How Produce Express Modernized Food Distribution with Choco eCommerce

A Family Food Business Built on Service

Produce Express has been a trusted name in Northern California’s food supply chain since 1984. Founded by James Boyce Sr., the company has grown from a door-to-door produce business into a full-service distributor with 116 employees, 41 trucks, and a 55,000-square-foot warehouse serving a 100-mile radius. Still family-run by the second generation, Produce Express built its reputation on reliability, quality, and personal relationships.

But as its customer base grew, so did the pressure on its operations. The customer service team,over 15 people, worked nearly around the clock taking orders by phone. With more than 5,000 orders a week, the manual process became unsustainable.

In 2023, they found Choco. 

“How can we take 5,000 orders a week without burning out our team?”

Produce Express wanted to maintain the personal service their business was built on, but the old way of doing things couldn’t scale.

Phone-based ordering required constant staffing and late-night support, and as more customers demanded digital convenience, the gap between tradition and modernization widened. The team needed a way to automate order capture without losing the personal connection that defined their relationships.

Rolling out Choco eCommerce

At first, Produce Express rolled out Choco’s eCommerce platform, bringing 40% of their customers online. The impact was immediate: phone order volume dropped by the same percentage, easing overnight workloads and allowing the team to focus on service, logistics, and growth.

With Choco, customers can place orders anytime through the app, while Produce Express staff manage fulfillment with greater accuracy and visibility.

In 2025, the distributor expanded their toolkit with AI Menu Scanning; a feature that lets DSRs upload a restaurant menu and instantly receive a breakdown of menu items, ingredients, and matched SKUs. What once took an hour of manual research now takes seconds, helping sales teams identify new opportunities faster.

They also implemented SalesHub to centralize communication and onboarding, and are preparing to launch Choco EasyPay through a partnership with Wholesail, integrating invoicing and payments directly into their workflow.

Digitizing food distribution, with people at the center

Since adopting Choco, Produce Express has cut manual phone orders nearly in half, improved order accuracy, and created a scalable foundation for growth.

By embracing automation and AI-driven tools, the company has gained efficiency while preserving its hallmark personal service.

For Produce Express, technology isn’t replacing relationships, it’s reinforcing them. And with Choco’s AI-powered platform, they’re showing what the future of food distribution looks like: faster, smarter, and still family-run at heart.