The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. (CHEF)
Specialty food distributor, 5,156 full-time employees. Read October 20, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 26, 2025, filed February 24, 2026. Ranked 24 of the 76 Consumer Defensive companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
20%
End of 2028
29%
Employees, annual report
5,156
Leading staffing pattern
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4244 and 4248 only)
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now20%
- End of 202727%
- End of 202829%
- End of 203029%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 70%
- Becomes checking a model's work 18%
- Handed over with lighter checks 11%
The filing states 5,156 full-time employees in specialty food distribution with meat and seafood processing described and nothing counted by kind, so the split is by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 20% now, 27% at the end of 2027, 29% at the end of 2028, 29% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 29% desk work, 16% people work and 55% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 70% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 18% becomes checking a model's work and 11% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
5,156 employees as of December 26, 2025 (stated). The filing counts no employees by country; it distributes in the United States, Canada and the Middle East.
The filing: “As of December 26, 2025, we had 5,156 full-time employees, 64 of whom (approximately 1%) are currently represented by unions and operate under collective bargaining agreements, which expire at various times between fiscal 2027 and 2028.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4244 and 4248 only) | 85% | By description (c): a distributor of specialty food products to restaurants with its own fleet drivers, grocery and related products wholesaling; no count by kind of work. |
| Animal Slaughtering and Processing | 15% | By description (c): the center-of-the-plate business, 39% of revenue, processes and portions meat and seafood at its own facilities under USDA inspection; no count by facility. |
What the filing says about the workforce: 5,156 full-time employees, 64 under collective bargaining agreements; fleet drivers trained in the Smith System; about 70% of employees are diverse.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4244 and 4248 only), largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Sysco Corporation (SYY, 75,000 employees)22% now, 32% by 2028
- Performance Food Group Co (PFGC, 44,000 employees)22% now, 32% by 2028
- US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD, 30,000 employees)23% now, 35% by 2028
- United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI, 23,431 employees)22% now, 32% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
8 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing says it uses advances in search and AI to predict customers' needs online, plans targeted investment in AI, robotics and drones, and names AI-enabled cyberattacks among risks.
- “We are utilizing advancements in search and artificial intelligence to enable us to better predict our customers' needs so that we can deliver the same level of service online as we do offline.”
- “We believe that our current systems are scalable and can be leveraged together with targeted investments in new technology like artificial intelligence, robotics, drones and low-code development to provide the fuel to drive profitable growth.”
- “For example, as artificial intelligence capabilities improve and are increasingly adopted, they may be used to identify vulnerabilities and craft increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity attacks.”
- “Attachments crafted with artificial intelligence tools could directly attack information systems with greater speed and/or efficiency than a human threat actor or create more effective phishing emails.”
- “Vulnerabilities may also be introduced from the use of artificial intelligence by us, our customers, suppliers, and other business partners and third-party providers.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20245median 4
- Fiscal 20258median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-26 | 5,156 | 2026-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-27 | 5,029 | 2025-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-29 | 4,873 | 2024-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-30 | 4,124 | 2023-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-24 | 2,712 | 2022-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-25 | 2,221 | 2021-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-27 | 2,447 | 2020-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-28 | 2,316 | 2019-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-29 | 1,994 | 2018-03-09 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-30 | 1,948 | 2017-03-10 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-25 | 1,693 | 2016-03-04 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-26 | 1,281 | 2015-03-11 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-27 | 1,160 | 2014-03-12 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-28 | 780 | 2013-03-13 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-30 | 600 | 2012-03-29 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The filing counts full-time employees and states no part-time count.
- No count by facility; the meat processing share is by description.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001517175-26-000005, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc., $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 20% now and 29% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. employ?
- 5,156 as of December 26, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 26, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods (4244 and 4248 only); by those patterns the work is about 29% desk work, 16% people work and 55% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 8 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 5 and 8 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 20, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.