Down thousands of narrow streets in cities and villages all over Central America, you’ll find tiendas. … tiny stores selling groceries and essentials. This includes refrigerated foods like deli meats, sausage and cheeses. The problem being that most tiendas are very compact, with little more than a consumer-sized refrigerator to hold the bulk of their perishable inventory.

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Moreover, because of the hard-to-reach locations of some tiendas, regular refrigerated delivery trucks couldn’t easily maneuver down the tight alleyways to deliver the merchandise. A customized distribution plan would have to be tailored to address this problem. So, Cargill’s supply chain specialists came up with a unique solution to fit the need. 

Sales representatives were outfitted with very maneuverable motorcycles equipped with iceboxes and handheld computers to keep them efficient. So tiendas receive goods on an as-needed basis to keep their inventory fresh. Proving sometimes being agile is more important than being big when it comes to delivery systems. Creating efficient ways to bring goods to market, no matter where that market may be, is one way Cargill works with customers.