Posted on 03/30/2026 3:44:51 PM PDT by DFG
Sysco, the nation’s largest food distributor, will acquire supplier Restaurant Depot in a deal worth more than $29 billion.
The acquisition would create a closer link between Sysco and its customers that right now turn to Restaurant Depot for supplies needed quickly in an industry segment known as “cash-and-carry wholesale.”
Sysco, based in Houston, serves more than 700,000 restaurants, hospitals, schools and hotels, supplying them with everything from butter and eggs to napkins. Those goods are typically acquired ahead of time based on how much traffic that restaurants typically see.
Restaurant Depot offers memberships to mom-and-pop restaurants and other businesses, giving them access to warehouses stocked with supplies for when they run short of what they’ve purchased from suppliers like Sysco.
It is a fast growing and high-margin segment that will likely mean thousands of restaurants will rely increasingly on Sysco for day-to-day needs.
Restaurant Depot shareholders will receive $21.6 billion in cash and 91.5 million Sysco shares. Based on Sysco’s closing share price of $81.80 as of March 27, 2026, the deal has an enterprise value of about $29.1 billion.
Restaurant Depot was founded in Brooklyn in 1976. The family run business then known as Jetro Restaurant Depot, has become the nation’s largest cash-and-carry wholesaler.
The boards of both companies have approved the acquisition, but it would still need regulatory approval.
Shares of Sysco Corp. tumbled 13% Monday to $71.26, an initial decline some industry analysts expected given the cost of the deal.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
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“Restaurant food, microwaved to order.”
Very true, and even worse, almost always carb-loaded (since carbs are cheaper). Seems they’re trying to kill us all, or at least make us diabetic.
Sysco is why restaurant dining sucks. You go to Chili’s, Applebee’s, Outback, Texas Roadhouse, practically any place else, and you get the same food. It’s all from Sysco. They have bought up all of the competition.
LOL. Sysco is part of the reason why dining out is dying.
I seldom eat out other than for work related reasons and those places are usually very high end and have better sourcing
Yeah otherwise it’s almost all garbage carbs fillers and seed oils
I got a Burger King burger, fries, and a soda since I had to be on the road for the first time in many months Saturday.
It was mediocre at best. My stomach was upset a lot the next day.
I air fry my burgers at home, use no buns, load up on veggies and use some keto friendly bbq sauce, ketchup and mayo. Usually top with mozzarella. Water is the usual drink. Sodas are pretty much done with me and I don’t touch coffee or alcohol. My only other beverage is whole milk.
This guy on Youtube offers some real insight on modern dining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAb-o99zMt4
Zevia, store it on its head bottom up.
Sysco supplied the school I taught at. The lunch ladies changed from actually cooking meals to heating them.
Can’t blame them, new rules under Obama required detailed measurements of sugar, salt, protean, carbs for each meal, the math involved being too complicated for them to comply with. Sysco did the math.
Meals went from being occasionally very good to boring and tasteless with at least half of the lunches ending the trash cans.
Fast food sucks. I can go to any local bar and get a big burger and fries, freshly made to my specifications for $10-$15.
That sucks
I try to carry food with me as I travel for work quite a bit and if I can I’ll grab boiled eggs and cheese/salami or something at a grocery store
I’m sure there’s some sort of toxic crap in them but the Starbucks egg bites seem pretty clean as well if you are desperate
Those are chains. What about boutique restaurants or high end Chef-owned restaurants?
Must be nice. My last pub meal was $50 for two. One beer, a soda, a Reuben and a chicken quesadilla.
Plus tip...
Company I work for, our cafeteria is Sysco, honestly they are fairly good and inexpensive compared to many places around,
You’re going to the wrong pubs. Lunch specials usually come with a beer or wine, so I can get out of there for about 25 bucks with a good tip. Dinner’s aren’t usually cheap.
There are different ‘levels’ to Sysco food.
Many restaurants - even some high end ones - buy from Sysco.
So these are the guys that supply the Mexican Food joints?
AHhhh Sysco!
Ahhh Pancho!!
They are HQ’ed in Houston, TX - but they supply all kinds of restaurants, schools, stadiums, etc.
My old boss literally did a study of them during this Exec MBA program - and they have a solid business model. They have multiple quality levels, basically, of food. It just depends on what the customer wants to pay.
And, I think there’s only one Pancho’s left (in Houston, anyway, in Humble off 59 and 1960).
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