Chicago is My Home

29
May

Two Major Food Distributors in Illinois Merge Operations, Plan New Center

Author: Adam Fendelman, Category: Business

CHICAGO – Central Grocers, Inc. in Franklin Park, Ill. and Certified Grocers, Inc. in Hodgkins, Ill. – both major Chicago food distributors – announced on Wednesday they will merge operations and relocate to a new Joliet, Ill. facility.

The combined company, which will operate under the name Central Grocers, will serve 225 members that operate 450 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin. The merger must be approved by shareholders of both companies.

Central Grocers CEO Jim Denges will head the newly merged distributor. Denges said in a Wednesday statement that the company hopes to strengthen relationships with its vendors and grow its membership.

“With rising fuel costs, our goal is to develop a highly efficient distribution center that has the capacity to serve the independent retailers in the greater Chicagoland market effectively,” Denges said on Wednesday.

A new, 920,000-square-foot warehouse in Joliet will serve as the distribution headquarters for Central Grocers starting in the first quarter of 2009. In 2007, Certified sold its 1-million-square-foot distribution center after years of declining members diminished the company’s operations.

By Megan O’Neil