12 Apr 2024
Phillips Mushroom Farms and Arrive Logistics Successfully Navigate COVID-19
Phillips Mushroom Farms is the largest specialty mushroom grower in the United States, selling more than 57 million pounds of mushrooms per year and servicing Fortune 500 retailers and the food service industry alike. Phillips needed consistency, reliability and flexibility with their transportation partners especially during March 2020 when demand surged, distribution centers reached capacity and meeting the needs of their customers was vital.
In October 2019, Phillips Mushroom Farms partnered with the Arrive Fresh division of Arrive Logistics. Phillips works with their retail partners to schedule a year’s worth of weekly orders in advance, while maintaining the ability for their retail partners to make changes to the shipment up to 24 hours prior to loading. Phillips’ carrier partners need to be flexible with equipment and price. With established dedicated lanes, Arrive Fresh collaborated closely with Phillips, providing a drop trailer in their facility at all times. The Arrive Logistics drop trailer program, which shipped sixty thousand drop trailer loads in 2019, was an essential element in the partnership because of the flexibility it offered.
The world of fresh produce is especially sensitive to the impact of severe market conditions. In March 2020, the food and beverage industry (both retail and prepared foods) experienced huge demand surges as consumers stocked up on food and necessities to shelter in place during the coronavirus pandemic. Keeping their customers’ shelves stocked was priority number one for Phillips, and mushrooms require precise shipping requirements and have a short shelf life, expiring in less than nine days. With volumes at an all-time high and distribution centers reaching capacity, Phillips was challenged to meet the changes in demand so they turned to their partner Arrive Fresh.
Arrive Fresh scaled and sourced the right carriers for Phillips, expanding their original support. Due to their sensitive freight, Phillips needed 24/7 tracking. Phillips was one of Arrive’s first customers to use the customer portal in their proprietary transportation management system (TMS) – Accelerate. With Accelerate, Phillips managed their invoices and tracked their shipments in real-time. Arrive provided dedicated links to track loads, allowing Phillips full visibility on every load. Despite a 100 percent volume increase, Arrive Fresh offered flexible solutions; provided consistent, reliable capacity; leveraged Arrive’s drop trailer program; and delivered best-in-class service, not missing a single delivery.
“Austin has provided us long term consistency and flexibility on one of our toughest lanes. He continues to exceed expectations and has not missed a beat throughout COVID-19.”
– Todd Cullen at Phillips Mushroom Farms
If you want to focus on your business with peace of mind during tough market conditions, Arrive Logistics can support you and your business, tailoring solutions to your specific challenges.
