Sysco’s Greg Bertrand saw something just nine miles down the road that he must have found simply irresistible. Because last month the largest global foodservice distribution company, announced the acquisition of J. Kings Food Service Professionals, a New York broadline distributor with approximately $150 million in annual sales.
J. Kings Food Service is headquartered in Holtsville, New York, and located just nine miles away from Sysco-Long Island’s home in Central Islip, NY. The well respected distributor was founded by John King more than 45 years ago.
Today, the company has grown to one of the leading independent broadline distributors in the New York area, also servicing customers in Connecticut and New Jersey. The majority of the company’s customers are independent restaurant operators, but the company also serves institutional, retail and multi-unit customers.
“J. Kings is a well-respected, New York area broadline distributor, and we are happy to welcome them into the Sysco family of businesses,” said Greg Bertrand, Sysco’s executive vice president, U.S. foodservice operations. “As Sysco continues to focus on M & A as part of our strategic growth plan, we believe J. Kings, with its strong local presence, combined with Sysco’s scale and depth, will provide our customers with even more of what they need to be successful in the competitive New York area market.”
The Sysco announcement indicates that J. Kings’ executives will continue to manage the business, including J. Kings’ founder and chief customer officer, John King. However with such a short distance between the two facilities it could certainly lead to conjecture of consolidation of personnel. Sysco-Long Island is managed by the well-respected Frank Recine and includes a state of the art facility and team of corporate chefs who are deeply involved in bringing added value to their customers. J. Kings has long been known for its team of visionary culinary artists on staff to help customers create menu solutions.
One of the questions for industry pundits is how Sysco’s New Jersey operation which serves a number of Manhattan and ‘City accounts will compete/co-exist with J. Kings. In 2011, John King opened an office in New York City and has built a thriving book of business.
Since 1974, J. Kings has been steadily expanding to meet the needs of its customers by listening to their needs and coming up with unique solutions to help build their businesses. “In fact, it’s our business-building capabilities that separate us from our competitors,” John King explained. “Anyone can deliver food. But not everyone can deliver the ideas that help your business grow beyond your wildest dreams.”
The Kings recipe for success has included its on-going outreach to the communities it serves. In 2017, longtime supporter John King donated a 20,000-square-foot warehouse in Calverton to Island Harvest Food Bank. The 20-year, no-cost lease of the warehouse space has helped facilitate the collection and distribution of food (in particular, fresh fruits and vegetables donated by the local farming community) to those in need on the East End of Long Island. The warehouse has also served as a distribution point for disaster relief in Eastern Suffolk County, as Island Harvest Food Bank is a lead agency in the region’s emergency-response preparedness for food and product distribution.
In 2012, Sysco Long Island opened its doors to a new 420,000-square-foot, state of the art distribution operation. The $92 million facility in Central Islip took 14 months to complete, replacing a much smaller distribution center. Sysco has local offices in Jersey City, upstate New York and Rocky Hill, CT, that handled distribution efforts prior to the opening of the Central Islip center. The facility distributes to restaurants, hospitals, schools, hotels and other food agencies in Suffolk, Nassau, Queens and Kings counties.
Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. With over 69,000 associates, the company operates approximately 332 distribution facilities worldwide and serves more than 650,000 customer locations. For fiscal 2019 that ended June 29, 2019, the company generated sales of more than $60 billion. Learn more at their website.
