The Bell-based distributor of eco-friendly and custom-branded packaging, paper and plastic disposables, food products and janitorial supplies reported $800 million in revenue last year, a 128% increase from 2019, according to Business Journal
estimates.
Individual FoodService serves fast-casual, family-owned and major chain restaurants, food processors, caterers, bakeries, schools, large public venues, health care facilities and foodservice distributors.
Contributors to its top-line growth likely included an increase in takeout orders as dine-in traffic dried up for many restaurants in 2020, as well as several deals that bolstered its reach and expanded its customer base to 25,000 accounts, up from 3,700 in 2016.
The company also completed three bolt-on acquisitions in 2020, including a December deal for Brady Industries, a Las Vegas-based competitor.
The addition enabled IFS to “cross-sell a … complementary product portfolio, expand end-market and geographic diversification, and provide a significant expansion of our distribution footprint with 38 combined facilities,” according to the company.
Brady continued operating under its name and with the same management team. It has more than 500 employees working in 26 locations in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
Individual FoodService brought another janitorial and sanitation distributor into the fold in September. Modesto-based Central Sanitary Supply distributes paper products, cleaning chemicals, housekeeping supplies and cleaning equipment. The deal expanded IFS’s sales presence and distribution capabilities throughout California and Nevada.
Right before the pandemic, IFS acquired Cole Supply Co. Inc., a Fairfield-based distributor of janitorial, cleaning and facility supplies. The acquisition streak continued this year, with Brady picking up Elkins Wholesale Inc.’s two Mississippi distribution facilities in March on undisclosed terms.
Morris Supowitz founded IFS in 1926 as Individual Sanitary Service Inc., providing janitorial and paper products to doctors’ offices in downtown. It was among the first companies to offer Dixie cups, and later Solo Cup and Scott Paper.
Supowitz’s grandsons Steve and Michael Supowitz acquired a wholesale food service company, Fergadis Enterprises, in 1995. And in 2009, the two companies merged to form Perrin Bernard Supowitz Inc., which did business as Individual FoodService.
Santa Monica-based private equity firm Sole Source Capital acquired IFS in late 2018 and merged it with Trade Supplies in South Gate. Steve Supowitz remained at the helm and was later replaced by Jeremy Shapiro, Trade Supplies’ chief executive.
A year later, IFS traded hands again, landing in New York-based Kelso & Co.’s portfolio of $11.2 billion in assets under management. The private equity firm replaced Shapiro with Kenneth Sweder, who served in a similar role at SouthernCarlson Inc. in Oregon and Interline Brands in Florida.
IFS has offices in Hayward, San Diego and Phoenix. It operates a 600,000 square feet of distribution centers in the region and an in-house fleet of more than 80 delivery trucks.