NEW YORK (October 14, 2011)—J. Kings Food Service Professionals has acquired JNI Specialty Foods, a frozen food distributor serving the New York City metropolitan area for more than 30 years. The terms of the acquisition were not revealed.
J. Kings ranks #30 in the 2010 ID Top 50 and had the second largest percentage increase in sales over 2009 at 14.02%.
“Our decision to join with J. Kings will offer an added value to our customers,” JNI President Neal Schimmel said in a recent interview, adding he will be able to “better serve customers by delivering them more without sacrificing service.”
JNI will move its inventory and offices to J. Kings’ refrigerated warehouse and headquarters in Holtsville. All roughly 20 JNI workers will become J. Kings employees.
“This acquisition was a natural fit for everybody involved. J. Kings and JNI already buy from many of the same manufacturers,” J. Kings Chief Customer Officer, John King, said. “There will be opportunities for our vendors to grow and our customers to have a single source for all of their food service needs.”
Although this deal simply merges two Long Island-based distributors, it’s part of a wave of consolidation sweeping across the food distribution industry, as specialty firms merge with bigger companies.
J. Kings is in contract to buy a 44,000-square-foot building at 3300 Veterans Highway in Bohemia, which will become the new hub for its cold storage operations honeycombed with freezers. “We’re going to need more space for frozen foods,” King said. “It’s grow or go. In the food distribution business, you have to keep growing to keep reducing costs.”
As to future acquisitions, King said he hopes to be able to make more announcements in the future. “We’re working on four or five now,” he said.
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