The foodservice industry has grown rapidly over the past two decades and represents a major market for agricultural producers. The expansion of the foodservice industry has precipitated changes in the organization and structure of the industry and its distribution chain. The central link of particular interest to suppliers is the foodservice distributor industry. In addition to describing the organizational and structural components of the foodservice industry, this research describes the function of the foodservice distributors and analyzes key characteristics of distributors located throughout the eastern United States.