commissary INSIDER - September 2016 - 1

Insight Insider Insight Insider Freshway Foods Food Safety FSMA's Sanitary Transportation Rule Equipment Technology Making conveyors ﬁt Product Category Spotlight Prepared deli side dishes and salads And things stayed that way until an opportunity presented itself earlier this year. It was announced on May 19 that US Foods had agreed to acquire Freshway. It was a chance for the company to take its next step and begin a relationship with an even larger operation. Freshway Foods is producing success By Ryan Atkinson F Freshway - still based in Sidney, OH, where it was started by brothers Phil and Frank Gilardi in 1988 - covers retailers and foodservice providers in the eastern half of the United States as a fresh fruit and vegetable processor, repacker and distributor. The company says that its success has been a result of how it prides itself on its expansive product offerings and services. Recent acquisition PHOTO: FRESHWAY FOODS Research and Development Functional ingredients for nutrition fortiﬁcation Insight Insider: reshway Foods has a simple saying when it comes to the number of products and services it provides. "At Freshway Foods, we offer everything you need from A to Z," says Devon Beer, president and COO of Freshway. "Or, another way to put it, apples to zucchini." Luminometer monitoring Freshway had been owned by the Gilardi family since its inception, and it wasn't a traipse into unfamiliar family for Phil and Frank. Members of the Gilardi family, after emigrating from Italy, had begun selling produce in Sidney and the surrounding area in the last few years of the 19th century. Years later, the family started a successful pizza restaurant and then developed a line of frozen pizza products. The pizza business separated from the produce business in the 1970s before Phil and Frank began Freshway in the 80s. "US Foods' success has been built upon a commitment to the company's associates and customers, and we are looking forward to the next chapter for Freshway as part of a well-established and reputable company like US Foods," Beer says. "US Foods hopes to expand capability here so there will possibly be more growth to come in the future." Beer says it was Freshway's hard work in building a superb reputation in a thriving and competitive industry that made the company a prime target for US Foods. "Freshway products have a great name in the produce industry," he says. "They are synonymous with quality and innovation. Acquiring Freshway Foods gave US Foods the capability to process fresh produce, which is the fastest growing business in the food industry." Size and ability Freshway has carved out its spot in the industry by being big and flexible, a sometimes challenging combination. "Freshway is large enough to offer a broad variety of products and services, yet we are nimble enough to react to the commissary INSIDER * SEPTEMBER 2016 * 1

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