Award presentation took place at Convenience Distribution Marketplace Awards Luncheon.
Kit Dietz, long-time convenience distribution industry consultant and advisor and author of numerous studies that have helped guide CDA member companies, was presented with the Convenience Distribution Association (CDA) Dean of the Industry Award Feb. 14, 2017.
The presentation came during the Convenience Distribution Marketplace Awards Luncheon during the association’s annual conference and convention at the Hilton Orlando.
Dietz, who for many years operated Dietz Consulting, based in Huron, Ohio, is now president of the data analytics company, InfoRhythm, based in Pittsburgh, which operates CDA’s exclusive InfoMetrics data program used by member companies and suppliers to improve category management, sales and profit.
“Kit’s contributions to CDA and our member companies over many years have proven to be invaluable. His understanding and insight into our industry is based on his own experience as a distributor and the product of an analytical mind that is unmatched,” said CDA President & CEO Kimberly Bolin. “He is a perfect choice for the Dean of the Industry Award.”
“One of the reasons I left being a distributor was so I could focus on helping the distribution industry create collaboration between distributors, manufacturers and retailers and help better drive the industry,” said Dietz.
Dietz’ first major work for CDA (then the American Wholesale Marketers Association) was the C/Scape study in 1999, which focused on activity-based costs for each item as it moved from the distributor’s door to the consumer’s basket, and its relation to profitability.
Subsequent studies relied on this analysis based on increasing amounts of data, and included such works as “The Distributor Value Equation,” a two part analysis of the value that distributors bring to the supply chain and opportunities for profit, as well as “Convenience, Confections & Profit – Targeting the Core,” which details profit opportunities within the confections category for distributors and their suppliers.
Dietz is also consultant to the Warehouse-Delivered Snacks Committee, which focuses on promoting the sale of products delivered by convenience distributors vs. those delivered directly to the store by manufacturers.
“Besides thinking strategically, tactically, and analytically, Kit is always solution-and outcome-focused,” said Rob Sincavich, president of Team Sledd, Wheeling, W.Va., a former CDA chair. “We have more data and information than we’ve ever had in our history. Being able to both know and execute getting the right items into the retail stores that we serve is quickly becoming one of the most powerful competitive differentiators for distributors.”
The Dean of the Industry Award is presented annually by CDA in recognition of an industry executive’s longstanding service and commitment to his company and the convenience distribution industry.