Columbus, Ohio (October 2009) – RDP Foodservice, a Columbus, Ohio based family-owned independent foodservice distributor, announced today that Robert Gerlach has been hired as Director of Merchandising.
Gerlach brings to the RDP team more than 25 years of foodservice purchasing, sales and management experience, the bulk of which was spent at Sygma Network Inc. (Sysco). Gerlach was a twenty year Sygma veteran where he advanced through a series of positions of increased responsibility for a $4.5 billion subsidiary of the world’s largest foodservice distributor. While there he managed the purchasing function of more than 30,000 items in 17 distribution centers located nationwide, and managed annual inventory purchases exceeding $4 billion and a staff of more than 100 associates. Gerlach left Sygma in 2008 as Senior Vice President of Purchasing.
Most recently Gerlach served as Director of Foodservice Sales for R.S. Hanline & Complany, Inc., where he was responsible for sales of fresh and processed produce to national restaurant chains and food service distributors.
Gerlach will be charged with directing RDP’s growing distribution network. “We are extremely fortunate to be able to bring someone on board with Bob’s credentials,” said Mark Mizer, president of RDP Foodservice. “His vast experience in
the foodservice arena makes our team even stronger as we continue our company’s steady growth.”
RDP Foodservice is a family-owned, independent foodservice distributor based in Columbus, Ohio with distribution throughout Ohio and neighboring states. The company’s roots go back to 1957, when RDP’s patriarch Richie DiPaolo started
the DiPaolo Foodservice business. In 1985, DiPaolo Foodservice merged with SYSCO to become DiPaolo/SYSCO Foodservice with annual revenues approaching the one hundred million dollar mark. In 1996, after ten years of partnership with SYSCO, Richie DiPaolo, his sons and his grandsons left SYSCO to launch a new foodservice enterprise (RDP Foodservice) designed to benefit the independent Italian pizza house or restaurant competing in the competitive times of fast food and corporate chains. In the more than ten years of RDP Foodservice’s existence it has gained 65% of the market share in the pizza and Italian food service market in central Ohio and has twice earned the award as one of Columbus’s top fifty fastest growing companies by Business First Magazine. While still a leader in the pizza and Italian market segment, most recently, RDP Foodservice has increasingly broadened their reach into the casual dining segment. For more information about RDP Foodservice visit www.rdpfoodservice.com.
