Golden State Foods Honors QCD Phoenix Team with Chairman’s Challenge Award

Last week, GSF presented the 2025 Chairman’s Challenge Award to the Quality Custom Distribution (QCD) Phoenix, Arizona team. This distinguished honor—now in its 26th year—celebrates exemplary operational excellence across GSF’s leading facilities. The award recognizes the QCD Phoenix team’s top performance in key areas including people, safety, quality, customer support, financial results, and community engagement.

“QCD Phoenix excelled across every dimension of their 2025 performance, building on five consecutive ‘Best in Class’ Award wins and lifting one another to soar even higher as one team,” said GSF President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Dick. “Congratulations to the Phoenix team on a truly outstanding year and on earning this well‑deserved honor. This recognition reflects the many achievements and exceptional results delivered by our dedicated associates.”

During GSF’s Global Leadership Conference in Southern California, Brian Dick joined GSF Board of Directors Executive Vice Chair Stephen Wetterau in presenting the Chairman’s Challenge Award at the company’s annual awards ceremony. In their remarks, the two leaders reflected on the award’s rich heritage, a tradition introduced to GSF more than two decades ago by former Chairman and CEO Mark Wetterau, who carried it forward from a similar recognition first established by his father at Wetterau, Inc. decades earlier.

The time‑honored legacy continues as QCD Phoenix earns GSF’s top accolade for a facility team. During the Chairman’s Challenge Award presentation, Brian and Stephen highlighted several standout achievements from 2025. The Phoenix team supported customers with reliable last‑mile distribution services, maintained a strong safety record that earned a fourth consecutive National Safety Council Award, exercised disciplined cost management, gave back to their community through the GSF Foundation, and delivered a solid financial performance. Additionally, they upheld exceptional quality standards, consistently achieving top scores in internal audits, external evaluations, and customer assessments.

“After five years of consistent Best in Class wins, the Phoenix team is proud to earn the Eagle and celebrate our first-ever Chairman’s Challenge Award!” said Matt Cheviron, General Manager, QCD Phoenix. “This recognition is a testament to our dedicated people and their overall performance in 2025. We accomplished so much together in safety standards, fleet management, financial results, GSF Foundation engagement, and so much more! Congratulations and thank you!”

In addition to its Chairman’s Challenge honors, QCD Phoenix received GSF’s 2025 Safety Excellence Award and its fifth consecutive GSF “Best in Class” Diamond Award in the distribution category. Comprising the finalists for Chairman’s Challenge, the company’s annual “Best in Class” awards honor large facilities (Platinum Awards) and small facilities (Diamond Awards) in distribution and food processing. For 2025, QCD Chicago West, Illinois won the “Best in Class” Platinum Award. In the food processing category, GSF City of Industry Manufacturing accomplished a repeat win as the Platinum Award recipient for two years running, and GSF Fresh! Guangzhou (China) received the Diamond Award for the sixth year in a row.