“Our differentiator is all about the when, which means ensuring our customers’ food ingredients are delivered when and where they want them,” Wagner adds. “Providing an outstanding customer experience each and every day is part of our mission.”

Among his initial actions, Wagner has been working with his executive team to create and codify ingredients PLUS’s purpose, vision, mission and values that align with the long-term strategies of the organization.

“We are building a strong and sustainable company for future generations,” Wagner says. “Through investments in people and processes, diversification of our product offering, and geographical expansion to serve an expanded customer segment, we will solidify our purpose.”

According to Wagner, the logistics advantage held by ingredients PLUS and the company’s opportunity to execute a diversification strategy parallel his experience as CEO with Buffalo, N.Y.-based IIMAK. At IIMAK, it was about outperforming the competition on the customer experience and logistics and distribution capabilities. Wagner was able to respect IIMAK’s core business, while pivoting into new areas that grew the company; he also sees this holding true for ingredients PLUS. Wagner notes that another similarity with the two organizations is the quality of the employees, their shared passion and commitment, work ethic, and desire to continue to learn and expand their capabilities.

“We’re building on ingredient PLUS’s talent, strengthening organizational development, and launching ingredients PLUS University in the coming year to focus on continuous improvement and upskilling our team,” Wagner says. “We’re also adding several new positions to the organization, which will add expertise to our team, further enabling the achievement of our goals and strategies.”