Spokane Food Services Inc history

Chicago-based IGA had pioneered the wholesale industry when it was founded by J. Frank Grimes in 1926 to buttress independent supermarketers against the rise of chain groceries.

Super Food helped IGA associates expand their share of the Dayton-area market from nothing in 1950 to over 25 percent by the end of the decade.

Super Food Service was founded in Chicago in 1957 as a distributor for the Independent Grocers Alliance Distributing Co.'s New York City franchise area, serving about 41 IGA affiliates in the metropolitan region.

In 1958, Super Food acquired virtually all the stock of Dayton, Ohio, wholesaler F.N. Johnson Co. and began providing management, planning, warehousing and delivery to the area's fast-growing group of independents.

In 1969 Baugh convinced the owners of eight other small food distributors to combine the nine companies, forming what he hoped to mold into a national foodservice distribution organization, one that would be able to distribute any food despite its regional availability.

SYSCO went public in 1970 and that year made its first acquisition, of Arrow Food Distributor.

In 1972 John "Jack" Twyman, the hand-picked designate of top shareholder Loren M. Berry, supplanted Fox as the wholesaler's top executive.

In 1973, for example, he formed General Merchandise Services, Inc. to add high-margin non-food items to the wholesale offerings.

During Super Food's formative years, Twyman had been a standout player on the NBA's now-defunct Cincinnati Royals. (Although the team didn't last, Twyman was elected to the NBA Hall of Fame in 1982.) After retiring from professional sports, Twyman became a sportscaster and insurance agent.

Geelhoed, E. Bruce, The Thrill of Success: The Story of SYSCO/Frost-Pack Food Services, Incorporated, Muncie, Ind.: Bureau of Business Research, College of Business and Department of History, Ball State University, 1983.

In 1984 the Sysco Corporation continued its policy of acquiring its competitors when it purchased three operations of PYA Monarch, then a division of Sara Lee.

One of SYSCO's largest acquisitions occurred in 1988, when the company paid $750 million for CFS Continental, at that time the third largest food distributor in the country, which added 4,500 employees and increased the number of markets SYSCO served to 148 out of the top 150 markets.

By 1990, the wholesaler had close to 900 clients.

In 1991 the company made its first move toward that goal with the acquisition of Affiliated Foods of Kentucky for $150 million.

But several underlying problems, some endemic to the wholesale industry and others specific to Super Food, converged in 1992 to thwart Twyman's plans for expansion.

SYSCO’s operating companies, which by 1995 numbered 58, had always been allowed to function in a largely autonomous manner.

David Katz of Matrix Asset Advisors (New York) concurred, telling Jim Bohman of the Dayton Daily News that a merger "makes strategic sense." But these forecasts of imminent doom had not yet materialized by early 1996.

SYSCO posted record sales of $14.45 billion in fiscal 1997, along with record net earnings of $302.5 million.

Hassell, Greg, "The Sage of Sysco: Retired Founder Still at Work," Houston Chronicle, July 10, 1998.

Lindig took on the additional role of chairman in 1999 but then retired the following year, when Charles Cotros became SYSCO's fourth CEO and chairman as well.

Guest Supply's sales for fiscal 2000 totaled approximately $366 million.

In May 2002 the company opened its first niche fold-out: a Buckhead Beef branch that began providing fresh-cut meat to the New York metropolitan area.

International Food reported 2003 revenues of $77.8 million.

By fiscal 2004 SYSCO's steadily rising revenues had reached $29.34 billion, a 12.2 percent increase over the previous year, while earnings rose 16.6 percent, to $907.2 million.