Performance Food Group’s (PFG) merger with Reinhart Foodservice will significantly help it to achieve its goal of emphasizing and shifting its portfolio towards independent operators, according to Technomic.
And a report from Technomic said: “Strategically, this move helps create a stronger broadline business for PFG.
“Recent acquisitions have helped propel PFG to be well-situated in segments outside of ‘traditional’ foodservice, with Eby-Brown helping build upon PFG’s success with Vistar in targeting convenience-driven operators and other acquisitions, such as Continental Concessions, Jenny Service and Fox River Foods, helping build out capabilities in strategically important alternative segments and categories.”
And the research firm says that we will likely see continued activity by PFG and other “power distributors” to acquire specialists and new capabilities, as distributors work to align their business with the needs of the evolving foodservice industry.
It also claimed that the acquisition may increase profatibility by driving down costs, with PFG aiming to save up to $50 million in costs over the next three years.
However it warned that this might be one of the last ‘mega-mergers’ in foodservice distribution, citing the government veto of a Sysco-US Foods merger four years ago as evidence that the government were set to take a hard-line on acquisition activity that it views as anti-competitive.
