IFS Wraps 2020 With Three Acquisitions

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Individual FoodService in Bell wrapped up 2020 with three acquisitions, including a December deal for Brady Industries, a Las Vegas-based competitor.

IFS has about 300 employees and distributes eco-friendly and custom-branded packaging, paper and plastic disposables, food products, and janitorial supplies.

The company serves some 9,000 customers, including fast-casual, family-owned and major chain restaurants, food processors, caterers, bakeries, schools, large public venues, health care facilities, and foodservice distributors.

The addition of Brady will enable IFS to “cross-sell (a) more complete and complimentary 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.

Financial terms of the deal include equity funding from IFS shareholders led by New York-based private equity firm Kelso & Co., which acquired IFS in 2019.

Brady, founded in 1947, has more than 500 employees working in 20 locations in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah. It will continue operating under its brand name and will be managed by its current leadership team, according to Kenneth Sweder, IFS’s chief executive and chairman.

IFS acquired Cole Supply Co. Inc. in February — a deal that expanded its “market presence throughout northern California,” according to the company. The Benicia-based distributor of janitorial, cleaning and facility supplies was founded in 1947, has a lineup of more than 10,000 products.

“This partnership positions us to further accelerate our growth as we offer an even more broad, compelling and differentiated proposition to our customers throughout California,” Sweder said in a statement.

Another janitorial and sanitation distributor, Central Sanitary Supply Co., came into the IFS fold in September.

Modesto-based Central, founded in 1956, spun off from Network Services Co., a
member-owned distribution organization based in Illinois. Its 130 members collectively generate about $20 billion in annual revenue. Central distributes paper products, cleaning chemicals, housekeeping supplies and cleaning equipment.

“This is our second acquisition in seven months, and we continue to make excellent progress building our teams and opening new locations,” Sweder said at the time. “We remain acquisitive and committed to building the most customer- and operator-centric growth platform in our industry.”

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 Individual FoodService 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. The combined entity operated 600,000 square feet of distribution centers in the region.

A year later, IFS traded hands again, landing in Kelso’s portfolio of $11.2 billion in assets under management. The private equity firm replaced Shapiro with Sweder, who served in a similar role at SouthernCarlson Inc. in Oregon and Interline Brands in Florida.

“Sole Source has made meaningful investments in technology and operations,” Sole Source’s Managing Partner David Fredston said at the time, adding that his team is “excited to see Kelso lead IFS in its next chapter of growth.”

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