A beautiful, sunny 75-degree day under the palm trees. A buzz of energy and excitement. Hallways filled with familiar faces and new friends. A shared sense of pride and celebration. These were all the makings of an incredible Team Member Welcome Event and Grand Opening at our new facility in Kissimmee, Florida.
Just one year after the facility first opened its doors, Honor Foods welcomed Team Members from across the company to tour the new Florida facility, meet the Florida Team, celebrate a company milestone, and officially cut the ribbon in honor of our new Southeast distribution center. Our new Kissimmee facility represents more than an expanded capacity. It represents the strength of our Team and our commitment to customers.
The energy was high, the excitement was real, and the future was on full display at our Kissimmee Welcome Event and Ribbon Cutting.
Honor Foods Orlando is our newest multi-temp distribution center, built to strengthen Southeast redistribution and support food distributors and food suppliers across the region.
Southeast Redistribution Expansion
Honor Foods first entered the Southeast market in 2023 with the acquisition of Sunny Morning Foods, a premier dairy redistributor and a leading provider of eggs, dairy products, customized ingredients, and specialty foods. This acquisition first brought extensive dairy experience to our Team and allowed us to serve export customers. Additionally, it strengthened our presence in the Southeast, allowing us to serve customers from Sunny Morning warehouses in Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale.
With our new facility, Honor Foods Orlando, located in Kissimmee, Florida, we have been able to expand our service area, capacity, and product mix, as well as consolidate Sunny Morning operations in a larger facility. While our presence in the Southeast isn’t new, this new distribution center marks the first time we are able to store and ship frozen fruit, vegetables, french fries, dry goods, imported items, and protein from a facility in the Southeast, cutting down on lead times and making us the go-to redistribution partner in Orlando.
Meet the Florida Team
At Honor Foods, growth is about more than just buildings. It’s about the people who bring them to life. As we celebrate our new Southeast distribution center, we also want to celebrate with the Team who made it happen. Many members of our Florida Team have been long time Sunny Morning Team Members and have been vital to the growth of the company for many years. Additionally, we have added some long time Honor Foods Team Members previously based out of Philadelphia to the Florida Team. Combined, this group offers extensive industry and operational knowledge, as well as a passion for supporting food distributors in the Southeast.
One of the highlights of the Team Member Welcome Event and Ribbon Cutting was being able to celebrate this Team and the work they put in to making this growth possible. It was a great chance for Team Members and leadership across the company to meet the Florida Team and learn more about the operation and what comes next.
One Team. Multiple Locations
One of the best parts of our Welcome Event and Ribbon Cutting was welcoming many Team Members from other locations to Florida. By bringing much of our Team together, we were not only to celebrate a big achievement, but also able to collaborate on future growth plans. The Team had lunch together and even hosted our company’s All Hands meeting live from the Florida facility. This connection and celebration were a fantastic way to strengthen our company culture and reflect our people-first approach. Even after the event, the Honor Foods Team enjoyed exploring Kissimmee and celebrating together.
Leadership Vision for Growth
In addition to many Honor Foods Team Members joining the celebration, the Florida Team was also excited to welcome the Burris Logistics leadership Team, the BLU Team. This was an opportunity for the BLU Team to meet the Florida Team, tour the facility, and learn more about our Southeast operations. Additionally, Donnie Burris was able to address the Florida Team, share his vision for the future, and talk about the importance of the new Florida facility.
Rooted in the Osceola Community
Additionally, we were proud to be joined by the Osceola Chamber of Commerce for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Chamber president addressed the Florida Team and congratulated them on their accomplishment, as well as welcomed them to the Osceola business community. We were incredibly grateful to the chamber for joining the celebrating and presenting us with a plaque to remember the day of the ribbon cutting.
Orlando Multi-Temp Distribution Center
The main goal for the new facility is to serve as a redistribution partner in Orlando, offering Southeast redistribution support to our foodservice distributors, manufacturers, and our supplier partners. This new facility offers three temperature zones, dry, frozen, and refrigerated, and can hold up to 5,000 SKUs, a drastic increase from a maximum of 300 SKUs stored at the previous facility, expanding capacity and product mix. Honor Foods Orlando offers refrigerated docks, container palletizing and handling, cross-docking capabilities, 32 dock doors, and case-level handling, and offer over quadruple the capacity of the previous Sunny Morning facilities.
The new Orlando distribution center will ship products throughout the Southeast, stretching as far west as Texas. Located just 10 miles from the Florida turnpike (SR 91) and 15 minutes south of central Orlando, Honor Foods Orlando is perfectly positioned to offer Southeast redistribution support.
Our new distribution center offers improved technology, including a voice-directed picking and put away system, creating a more efficient picking and receiving process. Additionally, this new facility will have the ability to track every date and lot, where it went, when it came in, and the receiving, production, and expiration date.
Supporting Southeast Food Distributors
This new facility offers terrific opportunity for current Sunny Morning customers, as well as other potential distributor customers in the Southeast. Our new facility will continue to offer consolidation programs across all product categories, shortened lead times, world class customer service, and increased product offering. Already, we have started stocking an enhanced dairy category, frozen fruit, vegetables, french fries, dry goods, protein products and imported items with multiple new items following shortly. This allows us to move products faster as far west as Texas and even shipping next to day to export customers. While customers can expect to see an expanded product offering, they can also expect the same great customer service they have come to know, with many familiar faces they have worked with for years.
Helping Our Supplier Partners Grow in the Southeast
In addition to offering great benefits for foodservice distributors, this new facility also serves as a solution to a frequent problem for food suppliers, easy distribution in the southeast. With the space this new facility provides, we will be able to store products in Orlando and easily serve the Southeast region, a region primed for growth in the redistribution industry. This will help our supplier partners penetrate the Southeast market with lower transportation costs, an area that has historically been a logistics challenge for food suppliers.
Multi-Temp Warehouse Space in Orlando
In addition to offering Southeast redistribution support, this new facility has multi-temp warehouse space available. With the increased facility size, we can support businesses looking for multi-temp warehouse space in the Southeast. Our Team has a century of cold storage experience and a history of solving tough problems in the supply chain industry. We offer short and long-term warehouse availability and can offer multi-temperature operations under one roof with strategic access to key Southeast markets.
Built for What’s Next
The ribbon may be cut, but the momentum is just getting started in the Southeast.
With expanded capacity and product mix, broadline, dairy and multi-temp redistribution capability, and multi-temp warehouse space availability, our new Orlando facility strengthens our ability to support food distributors in the Southeast. With greater flexibility, increased product availability, and shorter lead times, we can offer redistribution support to both food suppliers and foodservice distributors, bringing a much-needed redistribution presence to the Southeast.
As we look ahead, our commitment remains the same, investing in infrastructure, technology, and people to help our distributor customers and supplier partners grow, with the same level of customer service they have come to expect from Honor Foods and Sunny Morning.
Our purpose statement is “Improving lives and supply chains by solving tough problems,” and with our Southeast expansion we continue to do just that by solving a great need for redistribution support in Florida and nearby states.
Powered by our Team and guided by our purpose, we are ready to keep building what is next in the Southeast. This milestone marks the start of an exciting new chapter for our Team, our partners, our customers, and the Southeast region. The doors are open. The Team is ready. We are excited to grow alongside our customers and partners in the Southeast.
Looking for a redistribution partner in Orlando or multi-temp warehouse space in the Southeast?
Honor Foods, a Burris Logistics Company, was founded in 1949 as a pick-up only, broadline redistributor. Since then, Honor Foods has grown into the Mid-Atlantic region’s premier provider of frozen, refrigerated, dry, protein, and dairy products, representing
more than 800 brand-name food suppliers and carrying more than 7,000 in-stock items. Honor Foods brands R.W. Zant and Sunny Morning provide additional protein and dairy expertise on the West Coast and in the Southeast. In addition, our exclusive house brands — Colony Lane,Valley Fresh, Sommer Maid, and Sunny Morning have a well-earned reputation for top quality and value at competitive prices.
Great products and prices are just part of the Honor Foods value-add. We pride ourselves in having a Team of dedicated professionals who manage each partnership. Our commitment to your business needs is what makes us unique.
