TriMark Seats New CEO

Terry O’Brien is the new chief executive officer of TriMark following the resignation of Tom Wienclaw, CEO since July 2023.

O’Brien, whose installment was announced today, Oct. 3, hails from Chef Holdings, where he was CEO and board director of the company and its subsidiary, CTI Foods. This year, he joined the board of directors at Farmer Brothers Coffee. He also previously held top roles with CP Foods North America, Brachs Confections, Suiza Foods, Dean Foods and Frito-Lay.

O’Brien is starting on a positive note, as he says TriMark, with more than $2 billion in annual revenue, “has the healthiest balance sheet it’s had in nearly a decade.” Now, he says “it’s time to play offense to take advantage of the significant white space that still remains.”

Here, O’Brien talks with FER about what’s next for TriMark:

FER: What is your top priority, and how will you work to achieve it?

O’Brien: My top priority is to deliver an even higher quality standard of service to TriMark’s existing customers and deepen our partnership with our vendors. We will achieve this by better empowering our divisions and regional teams with the investments in our people, processes and systems (with a specific emphasis on data) that will help TriMark win when our customers and vendors win. This will mean a leaner corporate office and a simplified organizational structure that is regionally and divisionally led. Our divisions know their business, our playbook and now have full authority to take care of our customers.

FER: In your eyes, what signifies a successful business in 2024 and beyond? How will you ensure TriMark meets those benchmarks?

O’Brien: TriMark has always received top-tier ratings from the past customer surveys and research I have seen. This must continue and rise even higher. As I have shared, the next four to five months will be an investment and project phase to provide the national data and systems harmonization TriMark needs to add unique, valuable coast-to-coast execution, insights and reporting. This will be powerful for our partners and industry once our investments are complete.

FER: As you transition into the CEO role, should those who work with TriMark anticipate any short-term changes? What about long-term?

O’Brien: In parallel with my announcement, the TriMark organization was realigned to move resources and authority from corporate to our divisions to allow for faster, better care of our customers. We also announced several near-term investments in improving TriMark’s data access, systems and reporting. These will pay dividends in the near future for our teams, customers and vendor partners. And lastly, we announced we are back on offense pursuing acquisitions that can add strategic geography, services and/or scale to better serve our customers.

FER: Is there anything you’d like TriMark employees and/or associates to know about you?

O’Brien: As they learned today, I have worked in and had a passion for the foodservice industry for over 34 years. My focus is always on strengthening company cultures, simplifying organizations and helping everyone to maintain a focus on our customers and field organizations. When those are all very solid, strong execution and internal opportunities follow. TriMark has already built a great platform and team that I am proud to join.

In Step

TriMark also appointed a new chairman of the board: Jim Clough. He has over 35 years of leadership experience across retail and foodservice, including private equity operating experience. Clough currently serves as chairman of the board at GS Foods and as a member of Aspire Bakeries’ board. For 10 years, he was an independent board director at the Kwik Trip Corporation.

Headquartered in Mansfield, Mass., TriMark operates 55 locations and employs over 3,000; the company ranked No. 2 in FER’s 2024 Top Dealers Report.