Food and Beverage Fleets Adopt Sustainable Practices
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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Private fleets operating in the food and beverage sector are demonstrating effective use cases for electric-powered trucks, electric transport refrigeration units and alternative fuels as they implement their sustainability initiatives.
“Everybody knows the expense is hard to offset sometimes, and quite frankly, sometimes you’re not going to offset it. You have to make that commitment if you’re going to jump into this to do it,” said Nick Selders, vice president of outbound transportation for United Natural Foods Inc., a Providence, R.I.–based wholesale distributor of natural and organic food.
Manhattan Beer & Beverage Distributors, meanwhile, has invested heavily in natural gas-powered trucks as part of its long-standing efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
Juan Corcino, the company’s senior director of fleet operations and sustainability, said 300 out of the 400 trucks in the beer distributor’s fleet run on compressed natural gas.
Manhattan Beer & Beverage Distributors’ Juan Corcino (left) and Martin-Brower’s Daniel Fahey discuss how their fleets have been reducing emissions during a panel discussion at ACT Expo 2025. (Mindy Long for Transport Topics)
“I love CNG. We’ve been doing it for 25 years, but the next chapter is battery-electric vehicles,” he said.
In the summer of 2021, the Bronx, N.Y.-based company made its first deliveries with a Volvo battery-electric truck and currently has five of those vehicles in its fleet.
“Since then, we’ve been using those trucks every day,” Corcino said. “For the past four years, the first five trucks we put in service have been going out every day with minimum issues.”
UNFI ranks No. 14 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriers in North America, and No. 1 among top grocery carriers.
Manhattan Beer & Beverage ranks No. 21 on the TT list of top beverage carriers.
US Foods’ Ken Marko provides an update on the food service distributor’s sustainability initiatives.(Mindy Long for Transport Topics)
Selders and Corcino joined Daniel Fahey, vice president of U.S. quality and sustainability for The Martin-Brower Co., and Ken Marko, fleet sustainability senior manager at US Foods, in a panel discussion on transforming logistics in the food and beverage sector at the 2025 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, held April 28-May 1 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
US Foods ranks No. 5 on the TT100 private carriers list, and No. 2 on the top food service carriers list. Martin-Brower ranks No. 8 on the food service carriers list.
Panelists agreed that truck routes in the food and beverage industry are an ideal match for battery-electric vehicles.
“Most of our routes are well within the range capability of electric trucks today,” Marko said.
Manhattan Beer & Beverage Distributors’ longest route is less than 300 miles. Only two routes can’t be completed with a BEV, but Corcino said the technology is advancing quickly.
“The two that can’t complete their route with electric aren’t far away,” he said.
UNFI has deployed one Volvo VNR Electric and one Freightliner eCascadia model in its fleet along with 22 Orange EV terminal trucks.
The company also has focused on reducing emissions from its refrigerated trailers. UNFI operates 58 refrigerated trailers equipped with electrification technologies from Advanced Energy Machines and ConMet at its facility in Riverside, Calif., with 16 additional trailers coming later this year.
Nick Selders discusses zero-emission truck and trailer technologies. (Mindy Long for Transport Topics)
Selders said electric transport refrigeration units have provided a favorable total cost of ownership, due in large part to grants and working with partners such as PLM Trailer Leasing to finance the trailers.
US Foods also has deployed refrigerated trailers with eTRUs.
“They are cleaner and quieter. That makes them perfect for overnight deliveries,” Marko said, adding that many routes start at 2 a.m. and may pass through neighborhoods. “When you deliver products with diesel vehicles and diesel TRUs, occasionally, they make a little bit more noise than somebody that’s sound asleep cares to listen to.”
US Foods currently operates 48 battery-electric tractors and plans to expand to more than 60 soon. Its fleet also includes electric yard tractors and an electric straight truck with an eTRU. The company has accumulated more than 1.1 million miles with battery-electric vehicles.
One of the fleet’s biggest wins with BEV technology has been with drivers, Marko said.
“Our drivers absolutely love the vehicles,” he said. “They love how quiet it is. They love the fact that they don’t smell like diesel when they go home tonight, but they appreciate the small things — the smoother rides of these vehicles, reduced noise, the cleaner operation of EVs and alternative fuel vehicles.”
Site selection is key when identifying routes that will work with BEVs.
“There are some sites that are more attractive from a [total cost of ownership] perspective than other sites, and a lot of that’s based on utility rate funding programs and a few other factors,” Marko said. “Not every site is appropriate for an electric vehicle, so that’s why we do look at different technologies like renewable diesel.”
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US Foods uses renewable diesel in California and is exploring opportunities to use it outside of the state.
Martin-Brower, a Rosemont, Ill.-based transportation company serving the food service industry, utilized more than 3 million gallons of alternative fuel, including renewable diesel, in the United States last year.
“That allows us to have the biggest impact now in the short term,” Fahey said.
Martin-Brower also uses renewable electricity across its network in California. Fahey said transitioning to renewable diesel and near-zero emissions at California distribution centers has been cost neutral.
“We focus on double green. It’s got to be green for business. It’s got to be green for the environment,” he said. “We have a very pragmatic approach to these things. They have to have a business case, and they have to move the needle on the environment.”
Martin-Brower is a business unit of food and beverage distributor Reyes Holdings, which ranks No. 6 on the TT Top 100 list of private fleet operators.
Given the higher costs associated with battery-electric trucks, government incentives can play an important role in supporting adoption of that technology.
Manhattan Beer Distributors uses one of its battery-electric Volvo VNR Electric models to deliver beverages in Queens, N.Y. (Volvo Trucks North America)
Manhattan Beer & Beverage Distributors uses state incentives in New York that provide $225,000 for a Class 8 tractor, and the local power company has incentives for charging vehicles overnight.
Martin-Brower also utilizes state and federal incentives.
“A lot of these technologies do pencil out if you have a strong incentive to get us started,” Fahey said.
Despite uncertainty about funding programs and emissions regulations, speakers said their organizations are committed to reducing carbon emissions.
“We’ve decided as a company to stay the course. My personal opinion is you’re just kicking the can down the road,” UNFI’s Selders said. “It isn’t going away. It is here to stay.”
In addition to trying to control costs, panelists said they’re working through charging infrastructure challenges.
“Infrastructure takes a long time and there is a cost,” said Marko of US Foods, which operates 30 electric DC fast chargers.
“We’re working hard to develop positive TCOs and working with customers to bring costs down over time,” he added.
The transition to new technologies can involve a steep learning curve for fleet operators.
“We’ve learned pilot, pilot, pilot. Test. Iterate. Start small, learn fast and scale what works,” Marko said.
Martin-Brower learned early on that more internal collaboration was needed from day one.
“As we do that, we’re able to adapt some of these ideas so that there is no impact on operations and no impact on the cost of the business, so that there’s no reason to argue against it, and everyone is pulling in the same direction,” Fahey said.
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Fleets are also focused on performance, which is critical when hauling temperature-sensitive products. US Foods uses telematics to monitor energy use, idle time, uptime and temperatures. “We’ve got a lot of data to understand how these vehicles are performing and help us ensure that we’re maintaining temperature integrity,” Marko said.
Corcino reminded attendees that there are low-cost options for fleets to reduce emissions, such as limiting idling and governing speed.
“We have a three-minute idle shutdown. The trucks are all limited to 60 miles per hour. The difference between 60 and 72 on consumption is huge,” Corcino said, adding that a telematics team monitors driver behavior and assigns the new trucks to the top performers. “We try to reward the driver by giving him the best vehicle with the best technology.”
