The Food Away From Home (FAFH) industry is experiencing a pivotal shift. Valued at over $4.6 trillion in 2024, it’s a market that has embraced technology and generated more data than ever before. But despite this abundance of information, many leaders still struggle with a frustrating reality: we’re drowning in data, yet starving for insight.
It’s time for a new approach. The tools and strategies that brought us this far—collecting and storing vast amounts of fragmented data—won’t take us to what’s next. The future of our industry will be defined by the quality of our data and the strength of our collaboration.
This is the conversation I’m excited to have with peers at IFMA’s Go2MarketEdge conference this August: how we move beyond data accumulation toward a shared strategy rooted in clarity, trust, and action.
What Data Collaboration Really Means
Data collaboration isn’t just a technical concept—it’s a business imperative. It means bringing together diverse datasets from across departments, partners, and ecosystems to uncover deeper insights than any single source can provide.
Yes, technology is essential. But people are the difference-makers—asking the right questions, aligning insights to strategy, and acting on what matters most.
At Cultura Technologies, we’re seeing this firsthand. We pair world-class ag supply chain visibility with Tibersoft’s unmatched view of downstream demand. This creates a powerful feedback loop—helping influence what gets grown based on what’s being bought. That kind of efficiency and intelligence simply isn’t possible in silos.
And yet, many organizations are still stuck there. A recent Forrester study revealed that 64% of decision-makers struggle to collaborate across teams on customer data. Sales, finance, marketing, and innovation each hold part of the picture—but only together can we see the full 360-degree view needed to unlock the power of AI and advanced analytics.
How Tibersoft Built for Data Collaboration: The OPTRADE Model
At Tibersoft, we’ve championed a collaborative data model since 2006 through OPTRADE, our industry-leading data collaborative. The idea is simple but powerful: shared data leads to better insights, better decisions, and better performance.
This model is trusted by enterprise manufacturers across the FAFH landscape, delivering unparalleled visibility into contract-managed foodservice locations across the U.S.
One clear example is Location Whitespace analysis. By merging our database of dining establishments with a client’s transactional data, we instantly map market penetration and identify untapped opportunities. It’s a data-driven way to find the “where next” in your growth strategy—with surgical precision.
From Noise to Signals: The Next Chapter
As we look forward, the next leap in data strategy is about refinement, not expansion. We don’t need more data—we need better signals.
That means collaborating with partners and vendors to unify disparate data into a single, actionable source of truth. It means enabling AI, language models, and agents with high-quality inputs—so they can deliver precise, predictive answers to questions like: “What’s my next best action this week?”
Imagine the impact: less time spent in spreadsheets, more time winning in the market.
Let’s Build It Together
The FAFH manufacturers that win the next era will be the ones who shift from data overload to data collaboration—who treat information as a shared asset, not a private stockpile.
At Tibersoft, this has been our north star for years. And now, more than ever, we believe the industry is ready to move forward—together.
If you’re attending IFMA’s GoToMarket Edge, I’d love to connect and explore what a smarter, collaborative future for FAFH can look like. Let’s build it together.
