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Growth Accelerator

Scale, trust, and consistency matter more than ever in foodservice.

IMA wields a $43 billion buying power advantage, boasts deep category management and negotiation strategy, and serves as a trusted governance layer.

The IMA Operating Model

Over the course of 25 years, we’ve built and been guided by the IMA Operating Model to leverage this power across four strategic business services.

A core result of our model is an EXCLUSIVE BRANDS portfolio that is preferred by operators and DSRs as a competitive point of differentiation.

IMA Operating Model
Procurement

Deep Category Management

The expertise and relationship depth of IMA’s category management are second to none. From data-driven insights and planning to negotiations, insight cuttings, selection, and purchasing, IMA is both a partner and liaison. We manage 300+ supplier programs and procurement for over 4,000 carefully selected competitive products under our EXCLUSIVE BRANDS. We use our shared leverage to achieve:
  • The right cost of goods
  • Broad assortment to meet every need
  • Best-fit product formulas for members

IMA category management and FSQA experts evaluate over 1,000 SKUs every single year in depth as part of our unwavering commitment to procuring the best fit and quality for our members.

table with food

Exclusive Brand Support

IMA empowers distributor members with high-impact sales and marketing tools to drive demand for EXCLUSIVE BRANDS. In-person and virtual trainings strengthen sales confidence and category expertise.

Point-of-sale materials, product catalogs, seasonal trend guides, and social content help teams activate faster and sell smarter in market. Streamlined packaging accelerates speed to market – capturing opportunities and driving results.

  • Over 15,000 digital brand assets
  • Proven to drive pull-through demand
  • Empowering members to successfully sell
Securing Quality and Innovation

Food Safety & Quality Assurance

Our Food Safety and Quality Assurance team rigorously reviews third-party audits and maintains precise product specs. We conduct regular evaluations, bench audits, and side-by-side comparisons with top competitors.

Every first production run, new item, and reformulation undergoes thorough review before qualifying for EXCLUSIVE BRAND production.

All suppliers must meet USDA and FDA food safety standards.

These checks protect operators and ensure consistency, reliability, and quality across all EXCLUSIVE BRANDS – delivering products you can trust in any foodservice setting.

Our experts stay ahead of regulatory compliance to mitigate risk and reinforce trust.

  • Rigorous 10-step FSQA process
  • Continual product review and testing
  • Confidence in food safety & quality

Industry Leading Events

The immersive experience at any IMA exclusive event is indescribable. The energy. The connection. The confidence to walk away and continue to lead, backed by the power of the alliance.

IMA hosts incredible events throughout the year to keep our members and supplier partners connected and better equipped to not only stay at the forefront today – but to forge an even greater future of growth.

  • High-impact relationship building
  • Exclusive access to gain alignment
  • Destination locations not to miss

  IMAgine

Each year, IMAgine is more than an event – it is a catalyst for collaboration, deeper connections, and shared success across our community. Stay tuned for the next destination location and get ready to revel in the energy.

  Accelerate

Accelerate is a weeklong space of opportunity and ceremony of recognition that serves as a powerful reminder of what’s possible when industry leaders come together with a shared purpose – to accelerate growth, elevate performance, and deliver excellence.

  Training Summits

Our summits offer total immersion in strategies that help operators do more with less and maintain peak profitability using our portfolio of EXCLUSIVE BRANDS.
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