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Foodservice Keynote Speaker for the teams that sell to and serve restaurants
Tony DiSilvestro is a foodservice keynote speaker who owns the Ynot Italian restaurant group and has spoken to a 175-person US Foods sales team at PNC Arena. He speaks to distributor sales meetings, customer shows, and manufacturer and broker teams about the relationship behind every restaurant account: your people and the operator on the other end of the order.
How One Foodservice Account Looks From Each Side
Read each moment from the distributor's side and the operator's side, then pick the keynote theme you think fits it. Your pick reveals the theme Tony connects to that moment.
The Sales Call
The rep sees room to grow: a new item to place, a category the kitchen buys elsewhere, a target for the month.
The owner sees a visit that lands during prep. If the rep missed last month's menu change, a good suggestion sounds like one more thing to handle.
Match: People and Profit.Tony connects this to People and Profit. Tony talks about food cost, labor, and staffing as a restaurant owner, which is the view behind the operator's side of this call.
Delivery Day
Warehouse and transportation teams measure accurate picks, on-time stops, and clean invoices. A complete truck looks like a finished job.
The kitchen measures whether the right product arrived before service. A missing case found late in the day becomes the operator's problem.
Match: Accountability.Tony connects this to Accountability. Tony's accountability theme asks every department that touches the account, from sales to delivery, to own the result the kitchen sees.
The Short or Substitution
An item is out, so the system subs a close match. Inside the building it is a reasonable fix, and the next question is who tells the customer before the truck arrives.
For the restaurant, a substitution can change a recipe, a plate cost, or a dish on the menu. A short call ahead of the truck changes how the owner remembers it.
Match: Delegation.Tony connects this to Delegation. Tony's delegation theme covers handing a decision like this one to the people closest to the customer.
The Account Review
Sales and operations leaders review case volume, drop size, and share of the operator's spend. Those numbers show how the account is growing from the distributor's side.
The owner reviews food cost, labor, and whether the distributor made the week easier or harder. That answer sits beside the price sheet when the next order is placed.
Match: Sales and Ops Alignment.Tony connects this to Sales and Ops Alignment. Tony's alignment theme is about sales and operations leaders working from the same picture of what the customer was promised.
Formats for Food Distribution Meetings and Customer Shows
Foodservice events mix internal meetings with customer-facing days, so the format should follow the room. For longer working sessions with a leadership group, see Tony's leadership workshops.
Main‑Stage Keynote
A 30-minute keynote for a customer show general session or the opening of a sales meeting, when operators and your team share the room.
Expanded Session
A 60-minute session for a distributor or manufacturer sales meeting that has room for more than an opening talk.
Interactive Breakout
A 90-minute breakout for operations, broker, or manufacturer teams who want a smaller room built around delegation and accountability.
Half‑Day Workshop
A half-day workshop for a foodservice leadership team that wants a longer working session on Tony's themes.
A Keynote From the Customer's Side of the Invoice
At a food distribution conference, Tony speaks from the customer's side of the invoice. As the owner of the Ynot Italian restaurant group, he is a foodservice customer himself, so he sees the relationship from the seat your customers sit in when they decide which suppliers earn more of their business.
He pairs that view with 30 years of building more than 30 companies and leading more than 450 people, which is why his message reaches beyond the sales team. Distributors, manufacturers, and brokers win restaurant accounts through the whole organization: the rep who understands the menu, the driver at the kitchen door, and the manager who sets both of them up to do it. Read Tony's background.
- Sales teams who call on independent and multi-unit restaurants
- Operations, warehouse, and delivery leaders who serve those same accounts
- Manufacturer and broker teams who depend on the distributor relationship
What Tony Covers for Foodservice Teams
Each theme comes from how Tony has built and scaled his own companies, pointed at the people who sell, deliver, and support restaurant accounts.
People and Profit
Tony runs the Ynot Italian restaurant group, so he talks about food cost, labor, and staffing as a customer who deals with them every week. For sales teams, that is a first-hand look at what sits behind a restaurant's buying decisions.
Accountability Past the Dock
An order is finished when the kitchen can use it. Tony's accountability theme asks every department that touches an account, from sales to delivery, to own its part of that result.
Delegation Near the Customer
Shorts, subs, and credits stall when every decision waits on a manager. Tony's delegation theme covers handing those decisions to the people closest to the customer.
Sales and Ops on One Plan
A distributor grows an account when the people selling it and the people serving it agree on what the customer was promised. Tony covers aligning leaders around that promise.
Brand Vision Kept Simple
A manufacturer or broker selling through a distributor needs its message to hold up in someone else's sales call. Tony's brand vision theme covers defining what a company stands for in terms simple enough for every rep to repeat.
Back to Day One
Tony's back to day one theme asks leaders of established companies to look at their basics again as if they were starting over, then grow the parts that still serve restaurant customers.
Video to Share With Your Meeting Team
Send these to whoever signs off on the speaker for your sales meeting or customer show. The hero button above plays the full speaker reel.
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He conveys his messages with authenticity and passion.
Questions From Distributor and Supplier Planners
These come up most when a distributor, manufacturer, or broker is choosing a speaker for a sales meeting or customer event.
Has Tony spoken to a foodservice sales team before?
Yes. Tony delivered a keynote to a 175-person US Foods sales team meeting at PNC Arena.
How is this different from Tony's restaurant keynote?
The restaurant keynote speaks to operators about running their own shifts and locations. The foodservice keynote speaks to the companies that supply them, using Tony's view as a restaurant owner to show distributor, manufacturer, and broker teams how their customers make decisions.
Does the keynote work at a customer show with operators in the audience?
The themes speak to both sides of the distributor and operator relationship, which suits a customer show general session. When you send your date, note whether the room is mostly your employees, mostly operators, or both.
Is the keynote only for broadline distributors?
No. The themes apply to specialty distributors, food manufacturers, and brokers as well. Anyone whose revenue depends on restaurant operators choosing to keep buying from them faces the same questions of ownership and alignment.
When should we lock in a date for our meeting or show?
Tony's team recommends three to nine months before your sales meeting or customer show. If the date is sooner, send it with your company type and room mix, and his team will say whether it is open.
Bring Tony to Your Sales Meeting or Customer Show
Tell Tony's team about the meeting and who will fill the seats. They will reply with his availability and the formats that suit a foodservice audience.
- Meeting or show date and location
- Your company type: distributor, manufacturer, or broker
- Who is in the room: sales, operations, customers, or a mix
- The session length you are planning around
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