Your distributor added a fuel surcharge. What can you change?
Get the charge for your account, then compare what a different delivery schedule would actually save.
Before moving food orders around to avoid a fuel surcharge, ask your distributor what makes the fee grow: a delivery, an invoice, a case or the value of purchases. That billing basis determines whether a larger, less frequent order could lower the charge.
For a fee charged once per delivery, removing a chargeable stop can remove a fee. Adding more cases to the same stop only spreads that fee across more product. Those are different outcomes for your cash bill, even if both make the charge look smaller per case.
Get the schedule that applies to your account
Performance Foodservice’s standard-program notice describes a regional diesel-price grid, updated monthly, and a separate charge billed once per delivery regardless of purchase value or quantity. It also says the indexed amount can exceed the fuel expense of a particular delivery. These are terms of that program, rather than a calculation of the truck’s fuel used to reach your kitchen. [S1]
Ask your representative for the current grid assigned to your account, its effective dates, the index region and reference week, and the unit charged. Keep that response with an actual invoice. A fee described as per invoice needs an explanation if one physical delivery produces several invoices; a failed delivery, replacement shipment or credit needs its own treatment clarified.
The calendar matters. PFS describes a monthly reference-date rule with special wording for January, April, July and October. A CPFDS notice hosted by Panos Foods, effective April 1, 2024, instead specifies the last Tuesday of the preceding month. That dated notice illustrates why the timing must be checked; its rate table is not a verified quote for your account today. [S1] [S3]
In EIA’s October 6, 2026 release, the national diesel average for October 5 was $6.199 per gallon, down $0.183 from the prior week. That gives market context. To check your invoice, use the region and reference date your supplier’s schedule actually names. EIA publishes the underlying prices but leaves surcharge methods to companies. [S4] [S2]
Find the delivery you could actually eliminate
Look first at top-up orders placed between planned deliveries. Can an item move into the earlier order without creating an unacceptable stockout, storage problem or waste risk? Combining order entries only saves a per-delivery fee if the supplier confirms that a separately charged delivery disappears. Keeping the same truck visits while buying extra food does not achieve that saving.
Use the fee on the delivery you would remove as the starting benefit. Subtract any added product cost, spoilage, handling, emergency buying or pickup cost needed to make the new schedule work. Keep usable quantity and quality comparable. An extra case that will not be used is a poor exchange for an avoided delivery charge.
If your account instead uses a percentage of eligible purchases, moving the same purchases into fewer orders may leave that charge unchanged when the rate and chargeable base stay the same. A per-case charge likewise follows cases unless the terms change. Treat these as conditional billing models to verify, not as descriptions of every distributor’s program.
For a restaurant buying from several suppliers, make this comparison separately for each one. Removing a broadline delivery while adding a produce delivery can simply move the expense. The useful comparison is the total delivered cost of the food you can use over the same purchasing period.
Ask for a revised quote with the fee still visible
Send the representative your normal basket and delivery pattern, then request a comparable quote for the feasible alternative. Ask whether any minimum order, delivery fee, case price, credit or fuel-charge waiver changes with it. A waiver is worth only what it reduces from the complete quote; it can be offset by a higher product price elsewhere.
A concise request is enough: “Please confirm the fuel-surcharge grid and reference date used for my account, how often it resets, and what triggers a decrease. Please also quote this same basket on my current delivery schedule and on the proposed schedule, showing all delivery charges and any price or minimum-order changes.” This asks for an explanation and an offer; it assumes neither an error nor a guaranteed discount.
If the invoice amount and the supplied schedule disagree, send the invoice number, delivery date and the line you cannot reproduce. Ask for the calculation and, where an error is confirmed, the correction process. If the calculation agrees, the remaining decision is commercial: whether a different schedule or competing delivered quote serves your kitchen at a lower total cost.
Choose the schedule that leaves the restaurant with the usable food it needs and the lower overall bill. Keep an extra delivery when its operating value exceeds the avoidable fee. The goal is a better purchasing arrangement, not a larger stockroom built to make one invoice line disappear.
Sources & Verified On
AI may be used to help create some of our content and editorial images.
Verified: 2026-10-11
- PFS Fuel Surcharge Notice
Performance Foodservice · United States; the stated provider or index scope only
Published: Not stated · Reference period/event: Undated public notice; describes a program in place since May 1, 2018 · Retrieved: 2026-10-11
PFS standard-program description, not a current account quote or an industry-wide rate. The grid is labeled historical and illustrative. The notice has special reference-date wording for January, April, July and October; the exact grid and date applicable to an account must be confirmed.
- Diesel fuel explained: Diesel fuel surcharges
U.S. Energy Information Administration · United States; the stated provider or index scope only
Published: Not stated · Reference period/event: Current explanatory page; no publication date displayed · Retrieved: 2026-10-11
Explains the index provider role; supplies no restaurant account surcharge, negotiated terms or market-prevalence estimate.
- CPFDS Fuel Surcharge Policy, effective April 1, 2024
CPFDS / Panos Foods · United States; the stated provider or index scope only
Published: Not stated · Reference period/event: Policy effective April 1, 2024; publication date not separately stated · Retrieved: 2026-10-11
Dated policy example available on the supplier website, not verification of a particular account rate in October 2026. Its dollar grid is not reused as a current quote.
- Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update
U.S. Energy Information Administration · United States; the stated provider or index scope only
Published: 2026-10-06 · Reference period/event: Prices for October 5, 2026; released October 6, 2026 · Retrieved: 2026-10-11
Weekly retail index, not distributor procurement cost or a restaurant delivery quote. A current national observation cannot replace the region and reference date in an account schedule.