LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Wednesday marked the third day for more than 100 Sysco truck drivers on strike in a dispute with the company, which has a distribution hub in Louisville.

Sysco drivers deliver to schools, hospitals and restaurants. But the longer the strike lasts, the more they have to improvise. 

"People that come consistently weekly, you know, and some people twice a week, three times a week, sometimes," said Chef Jacob Brockman.

Brockman is the executive chef at Silvio's Italian Restaurant in St. Matthews. This week, he said, he's had to work his way around a few obstacles while preparing for the evening dinner crowds.

"It makes me have to pull in my secondary plan to be able to operate the restaurant," Chef Brockman said.

That secondary plan went into place when more than 100 Sysco truck drivers went on strike Monday morning.

"Because we're a small restaurant, we don't have giant freezers and refrigerators where I could previously stock a whole bunch, thinking that we're going into a strike, but I don't have space like that," he said.

The drivers deliver food to Louisville-area restaurants, hospitals and schools, but union representatives for the workers said they want better hours, pay and working conditions.

"These guys are a little disappointed," said Trey McCutcheon, with Teamsters Local 89. "You know, they feel like the company should reach back out to us."

McCutcheon is a union representative for the truck drivers. He said some customers are taking matters into their own hands and cars.

"The customers are actually having to come pick (up) their own stuff. There's a big line here behind this, where customers are, you know, sitting two or three hours waiting to get their product to load in their own personal vehicle or back of pickup trucks," he said.

Customer Todd Hollinsworth, manager of the Aspen Creek Grill, hopes the strike ends soon. He said he was frustrated having to wait for an hour and a half on Wednesday to pick up his product.

"I sure hope so," Hollinsworth said. "I don't want to do it again next Monday."

Brockman said his secondary plans don't include picking up the product himself.

"I'm not doing it," he said. "There's too much food to be bought from other places, and the products are just as good or better, so I'm not going to sit at will-call."

Union representatives said Wednesday they are prepared to be on the picket lines as long as needed.

Sysco drivers unionized last summer and are hoping to get a labor contract that would relieve them of working what they say are excessively long days and ensure that the company makes safety improvements.

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