All in the family - Tannis Food Distributors

Left to right: Kammal Tannis, Ralph Zahalan(warehouse worker), and Kammal’s son, Chris Tannis.For Tannis Food Distributors, it’s all about the family.The Ottawa-based business was founded in1940 when brothers Toufic Michael Tannis andGeorge Tannis opened Tannis Trading Company,distributing tobacco to eastern Ontario.While the company grew, tragedy struckthe family in 1971 when Toufic Michaelpassed away, followed by George in 1972.Left widowed with six children aged sixto 16, Toufic’s wife Souad took over as president,turning the company around frombeing on the brink of bankruptcy andbuilding it into the success that it is today.“Our mother had so much responsibilitywith taking care of the family and business,”said Kammal Tannis. “We never sawany signs of her slowing down; she wasalways a pillar of strength ... a role modelto us all.”In 1976, her son, Theo, and son-in-lawMounir, husband of Karen, entered into thebusiness, followed by Eli, Kammal, Mikeand their sisters, Camie and Karen. Thefamily had to mature quickly and remainsupportive of each other. “When you’reyoung, you’re adventurous,” said Kammal,who is now the vice president of sales andmarketing. “We worked well together; wealways focused on the same company goalsand family values.”THE MOVE INTO FOODSERVICEOne of those responsibilities was to makethe company profitable. In 1978, Tannis transitionedinto the foodservice arena and neverlooked back.“Tobacco margins were starting to erode,”said Eli, vice president of purchasing. “Wewere just living hand to mouth so we madethe decision to move into foodservice.”Tannis eventually found success servicingindependents and chain accounts in bothfoodservice and retail.They also put focus on national brandedproducts to provide consistency and qualityproducts to their customers.“Customers say private label brands arealways changing,” said Eli. “One day you canbuy Joe’s Muffins and then they change toanother company. (With branded products)you know what you’re getting.”Offering many branded products underone roof enabled Tannis to launch a bannerprogram called Pronto Food Marts.“We created a banner program for ourindependent convenience stores,” said Kammal,“where we managed the supplier rebateprogram and marketing, which provided acompetitive advantage for our banner stores.”With new retail and foodservice growth, Tannisexpanded its operation and eventually movedtheir distribution centre. What began as a 1,200sq. ft. operation in 1940 is now a 130,000 sq. ft.facility. A more recent foodservice expansionincluded the acquisition of a coffee company anda food distributor in Pembroke, Ontario.“We started hiring more sales reps forfoodservice,” Kammal said. “We always triedto hire a person with experience and a goodreputation in the industry.”Tom Lawson, a foodservice purchaser atTannis, believes manufacturers are challengedthese days because they have to do alot more with a lot less, but Tannis is stillgood at moving the product.“We’re good and efficient at bringing it in“The trend is in frozen preparedfood and the product offeringsARE CONTINUALLY IMPROVING.”one door, putting it on the shelf, and hopefullymoving it out the other door within afew days time,” he said.Since Tannis carries more than 8,000products, Lawson has to make sure the warehouseisn’t overstocked with too much of thesame product.EVA HADHAZYADDED VALUE FROM SALES REPSEli Nesrallah was another sales rep Tannishired because of his foodservice experience.He previously owned a restaurant, and nowhas 25 years of experience with Tannis.Now a business development manager, hesays the most important thing sales reps needto achieve is trust from their clients.www.conveniencecentral.ca September | October 2009 YCM 53