Zakaria Trad, who founded Best Fresh in 2007, described his company’s acquisition by San Francisco-based food delivery service GrubMarket as “an opportunity that doesn’t come around often.”
“They were actively looking to purchase a successful company, and for us it’s another adventure,” Trad said. “There are opportunities for us to grow as well under this umbrella.”
The GrubMarket “umbrella” includes several local produce wholesalers the company purchased within the last two years to bolster its presence in Southern California.
GrubMarket, founded in 2014, picked up So Cal Farm Network in Vernon in June 2018, Chasin Foods in Commerce in January 2019, and downtown-based Golden Greek Fresh in October 2019.
Best Fresh, which employs 25 workers, will continue with the same management team, which includes Trad’s older brother Abdul Basset.
“They work directly with an outstanding variety of farmers in the region and (are) committed to supplying healthy, fresh produce with the highest standard of quality and sustainability,” GrubMarket Chief Executive Mike Xu said in a statement. “Together, we will build a greater customer base and a stronger grower network in the food ecosystems of Los Angeles and nationwide.”
Best Fresh’s customers are large grocery stores in Chicago, Dallas, New York and Detroit. That broad customer base helped to insulate the company from the pandemic-related slowdown experienced by other food service-related wholesalers.
“The pandemic did not affect us, and in reality, it was the other way around because all of our clients are retailers or wholesalers,” Trad said. “The companies that got affected a lot more at the beginning of the pandemic are the ones who supply the restaurants. They got hurt big time.”
Trad brothers also own Orchid Dates Corp. in Coachella, which supplies some 2.5 million pounds of Medjool dates each year. The company will continue to serve as a vendor to Best Fresh and other GrubMarket’s affiliates.
