David Stelzer slid in behind the wheel of his blue Ford Escort with sacks of farm-grown grain in the back and a cooler full of Nancy’s yogurt riding along for a customer who had requested it. It was 1986 and he didn’t know what the future held. He didn’t know that his deliveries to friends and family in the Yakima, Washington, and Portland, Oregon areas would one day require advanced logistics software to schedule the many deliveries yet to come. But, by 1987 he had officially founded Azure Standard, and over the years the logistics of scheduling trucks for best efficiency became something for continuous improvement.
By the time 1995 rolled around, the requested delivery locations were being called “Drops” and each was on an official “Route”. New 90’s-era software helped us keep track of the nine routes we had which delivered to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota.
Routes Expand East
At that time, most of our routes were being delivered in box trucks, but the routes to North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho used full semi’s. It felt like a “really big company” because, after all, we were filling semi-trailers! It took several days for our small crew to fill a semi. Everyone did multiple jobs… whatever needed to get done. If the phones were quiet you could always go help repackage products, pull orders, stock shelves, or simply sweep the warehouse.
Growth Beyond Our Expectations
During the food-storage frenzy of 1998-1999, we could hardly keep up with the huge demand for bulk foods. Enormous. We had no need to advertise… word-of-mouth was giving us almost more business than we could handle. January 2000 was a lot quieter… but once everyone realized that things were going to be okay (despite 01-01-00), our orders picked up again as people got back to buying everyday staples and fresh foods like yogurt and produce.
Our routes gradually expanded as we started delivering into California on Uncle Norm’s semi, when he would go to pick up and bring back products for us to sell.
Then, around 2010, we grew into the Midwest, Texas, and the Southern States. This was rapid growth and seemed to strain every aspect of our logistical abilities. David says that was probably the biggest change in the history of Azure’s truck-routing program. Minnesota seemed to particularly love Azure as total sales to that state rivaled that of our local/home states of Oregon and Washington!
By 2014, we adopted a hub-model for our truck routes in midwest and southern states for better efficiency and even expanded into Florida. We were now running 72 routes each month (plus 14 “shuttle trucks” taking truck-loads of orders to “hubs” in Kansas, Texas, Atlanta, Chicago, and Minneapolis). It was an efficient system and by far had a smaller “carbon footprint” than products delivered to customers through big-box stores. But, we needed to do even better.
Adjusting Routes for Efficiency—Again
So, now in 2020, we’re adjusting our routes in the Rocky Mountain region and all areas East to try to make things more efficient, drive fewer miles, use less fuel, and still make good food more accessible and affordable to more people. Impossible, you say? Not really. We just had to look at things differently.
Instead of driving to and from a “hub” on each route, each semi will be refilled weekly by a shuttle truck coming directly from Azure’s warehouse. As an example of how this works, picture planting in your garden. Let’s say you’re planting seedlings with the help of your children (as the “shuttle trucks”). In the past they brought a tray of plant starts (like a “truckload”) from the greenhouse (like our “warehouse”) to a place (the “hub”) at the edge of the garden (the “delivery area”). Every time you finished planting a tray of starts, you had to walk back to the edge of the garden to get another tray. With this new model it will be like your kids bringing you the tray of plants wherever you are in the garden! You won’t need to make the unnecessary steps back to the edge of the garden each time —just keep on planting as they come to replenish your supply.
The Transition
Not all Azure customers are affected by these changes. Drops on routes on the West Coast will continue as usual. Affected customers have been notified by email. If you are affected, you will need to simply take note of when your cut-off is for your “old” route, and compare it to the cut-off for your “new” route. Find this information on the Drops page when logged into your account on our website. Make sure you plan your Azure orders around what you’ll need on each delivery to make sure you eat well during this transition. We hope it will be very smooth and you’ll hardly notice the change.
It Takes a Network of Good People
Through the years, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know so many of you, our customers. And, I’ve come to sincerely appreciate the wonderful network of good, conscientious people who help serve you (from the farmer that grows your food to the driver who delivers it to you). We’re grateful to have such loyal and supportive people to call part of the “Azure Family”. From the CSI sponsors who have supported us with funds for more inventory, to the customers who tell everyone about us on social media. We really appreciate each and every one of you.
Thank you for your help right now making this a smooth transition into a better trucking model. Maintaining full trucks during this transition will ease things, and you can help with that by keeping us busy filling your orders!