Farley Kaiser is the new vice president of retail foodservice at McLane Co., moving up from the senior director of culinary innovation position she held since June 2023 when she joined the Temple, Texas-based company, a McLane spokesperson confirmed with CSP Daily News.
In her new position, Kaiser leads the strategy, growth and execution of McLane’s retail foodservice and private-label programs, the spokesperson said.
“This role represents a journey that has taken me from the kitchen to the boardroom—through culinary education, restaurant operations, foodservice innovation, category leadership and business strategy,” Kaiser posted on LinkedIn. “Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of working with incredible organizations, talented teams and mentors who challenged me to think bigger, lead better and never stop learning.”
Kaiser replaces Jon Cox, who will be moving on from McLane this week, the spokesperson said.
Cox came to McLane in March 2023 in the newly created role of vice president of retail foodservice. He was given the directive to create a framework in which the distributor could build a quality foodservice program, CSP reported at the time.
In her new role, Kaiser oversees McLane Fresh, including the CupZa!, Central Eats and Prendisimo brands, and the McLane Innovation Kitchen, the spokesperson said. Her responsibilities include helping customers develop scalable foodservice programs, advancing product and menu innovation, leading strategic growth initiatives and aligning culinary innovation, commercial strategy and operational execution to meet evolving consumer needs.
“What I’m most proud of isn’t any single product launch, customer win or business result,” Kaiser said in her post. “It’s the opportunity to help build teams, develop future leaders and create solutions that make a meaningful impact for our customers and the consumers they serve every day.”
Prior to McLane, Kaiser worked for two years at GetGo Cafe + Market, where her last position was senior director of food and beverage, according to her LinkedIn profile. Alimentation Couche-Tard closed on its $1.57 billion acquisition of GetGo Cafe + Market in June 2025.
Prior to GetGo, she was corporate executive chef at Wawa for more than four years.
“I am incredibly grateful to the leaders, teammates, customers, suppliers and partners who have invested in me throughout my career,” Kaiser said in her post. “Your guidance, trust and support have helped shape both the leader and person I am today.”
Foodservice ‘is evolving rapidly’
As she steps into her new role, Kaiser wrote in her post that she’s “energized” by what lies ahead.
“The foodservice industry is evolving rapidly, and the opportunities to innovate, grow and create value have never been greater,” she said. “I look forward to working alongside our outstanding teams at McLane to continue building scalable solutions, strengthening customer partnerships, and shaping the future of retail foodservice.
One of the developments in foodservice that Kaiser has enjoyed watching involves spices, she said in August 2025 at CSP’s 2025 Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
“Spice isn’t going anywhere,” Kaiser said. “What we’re seeing in spice isn’t that it’s a trend, it’s a mainstay. It’s which pepper is next, and how are you infusing spice into different flavor formats and food?”
Kaiser said she’s seeing a lot being done with fermented pickles both for the health benefits of the probiotics and as a general flavor trend.
“But truly, flavor itself, in my opinion, is a trend. It is the storyteller,” she said. “It is the thing that people are really reaching out for, and specifically some of our younger generations, they’re expecting that it’s out there.”
Because of this, there’s a lot being done with global street foods, including in portable, compact bowls, “all of those things telling that story,” she said. “Bold, complex flavors are at the heart of flavor trends in general, and people are really upping the ante with textures and topicals and different ways to add enough flavor in different ways.”
McLane Co. is one of the largest distributors in America, serving convenience stores, mass merchants and chain restaurants.
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