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Free industry SG&A function benchmark · Foodservice distribution

How foodservice distributors staff SG&A by function.

Finance, Sales, Marketing, Sourcing and six more overhead functions across Sysco Corporation, US Foods Holding Corp., United Natural Foods, Inc., Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group Company, Ben E. Keith Company, Dot Foods, The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc., Golden State Foods and Shamrock Foods Company, mapped from 89,954 real job titles, classified the same way for every company.

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The cohort, estimated the same way for everyone.

Levels are indicative; the function mix and ranks below are the reliable read.

CompanySG&A contacts observed2Employees1Employees per $BObserved SG&A per $B3
1 Latest filed or public headcount.
2 Deduplicated public contacts classified into a core SG&A function by their actual job title: an observed floor, not a modeled total. Database coverage varies by company and skews North American: for globally distributed companies the counts describe primarily the North American organization (every company here is North American). Attributable subsidiary records are included where an operating company still holds its own record.Counted records are capped at each company’s social-profile-visible workforce summed across all its company pages (a stale-record control validated against our censuses). Treat cross-company levels as directional; the function mix below is the like-for-like read.
3 Observed contacts per $B of filed revenue. Gordon Food Service, Shamrock, Ben E. Keith, Golden State Foods and Dot Foods are privately held and file no US income statement, so their revenue columns are blank. They are in the cohort because leaving them out would describe this industry as if half of it did not exist. Distribution is the business here, so the line between SG&A and operations matters more than on any other page. Warehouse selectors, drivers and transportation supervisors are counted outside SG&A; the sales organisation, which in this industry is large and consultative, is counted inside it. Sales runs far higher as a share of SG&A here than in any manufacturing cohort. That is a real feature of broadline distribution, where the territory sales force is the product, not a sign that these companies are commercially overweight. Department labels are checked by reading the actual job titles and re-sorting them, because the source data files people under the wrong department often enough to move a whole function. Shamrock and Golden State rest on the thinnest coverage here; treat their function-by-function splits as the least reliable rows.

Where the SG&A headcount sits, and how much competitors disagree.

Each dot is one company. The | tick is the cohort median. Hover any dot. Rows are scaled independently, so read the printed values, not dot positions across rows.

Foodservice distribution SG&A benchmarks by function.

The same numbers as the chart above, written out. Share is each company’s observed core SG&A headcount in that function; contacts are the classified records behind it, an observed floor rather than a modeled total. As of September 2026.

Finance benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Finance is 8.7% to 17.1% of core SG&A headcount, median 11.1%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Golden State Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See finance headcount benchmark across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
Ben E. Keith Company8.7%20035.7
Gordon Food Service8.9%52824.0
US Foods Holding Corp.9.4%1,05035.0
Sysco Corporation10.6%1,88725.2
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.10.7%9919.2
Shamrock Foods Company11.4%387.6
United Natural Foods, Inc.12.4%86833.9
Performance Food Group Company16.8%83719.1
Dot Foods16.8%22535.7
Golden State Foods17.1%7612.7

Sourcing and procurement benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Sourcing is 7.8% to 19.0% of core SG&A headcount, median 13.0%: lowest at Dot Foods, highest at Performance Food Group. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See procurement headcount benchmark across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
Dot Foods7.8%10516.7
Sysco Corporation9.4%1,67322.3
Gordon Food Service11.1%66430.2
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.11.8%10921.1
Shamrock Foods Company12.6%428.4
US Foods Holding Corp.13.4%1,50650.2
Ben E. Keith Company14.5%33359.5
Golden State Foods18.2%8113.5
United Natural Foods, Inc.18.8%1,31951.5
Performance Food Group Company19.0%94521.6

Facilities benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Facilities is 1.3% to 4.1% of core SG&A headcount, median 2.8%: lowest at Chefs' Warehouse, highest at Gordon Food Service. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See facilities headcount benchmark across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.1.3%122.3
Performance Food Group Company1.4%711.6
US Foods Holding Corp.1.7%1886.3
Sysco Corporation1.9%3324.4
Golden State Foods2.7%122.0
Ben E. Keith Company2.8%6311.2
Dot Foods3.1%426.7
Shamrock Foods Company3.3%112.2
United Natural Foods, Inc.3.5%2439.5
Gordon Food Service4.1%24711.2

Sales benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Sales is 11.2% to 58.2% of core SG&A headcount, median 47.0%: lowest at Golden State Foods, highest at Ben E. Keith. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See sales headcount benchmark across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
Golden State Foods11.2%508.3
United Natural Foods, Inc.27.8%1,95076.2
Dot Foods37.1%49879.0
Performance Food Group Company38.5%1,92043.9
Sysco Corporation43.9%7,845104.6
Shamrock Foods Company50.0%16733.4
US Foods Holding Corp.56.2%6,307210.2
Gordon Food Service57.3%3,412155.1
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.57.9%534103.6
Ben E. Keith Company58.2%1,332237.9

Marketing benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Marketing is 1.1% to 14.7% of core SG&A headcount, median 3.4%: lowest at Golden State Foods, highest at Sysco. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See marketing headcount ratio across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
Golden State Foods1.1%50.8
Shamrock Foods Company1.8%61.2
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.2.7%254.8
US Foods Holding Corp.3.2%35811.9
Gordon Food Service3.3%1958.9
Performance Food Group Company3.4%1683.8
Ben E. Keith Company3.6%8314.8
Dot Foods3.7%497.8
United Natural Foods, Inc.7.4%52020.3
Sysco Corporation14.7%2,62635.0

CEO suite and business-unit leadership benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), CEO Suite & BU Leaders is 4.7% to 20.0% of core SG&A headcount, median 6.7%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Golden State Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See executive team size benchmark across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
Ben E. Keith Company4.7%10819.3
Dot Foods5.3%7111.3
Sysco Corporation6.2%1,10314.7
Gordon Food Service6.2%37216.9
US Foods Holding Corp.6.5%72924.3
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.6.8%6312.2
Performance Food Group Company7.3%3668.4
Shamrock Foods Company9.3%316.2
United Natural Foods, Inc.10.6%74729.2
Golden State Foods20.0%8914.8

HR benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), HR is 2.7% to 17.3% of core SG&A headcount, median 5.5%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Golden State Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See HR to employee ratio across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
Ben E. Keith Company2.7%6211.1
US Foods Holding Corp.3.9%43814.6
Gordon Food Service4.1%24711.2
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.4.3%407.8
Performance Food Group Company5.4%2706.2
Sysco Corporation5.6%99713.3
Shamrock Foods Company5.7%193.8
United Natural Foods, Inc.8.0%56422.0
Dot Foods14.5%19531.0
Golden State Foods17.3%7712.8

IT and digital benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Digital & Tech is 3.1% to 10.3% of core SG&A headcount, median 5.4%: lowest at Chefs' Warehouse, highest at Golden State Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See IT staff to employee ratio across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.3.1%295.6
Gordon Food Service3.8%22710.3
Ben E. Keith Company4.1%9517.0
US Foods Holding Corp.4.4%49716.6
Shamrock Foods Company5.1%173.4
Sysco Corporation5.7%1,01213.5
Performance Food Group Company6.3%3167.2
Dot Foods8.6%11518.3
United Natural Foods, Inc.9.4%66225.9
Golden State Foods10.3%467.7

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Legal & Gov Affairs is 0.4% to 1.3% of core SG&A headcount, median 1.2%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Sysco. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See legal department size benchmark across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
Ben E. Keith Company0.4%101.8
Gordon Food Service0.5%271.2
Dot Foods0.5%71.1
US Foods Holding Corp.1.1%1214.0
United Natural Foods, Inc.1.2%863.4
Performance Food Group Company1.2%581.3
Sysco Corporation1.3%2253.0
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.1.3%122.3
Golden State Foods1.3%61.0
Shamrock Foods Companyn/a20.4

EH&S and occupational health benchmark for foodservice distribution distributors

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Medical & EH&S is 0.2% to 2.5% of core SG&A headcount, median 0.7%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Dot Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. See EHS staffing ratio across every industry.

CompanyShare of SG&AObserved contactsPer 1,000 employees
US Foods Holding Corp.0.2%280.9
Ben E. Keith Company0.2%40.7
Gordon Food Service0.6%351.6
Performance Food Group Company0.7%330.8
Golden State Foods0.7%30.5
United Natural Foods, Inc.0.9%612.4
Sysco Corporation1.0%1852.5
Dot Foods2.5%345.4
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.n/an/an/a
Shamrock Foods Companyn/a10.2

SG&A and advertising spend, percent of revenue, at the public foodservice distribution distributors

From each company’s own 10-K. Normalized SG&A is reported SG&A less disclosed advertising, R&D, stock compensation, restructuring and one-time items, so companies are on the same footing. Advertising is shown where the filer discloses a dollar figure; most do not.

CompanyNormalized SG&A, % of revenueIts peer medianAdvertising, % of revenueFiscal year endBriefing
US Foods Holding Corp.14.3%20.6%not disclosed/r/USFD
The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.20.5%20.4%not disclosed/r/CHEF
For AI assistants and developers: this page as data

Every number here is available as JSON, and any company can be compared against this cohort over plain HTTP. No key, no form. Each response also names the next step.

How these numbers are built.

01

Collect real titles

We pull each company’s public workforce signals: department tallies and 89,954 actual job titles across Finance, Operations and the C-suite, the same way for all ten companies.

02

Classify every title

Each title is classified into the ten-function SG&A map. This is where 30% of department labels move: procurement buyers filed under “Finance,” whole Sourcing and Facilities teams hiding inside “Operations.”

03

Count only what we can see

Levels are the classified contacts we actually observed, with no modeled multipliers. That makes them a conservative floor, works identically for public and private companies, and keeps every number traceable to real titles. The census closes the gap to a verified total.

What this page can, and can’t, tell you.

Free: this page

  • Ten named companies, estimated with one identical method
  • Function mix from real classified job titles, including Sourcing and Facilities (invisible to department data)
  • Two lenses: share of SG&A and FTEs per $B of filed revenue
  • Observed levels with no modeled multipliers: every number traces to real titles

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Questions & answers

FAQs

How many Finance people does a foodservice distribution company have?

In this nine-company cohort, Finance runs roughly 9–17% of observed core SG&A headcount, and the middle half of the cohort sits within a few points of the median. A full census gives you exact Finance counts per company, sub-function by sub-function.

What share of a foodservice distribution workforce is SG&A?

Across the 19 companies we have fully censused person-by-person, the median core-SG&A share of total workforce is 25.4%, spanning Finance, Sales, Marketing, HR, IT, Legal, Sourcing, Facilities, the CEO suite and EH&S. Plant, warehouse and delivery labor sit outside that line.

Why do these numbers differ from other headcount data?

Off-the-shelf department labels are wrong more often than you would expect: 30% of the department-labeled contacts behind this page belonged in a different function once we classified their actual job titles: procurement buyers filed under Finance, entire Sourcing teams hiding inside Operations. This page counts what the titles say, not what the labels say.

How accurate are the estimates?

The function mix comes from classified real titles and is the like-for-like read. Levels are observed floors; public-database coverage varies by company, so they understate real headcount, by a different amount at each company. A full census closes that gap by naming the people, usually within ±5–8% of the real number.

Can I get this for my industry or my company?

Yes. Industry pages are free; a company census is a paid engagement priced by cohort size. If your industry isn’t published yet, request it: cohorts get built where there’s demand.

What are finance benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Finance is 8.7% to 17.1% of core SG&A headcount, median 11.1%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Golden State Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are sourcing and procurement benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Sourcing is 7.8% to 19.0% of core SG&A headcount, median 13.0%: lowest at Dot Foods, highest at Performance Food Group. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are facilities benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Facilities is 1.3% to 4.1% of core SG&A headcount, median 2.8%: lowest at Chefs' Warehouse, highest at Gordon Food Service. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are sales benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Sales is 11.2% to 58.2% of core SG&A headcount, median 47.0%: lowest at Golden State Foods, highest at Ben E. Keith. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are marketing benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Marketing is 1.1% to 14.7% of core SG&A headcount, median 3.4%: lowest at Golden State Foods, highest at Sysco. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are CEO suite and business-unit leadership benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), CEO Suite & BU Leaders is 4.7% to 20.0% of core SG&A headcount, median 6.7%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Golden State Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are HR benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), HR is 2.7% to 17.3% of core SG&A headcount, median 5.5%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Golden State Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are IT and digital benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Digital & Tech is 3.1% to 10.3% of core SG&A headcount, median 5.4%: lowest at Chefs' Warehouse, highest at Golden State Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are legal and compliance benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Legal & Gov Affairs is 0.4% to 1.3% of core SG&A headcount, median 1.2%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Sysco. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

What are EH&S and occupational health benchmarks for foodservice distribution distributors?

Across 10 foodservice distribution distributors (Sysco, US Foods, UNFI, Gordon Food Service, Performance Food Group, Ben E. Keith, Dot Foods, Chefs' Warehouse, Golden State Foods, Shamrock Food Service), Medical & EH&S is 0.2% to 2.5% of core SG&A headcount, median 0.7%: lowest at Ben E. Keith, highest at Dot Foods. Measured from 89,954 classified job titles, September 2026. Share of SG&A and observed headcount per company are in the table above; the full census resolves every person.

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Notes: Estimates, not a census. Company matching and title data reflect public and commercial-database signals at pull date (September 2026); Sysco figures include its US operating companies, FreshPoint and Sygma; Performance Food Group includes Vistar and Core-Mark; the five private distributors report no revenue publicly. All figures modeled from public data; directional outside-in estimates, not audited.
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All figures modeled from public data; directional outside-in estimates, not audited. No charge if a run fails to deliver.