nothing.

Thanks Peter and Lydia for your help.  If I can't find out for sure via online, I will ask the cook at this place I have a part time position at and see if he has a catalog.  Unfortunately (well, at least for my pizza cooking side), it will only be a summer position, so I have to act fast to secure to maximum amount of goodies I can get. 

[Lydia]

Sounds like you're going through nearly as much flour as I do, I go through a case of tomatoes in no time. And nearly all of Escalons products taste nearly the same, they just have different consistencys, so take what you can get.

 Actually, my pantry looks like an Escalon ad for various Bella Rosa products and the 6 in 1's. They have a 2 shelf life, so I have no fear of over purchasing.


Oh yeah, thought I might mention that if your not familiar with all of the Escalon brand names you might want to take a quik look at the Escalon/Stanislaus comparison chart. I think steve has a link to it in the glossary. It has nearly all of their products listed.

[ihavezippers]

Just got an email from KA; they do not distribute through Sysco...however, they have implemented a new shipping policy which allows for a $15 shipment for $5 (haven't checked their prices specifically, but this seems to be about enough to purchase a 50lb bag of KASL)...so thought I'd pass that on.  I will post this in a separate thread, as this is big news if not already known.

[Pete-zza]

ihavezippers,

I pretty much confirmed what you learned about Sysco by looking at the foodservice distributors section of the KA website, although I did see that Sysco was listed in New York (Albany).

I am not quite sure I understand what you were told in the email from KA. When I last checked the prices to ship 50 pounds of the KASL (actually 17 3-lb. bags, or 51 lbs.) to Texas, the total cost came to around $80. Today, when I checked, I saw the the price per 3-lb. bag was reduced to $2.50 and the shipping was $9.50, for a total of $52. A note at the order page also indicated that I could add $2.50 worth of additional merchandise for the same shipping charge. I also discovered that by selecting the U.S. postal service rather than Fed-Ex, the total price goes down a bit to $50.50.

Peter