Church's Chicken Awards Supplier, Distributor of the Year at Leadership Conference in Dallas

    DALLAS, TX, September 30, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Church's Chicken, one of the largest fried chicken restaurant brands in the world, recently recognized its best performing supply partner and distribution center for the year 2017. On Tuesday, Sept. 19th, Church's awarded supply partner, Huhtamaki, Supplier of the Year and Performance Food Group - Little Rock Distributor of the Year at its annual Excellence in Leadership Conference in Dallas, TX.

The honors were given by Vice President of Global Supply Chain for Church's, Chris Ward.

"We wanted to recognize these two partners as integral components to the Church's system," said Ward. "With the challenges faced by all of us on the commodity and labor front, working together to ensure that we deliver value each day for all parties involved is important. They help make it all possible."

Supplier of the Year

In collaboration with global food packaging specialist, Huhtamaki, Church's has been able to globally source the paperboard used in producing the Church's boxes and cartons.

"Their 'get it done' attitude is why we are honoring Huhtamaki as a 2017 Excellence in Leadership Conference Supplier of the Year," said Ward to an audience of hundreds, Tuesday. "Huhtamaki has been a strong partner for Church's Chicken. They provide consistent, high quality products and services while continuing to be cost competitive."

Paul Lindquist, Senior Manager of Procurement and Supply Chain for Church's, and Steve Lash, Senior Director of Distribution and Logistics, joined Ward on stage to give the well-deserved recognition.

"Huhtamaki is proud to receive the award of Supplier of the Year and is very grateful for the recognition," said Teresa Leonard, National Account Manager for Church's at Huhtamaki. "We value our relationship with Church's and view our partnership as an example of how collaboration, hard work and respect can lead to mutual success. It is a great honor to be chosen as Supplier of the Year."

Distributor of the Year

Of the 14 distribution centers that serve and support Church's, Performance Food Group -- Little Rock, AR was chosen as the best in the brand's system this year. The award was accepted by PFG Little Rock's Multi-Unit Accounts Manager, Nathan Yoder.

"Setting standards for Food Safety, Food Quality and On-Time Delivery, determines an individual distribution center's core," said Ward. "With 2016 being PFG Little Rock's first full year of service, the center provided outstanding service and its performance was ranked best in our team."

Earlier this year, the Church's Supply Chain team hosted a celebration for PFG - Little Rock's achievement with a catered luncheon for the staff and warehouse crews at the Little Rock distribution facility.

About Church's Chicken
Founded in San Antonio, TX in 1952 by George W. Church, Church's Chicken is one of the largest quick service restaurant chicken chains in the world. Church's specializes in Original and Spicy Chicken freshly prepared throughout the day in small batches that are hand-battered and double-breaded, Tender Strips , honey-butter biscuits made from scratch and freshly baked, and classic, home-style sides all for a great value. Church's (along with its sister brand Texas Chicken outside the Americas) has more than 1,650 locations in 27 countries and international territories and system-wide sales of more than $1 billion. For more information, visit http://www.churchs.com. Follow Church's on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/churchschicken and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/churchschicken.

About Huhtamaki
Huhtamaki is a global specialist in packaging for food and drink. With our network of 74 manufacturing units and additional 24 sales only offices in altogether 34 countries, we're well placed to support our customers' growth wherever they operate. Mastering three distinctive packaging technologies, approximately 17,000 employees develop and make packaging that helps great products reach more people, more easily. In 2016 our net sales totaled EUR 2.9 billion. The Group has its head office in Espoo, Finland and the parent company Huhtamäki Oyj is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. Additional information is available at http://www.huhtamaki.com.

About Performance Food Group Company
Through its family of leading foodservice distributors - Performance Foodservice, Vistar, and PFG Customized - Performance Food Group Company (PFG) markets and distributes approximately 150,000 food and food-related products from 76 distribution centers to over 150,000 customer locations across the United States. PFG's 14,000+ associates serve a diverse mix of customers, from independent and chain restaurants to schools, business and industry locations, hospitals, vending distributors, office coffee service distributors, big box retailers, and theaters. The company sources its products from more than 5,000 suppliers and serves as an important partner to its suppliers by providing them access to the company's broad customer base. For more information, visit http://www.pfgc.com.

# # #