How Sirna & Sons Produce Modernized an 87-Year-Old Family Business and Became the Model for Its PE Group

A Fourth-Generation Produce Distributor Needed to Modernize, but its ERP Billed for Every Change

Since 1939, Sirna & Sons Produce has supplied restaurants, hotels, country clubs, schools and institutions across Ohio, central Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. The family business runs its primary master distribution center in Ravenna and a crossdock facility in Norwalk supporting distribution based on routing and logistics, plus Christine's Cuts, its in-house fresh-cut operation.

By 2022, Sirna's younger leaders knew customers needed a modern way to order. The problem was that most of Sirna's main competitors ran from the same ERP and offered the same ERP-built ordering app, so that app gave Sirna nothing its competitors didn't already have.

The ERP team also typically charges additional costs for sales-related changes and enhancements. That made new technology a careful conversation: While traditional mindsets and upfront investment uncertainties led to initial hesitation, Pepper's compelling platform and partnership model ultimately made the decision much easier.

"We were looking for ways to take our traditional customer ordering process to the next level by introducing a more modern, user-friendly e-commerce experience. When my sister Allie and I were introduced to Pepper at a food show in Las Vegas in spring 2022, the platform immediately caught our attention. Looking back at where we started and how much we've accomplished together since then, we've been extremely pleased with both the platform and the partnership we've built with Pepper."

–Anthony Sirna, EVP Sales and Marketing, Sirna & Sons Produce

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Working with Pepper: Sirna Brings Every Customer onto Modern Ordering

Sirna went live on Pepper in September 2022, looking for an ordering partner focused on growing its business rather than an add-on to its ERP. Four years in, Pepper's team keeps improving the platform without billing for each change, and takes Sirna's ideas to its product team.

What keeps Sirna on Pepper today is a platform that keeps getting better. Where the ERP bills for changes, Pepper ships improvements at no added cost and takes Sirna's ideas to its product team.

"[Pepper's] team is actively working to make it better without a cost to us. And if we bring ideas to the team, they're really receptive."

–Anthony Sirna, EVP Sales and Marketing, Sirna & Sons Produce

In July 2023, Sirna joined FreshEdge, a Wind Point Partners-backed group of fresh food distributors. When FreshEdge brought Pepper to the group, Sirna was its largest user, and it remains one of the largest.

FreshEdge made Sirna its proving ground. Workflows Sirna built on Pepper went out to the other operating companies. When Sirna flagged a feature that needed a tweak, FreshEdge worked with Pepper's leadership and rolled the fix out group-wide.

By the end of March 2026, FreshEdge had moved online ordering at every operating company from the ERP's app to Pepper. The group now pushes each operating company to enter more than 90% of orders digitally, freeing reps from manual order taking and cutting costly errors.

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Results: Customers order more, Reps Key in Less, and Sirna Stands Out in its Market

A few years into the partnership, Sirna can see the results clearly: Customers order more with Pepper. 

Customers who have ordered through Pepper since Sirna's 2022 launch grew cases per customer, while sales reps were able to steadily add new customers to the platform. Today, Sirna supports approximately 900 active users placing orders through Pepper, totaling 140,000+ cases over a rolling 30 day period. In fact, Sirna’s net ROI on Pepper is over 11x on non-order guide items alone.

And part of that growth is because reps spend less time on order entry. Most orders in Sirna's app come straight from customers, so reps key in fewer orders by hand and customers find and add more items on their own.

Promotions reliably grow the business. Sirna hired a team member to grow local spend in its Ohio school programs, and that person now runs promotions with inside sales, built around local brands. Anthony sees "a continuous increase in cases and revenue anytime we do them the right way."

Sirna's ordering experience has even turned into a selling point in its own market - Sirna's app sets it apart from competitors on the same ERP, so customers talk it up to reps from other distributors.

And as FreshEdge's proving ground, Sirna has a direct hand in how its whole group runs on Pepper, from the workflows every operating company follows to the features Pepper improves next.

"Users and customers of ours have talked with sales reps for competing companies and said, 'Sirna's got this app, it's awesome. How come you guys don't have it?'"

–Anthony Sirna

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