DSR Live host biography

DSR Dave Miesse

Dave is the lead DSR expert and Chief Customer Officer for the Association for Foodservice Distributor Representatives (AFDR), the country's first professional organization of 4,000 + foodservice sales reps.

In addition, Dave Miesse is co-host of the popular DSR Live! educational talk show for foodservice sales reps.

Dave truly understands the highly complex nature of the entire foodservice industry. He was the nation's award-winning top DSR (ID Magazine Distributor Sales Rep of the Year), selling over $12 million to street customers in 1985 (about $29 million in today's dollars).  After winning this award, Miesse found himself in the unusual position of working with distributors and riding with DSRs, while at the same time working with brands and their sales networks.  This gave him the unique opportunity to help bridge the gaps between every link in the foodservice industry.  His experience has enabled him to become one of the country's most respected foodservice sales consultants for the past 20 years.

Miesse helped design a pioneering nutritional and menu-planning software application used by nursing homes, hospitals, K-12, and college foodservice operations to control prices and product specs.  Dave has managed food manufacturing sales networks and continues to ride with and educate thousands of sales reps each year. Clients have included Sysco, U.S. Foodservice, Cooper Farms, General Mills, Sara Lee, Disney, Bob Evans, HCR and hundreds of other foodservice distributors, manufacturers, brokers, national and regional restaurant chains and independents.

Dave also was the co-development consultant for Hewlett-Packard’s, ResourceLink.org, a coalition of food manufacturers, distributors, and food bank associations in a broad-based initiative to build the industry's first online exchange for surplus food. The exchange received endorsements and awards from major industry associations and the USDA.

Dave enjoys his faith, family, soccer, music of all types, and horse racing which has been a part of his family for five decades.