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From Irving streets to statewide reach
“ Yumi was founded in 1986 in Irving, Texas, initially supplying mobile ice cream trucks serving local neighborhoods,” Hoss explains.
In 1989, the company seized an opportunity to acquire a Fort Worth operation, formerly a branch of Delight Wholesale, instantly inheriting a base of seventy convenience stores. Yumi grew that base steadily, and in 1992 acquired a former Häagen Dazs location, expanding its DSD footprint. 1996 was the breakthrough year that transformed Yumi from a regional distributor into a major player by partnering with one of the world’ s largest food companies. Nestlé decided to change the way it made its ice cream products. Instead of having several different local dairies produce products, which led to inconsistent quality, it centralized manufacturing and looked for reliable distributors across the country. Nestlé elevated Yumi’ s business and granted Yumi the exclusive right to distribute Nestlé ice cream products throughout Dallas – Fort Worth. This partnership gave a huge advantage in the marketplace by adding more than 1000 new customers in just the first few months.
By 1999-to-2000, Nestlé had so much confidence in Yumi’ s performance in the Dallas – Fort Worth market that it asked the company to expand its distribution operations across much of Texas, including Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and the surrounding areas.
Within a year, Yumi added 5000 new customers; a performance so impressive that Nestlé asked Yumi to train other distributors on their model.
Business owners from across the US and Europe traveled to Dallas for three day seminars, riding along with Yumi’ s team to
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