The site selected by the company is located at the I-275 Business Park in the city of Knoxville, between downtown Knoxville and the intersection of I-275 and I-640. Due diligence is currently underway, including geotechnical and environmental studies, the distributorship said.
The new company is expected to be operational by the first quarter of Sysco's fiscal year 2008 and will serve commercial and noncommercial operators in eastern Tennessee and portions of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
The approximately 300,000-sq.-ft. complex will include refrigerated, frozen and dry warehouse space, as well as administrative offices and a truck maintenance facility. Foodservice customers in the market area are currently being served by the distributorship's operating company in Nashville, TN, as well as broadline operations in Atlanta; Charlotte, NC; Harrisonburg, VA; and Louisville, KY.
Richard J. Schnieders, chairman, ceo and president, said, "The Knoxville fold-out will allow SYSCO to provide more localized service to our customers in that market, as well as in the markets of the existing SYSCO companies in Tennessee and surrounding states. Our growth in that region has been consistently strong, and with this new operation we expect to continue that trend."
Schnieders added that the Knoxville operation is the company's17th fold-out. The fold-out concept involves the construction of a new distribution facility in a marketplace that contains an established sales base but is currently being serviced from a distant SYSCO company.
Sysco considers the fold-out concept as an integral component to its internal sales growth strategy since it was first implemented in fiscal 1996. To date, Sysco has opened 15 broadline fold-out operations across the United States. A 16th broadline fold-out is currently under construction in the Raleigh, NC, area.
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