Pet Food Retailers Lose Sales When Stock Goes Missing
Local independent retailers rely on consistent delivery to keep high-turn inventory in stock and prevent customers from walking out without making a purchase. Delivery accuracy determines whether shelves stay stocked. If the right product does not arrive as ordered, “then the end consumer is going to go somewhere else,” says Josh Strangway, Director of Continuous Improvement at Frontier Distributing.
These retailers operate brick-and-mortar storefronts that staff around specific delivery windows. Strangway explains, “They really need a dedicated window so that they can appropriately staff and get their orders in and not have to spend a whole lot of money out of their pocket.” Because retailers build their day around expected deliveries, inconsistent arrival times disrupt staffing and increase costs. Meeting delivery and timing expectations required more than maintaining set routes; it demanded a routing system that could scale with the growing complexity of the operation.
Last Mile Operations Outgrow Legacy Routing Software
Frontier had invested in route planning software, but as the business expanded — particularly into frozen distribution — route planning alone was no longer sufficient. Paper invoices and signatures did not provide the visibility customers expected. “We wanted to have a digital footprint of what occurred at every delivery,” Strangway explains.
To work around limitations, Frontier layered additional systems for signature capture, temperature logging, and delivery documentation.“As the journey progressed, we started realizing we had all these multiple systems to do our routing optimization, signature capture, delivery, and last mile. It took us a lot of systems.”
Routing occurred in one tool. Documentation in another. Frozen temperature tracking required additional processes. The fragmented system increased operational complexity and made scaling harder. Frontier needed more than routing software. It needed a comprehensive last mile transportation platform.
Route4Me Last Mile Transportation Platform Replaces Scattered Systems
Frontier returned to market looking for a system that could support optimization, execution, and verification in one place. “We have the optimization for the routing, now we want to get signature captures, we want to get the notes, we want delivery temperatures, we want all the other stuff that plays well for our customers,” Strangway says.
With Route4Me, Frontier consolidated routing, delivery documentation, and driver execution into a unified platform. Drivers now follow a standardized process at every stop — capturing photos, recording names, collecting signatures, logging frozen temperatures, and documenting discrepancies — in the same sequence each time. What once required multiple disconnected systems now operates inside one standardized platform.
Seamless Fulfillment Protects Retail Sales and Strengthens Customer Confidence
Frontier describes itself as customer-service centric, and that focus is reflected in measurable performance. “That’s why Frontier has an over 90%, almost 95% fulfillment rate,” says Strangway.
The unified platform strengthens accountability at delivery. Retailers receive documentation that includes delivery photos, frozen temperature records, timestamps, and notes. If delays are identified, Frontier can proactively notify customers instead of reacting after a problem occurs. By integrating routing and business operations, Frontier reinforced a service model built on verification, consistency, and transparency.
About Frontier Distributing
Frontier Distributing is a privately held, self-financed pet food wholesaler serving more than 1,200 independent retailers across Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania, and Western West Virginia. Operating from a single warehouse in Oxford, Michigan, with two cross-docks and a fleet of more than 30 trucks, Frontier has built its business around predictable, next-day delivery.
Its ownership model prioritizes reinvestment, operational stability, and long-term relationships with retailers and manufacturers — supported by a unified last mile transportation platform that ensures consistent, accountable delivery execution.
www.frontierdistributing.com
