UNFI Canada, Inc. Acquires B.K. Sethi Distribution
December 7, 2011: It is with great excitement and privilege that we announce the acquisition of the food distribution assets of B.K. Sethi Distribution LTD. (''B.K. Sethi Distribution'') by UNFl Canada, Inc. a subsidiary of United Natural Foods, Inc. ("UNFI"), effective November 15, 2011.
Since 1982, B.K. Sethi Distribution has specialized in Asian, Indian, Hispanic, and Caribbean food distribution. With distribution facilities in Vancouver and Toronto B.K Sethi has provided a wide variety of quality ethnic products throughout Canada. Its commitment to providing a unique and broad selection of ethnic products in the Canadian market has established it as the leader in this category. UNFI continues to be focused on the growing Canadian market and we are confident that with this acquisition we will provide our customers with the most diverse and unique selection of products. B.K. Sethi will be personally involved in continuing to spearhead the development of these ethnic offerings he began nearly thirty years ago, working with UNFI's to help customers to grow these product lines.
UNFI is the leading distributor of natural, organic, and specialty food products in North America. With more than 60,000 SKU's, UNFI supplies to over 17,000 customers throughout North America. UNFI services a wide variety of retail formats, including supernatural chains, independent natural product retailers, conventional supermarkets and food service customers. UNFI was ranked by Forbes magazine in 2005 as one of the "Best Managed Companies in America", ranked by Fortune in 2006-2010 as one of its "Most Admired Companies", winner of the Supermarket News 2008 Sustainability Excellence Award, and recognized by the Nutrition Business Journal for its 2009 Environmental and Sustainability Award.
This is a very exciting combination that brings together two complementary organizations, the addition of B.K. Sethi Distribution's well-established brands of ethnic products kosher/middle eastern products, will provide UNFI's customers a unique opportunity to have one distributor that can meet their needs by providing a dynamic assortment of organic, natural, specialty, kosher and now ethnic products. The combined strengths of B.K. Sethi Distribution's knowledge of the ethnic market with UNFI's expertise in organic, natural, specialty, and kosher will allow for greater opportunities for our customers, suppliers, and employees including efficient distribution services nationally, greater product selection and marketing support to drive the category sales.