The Top 10 companies in the Power 50 ranking continued to grow market share in 2017, adding another percentage point of sales share and now accounting for 90.5% of the Power 50's total sales volume of $128 billion, according to “Power 50 U.S. Broadline Distributor Report,” a report published by Technomic, Chicago.

"Consolidation has been a long-standing theme in foodservice distribution, and 2017 was no different," says David Henkes, senior principal. "We're seeing a lot of merger and acquisition activity happening as distributors try to strengthen their regional foothold or penetrate specialty categories, and we expect to see more in the near future."

Key themes from the report include:

• Annual sales growth for the Power 50 distributors registered at 2.9% in 2017.
• As chain traffic declines, local chains and independents are picking up the slack and growing at the expense of their major chain counterparts.
• Rising labor costs and a shrinking pool of available workers are issues challenging the distribution channel.
• Leading-edge distributors—through their DSRs—are taking the lead in helping operators understand the various nuances of delivery.

This report focuses on broadline distributors that function as a one-stop-shop for foodservice customers. Sales figures are representative of total U.S. annual sales volume and are collected using a combination of public filing analysis, direct company surveying and Technomic's proprietary estimations, when necessary. Sales figures may also include any specialty distribution businesses operated by each company. Rankings are determined by total U.S. sales volume from the prior year.