CFS Continental, Inc. was a wholesale food distributor started in 1915 by Jacob Cohn (b. 1894, d. 1968) in Chicago as the Continental Coffee Company. It is now part of Sysco.

History

The wholesale food distributor started in 1915 by Jacob Cohn (b. 1894, d. 1968) in Chicago as the Continental Coffee Company. Cohn began by selling coffee by horse and wagon to small restaurants in Chicago. By 1967, the Continental Coffee was led by brothers Alvin Cohn (b. 1921, d. 1994) and Robert Cohn. The brothers began purchasing regional wholesale grocery companies to supplement Continental Coffee's national coffee business. In 1970, Continental Coffee Company went public. In 1973, Continental Coffee Company changed its name to CFS Continental, Inc. to reflect the growing importance of foodservice to their traditional coffee business. In 1985, CFS Continental, Inc. with $1.6 billion in annual sales was purchased by the soybean and corn processor

A.E. Staley Primary Products Ingredients Americas LLC (founded as A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company), also formerly known as Tate & Lyle Primary Products, is an American subsidiary of Tate & Lyle PLC and produces a range of starch products for the food, p ...

for $360 million. The owners, in the Chicago area, had to give over 50% of their profit to taxes and debt. After the acquisition, A.E. Staley changed its name to Staley Continental. In 1988 British food processor

Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle PLC is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage ingredients to industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s it began to diversify, eventually divesting its sugar business i ...

purchased A.E. Staley Company for $1.42 billion. The owners in this second purchase came from southern Illinois. To help finance the A.E. Staley acquisition, Tate & Lyle pre-sold CFS Continental to the foodservice giant Sysco for $360 million. Not forgetting the owners had to give over 50% of their profit to taxes and debt. Sysco generated sales of $3.7 billion (1987) and CFS Continental generated sales of $2.4 billion (1987). CFS Continental operations purchased by Sysco included all brands, distribution facilities and equipment; wholesale grocery sales force; NCD Detergents; the Gregg's Food Products/ Re-Mi Group, which manufactured more than 350 food items such as salad dressings and puddings; Continental Coffee; the Interstate Foods Group (shortening); and Fresh Start Bakeries, which produced hamburger buns and English muffins for

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

Corp. CFS Continental distribution and sales force were particular strong on the west coast,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and in the Washington, D.C. where Sysco did not have a strong presences. Sysco was primarily interested in CFS Continental's wholesale grocery business and therefore, prior to the purchase of ''CFS Continental'' from Tate & Lyle, Sysco had pre-sold the non-core manufacturing businesses. Quaker Oats purchased Continental Coffee (undisclosed price). Fresh Start Foods, a management buy out team financed by Berkshire Partners bought the two manufacturing divisions that supplied McDonald's Corp.: Interstate Foods Group (shortening) and Fresh Start Bakeries to (price not disclosed). The shortening manufacturing facilities were located in Chicago and Los Angeles. The Fresh Start bakeries were located California,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

, West Germany and Brazil.

Borden Inc. Borden, Inc., was an American producer of food and beverage products, consumer products, and industrial products. At one time, the company was the largest U.S. producer of dairy and pasta products. Its food division, Borden Foods, was based in C ...

bought Gregg's Food Products/Re-Mi Group. NCD Detergents, INC. was sold to Ecolab. Sysco raised an estimated $250 million in the divestiture of the ''CFS Continental'' manufacturing divisions.

References

{{Reflist Catering and food service companies of the United States Food and drink companies established in 1915 Defunct companies based in Chicago Business services companies established in 1915 1915 establishments in Illinois Food and drink companies disestablished in 1988 1988 disestablishments in Illinois