Pepper

The last 90 days were huge at Pepper. If you missed the live recap, you can now watch it anytime. The session covered everything we shipped, with live demos, customer examples, and a few teases of what’s coming in the next 90 days. Here’s a sneak peek of what we discussed: ✅ New Storefront updates that give distributors more control over customer experience ✅ A Sale Hub release that goes after the biggest thing getting in the way of reps ✅ The largest Finance Hub expansion since launch ✅ Measurable improvements to how Order Agent processes orders Watch it here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eJiPXjDu Have a favorite feature? Or anything you want to dive deeper into? Let us know in the comments below👇

It is easy to confuse velocity with value. We recently held an offsite at our New York office to tackle a problem in an AI-first way, and it challenged a lot of our assumptions about how teams build together. The old way: weeks of discovery, alignment meetings, careful scoping. Building was expensive, so clarity upfront was everything. The new way: prototyping is so fast that we didn't walk in with slides or specs. We walked in with three working prototypes—built independently, by different people, all solving the same problem in different ways. Three visions of what we should build, each one far enough along to feel real. Sounds great. It wasn't. Day one was rough. Nobody left the room feeling great. When everyone has already invested in their own version, the conversation stops being "what should we build?" and becomes "why is mine the right one?" People were bummed, unsure what we were solving for, wondering if their time had been wasted. But that discomfort taught me more about building in the AI era than the prototypes did. Three things stuck with me: 1. Velocity is not value. When building is cheap, it's easy to set off in the wrong direction—fast. You get 80% of the way there, realize it's the wrong thing, and start over. That loop can take longer than the old process ever did. Shipping quickly feels like progress, but figuring out the right problem to solve is the new differentiating skill. 2. When you've built something that works, you get attached. You look at your prototype, see everything it can do, and think "this is so close." That makes it harder for the best idea to win. People are more entrenched on an 80% artifact than they ever were on an abstract idea. Staying genuinely open takes real effort. 3. The antidote is being very okay with arguing. The friction on day one was exactly what let us come back on day two, take a fresh look, and land on the actual solution. If building is cheap, the expensive part is figuring out what's worth building—and that only happens when people are willing to disagree out loud. What's a belief about how you work that AI has made you reconsider?

🚀 Come see what we've been building! We're excited to walk through our Q1 release LIVE as product managers at Pepper battle it out to see who delivered the most impactful updates over the last three months. They'll cover: 💰 Check scanning 🏎️ FAST sales rep order entry 💳 Branded card and loyalty programs 🎤 Automating orders through voice memos 📝 Line item notes And more! Don't miss as Alan Yao, Álvaro J. Soltero, Angela Pastor, and David Currie walk through the latest and greatest at Pepper, with Nick Ziech-Lopez MC'ing the 45 minute session. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eJiPXjDu

Pepper is heading to the PRO*ACT Summit next week! Here’s how we’re showing up this year: 🎤 On April 14th at 10:30 am, Nick Ziech-Lopez, our Head of Product Marketing, is joining the AI in Your Business Today panel to talk about how distributors can win with AI. 💡 Erin Gorman and Wes Finch will also be leading a breakout session, Beyond the Box: Value-Added Solutions for Foodservice, where they'll discuss how technology, AI, and automation are reshaping the way distributors operate and grow. 📍And find us on the expo floor at Booth #403. Whether you’re on Pepper or just curious, we’d love to chat. See you in Orlando!

Throwback Tuesday to last week when we were at the UniPro Foodservice Spring Conference in Orlando 🌴 We came and left with good conversations and lots of ideas. It was great seeing everyone bring the energy: Distributors were leaning in, asking questions, and taking the lead. Every year, we’re reminded of how important it is for this industry and community to keep growing and collaborating. We’re proud to be a part of it. On Monday, we kicked things off at Disney’s Epcot for Fireworks for Foodservice. It was a magical evening with good food, fireworks, and even better company. Thank you to our partners Ventura Foods, Aspire Bakeries, Honor Foods, Pilgrim's, and ProCat Distribution Technologies for making this night unforgettable. The pace of this industry is not slowing down anytime soon, and independent distributors need the right tools to compete and grow. That's why we’re launching an AI workshop series, Build from Scratch: An Interactive AI Workshop for Distributors. Not sure where to start with AI? Sign up below to get notified of upcoming in-person & virtual AI events. 👉 https://lnkd.in/e8hR5eRf

Honored to be featured by IntraFish Media. We love building for the seafood space. 🐟 🦀 🐠 🦞 🐡 🦐 Thanks Rachel Sapin for the conversation and coverage!

Our CEO Bowie Cheung sat down for a Q&A with Pulse 2.0 that spanned Pepper's formation to how customers are using our technology today and what's ahead. And, of course, AI came up: “The breakneck pace of AI advancement puts us at a unique moment in time where the full scope of what’s possible is still being figured out. This has changed both the ways we’re working internally and the solutions we’re able to build for our customers. It’s a very exciting time, and also no one knows what the playbook looks like. At Pepper, we’re really energized by how quickly we’re able to create features customers are asking for and how much value our customers see by deploying agentic solutions in their businesses.” Full story below. Thank you Amit Chowdhry for the coverage!

Distributors can do more with AI than ask ChatGPT questions. Next Wednesday, Pepper is kicking off a hands-on AI workshop series, where every session ends with a tool you can bring into your day-to-day. In this first session, Bowie Cheung (CEO) and Nick Ziech-Lopez (Head of Product Marketing) will guide you through how to build an AI assistant that reviews your inbox, surfaces priority conversations, and drafts responses. No AI experience needed. Just join us on April 1st 👉 https://lnkd.in/ege745SS

Pepper has acquired Alima (YC W22) a startup focused on modernizing food distribution for small businesses. Together we’re doubling down on AI and product content capabilities to build the platform distributors can rely on to run all of their core operations. We’re excited to keep building together! More details here: https://lnkd.in/g9vpwima

The industry is finally acting like it believes economic viability IS sustainability, and the transformation is real. The old playbook is being thrown out - Margaret explains how here 👇