Sysco Corporation (short for Systems and Services Company) is an American
multinational corporation
A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...
involved in marketing and distributing food products, smallwares, kitchen equipment and tabletop items to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, hospitality businesses like hotels and inns, and wholesale to other companies that provide
foodservice
The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...
(like
Aramark
Aramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American food service, facilities, and uniform services provider to clients in areas including education, healthcare, business, prisons, and leisure. It operates in North America (United S ...
and
Sodexo). The company is headquartered in the
Energy Corridor
The Energy Corridor is a business district in Houston, Texas, located on the west side of the metropolitan area between Beltway 8 and the Grand Parkway. The district straddles a stretch of Interstate 10 (the Katy Freeway) from Kirkwood Road west ...
district of
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
. Sysco is the world's largest broadline food distributor; it has more than 600,000 clients in a wide array of fields. Management consulting is also an integral part of their services. The company operates approximately 330 distribution facilities worldwide; providing service to over 90 countries.
The company was founded by
Herbert Irving, John F. Baugh and Harry Rosenthal in 1969. The company became public on March 3, 1970. On July 20, 2009, ''
Fortune'' magazine ranked Sysco No. 204 in the annual
Fortune 500 companies in world based on sales volume. On May 3, 2010, ''Fortune'' ranked Sysco as the 7th largest Fortune 500 Company in Texas and 55th largest in the U.S. by total revenue.
Sysco is also the largest non-oil related company in Houston and the third largest non-oil related company in Texas (behind
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
and
Dell).
The company ranked No. 54 in the 2018
Fortune 500 list of the largest US corporations by total revenue.
In December 2013, Sysco announced an $8.2 billion planned acquisition of its next-largest food distribution rival,
US Foods
US Foods (formerly known as U.S. Foodservice) is an American foodservice distributor. With approximately $24 billion in annual revenue, US Foods was the 10th largest private company in America until its IPO. It was founded in August 1989. Many ...
. The
Federal Trade Commission challenged the acquisition as a violation of the
Clayton Antitrust Act
The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipie ...
that would substantially lessen competition. After the court ruled that the combined company would likely reduce competition because it would control 75% of the U.S. food service industry, Sysco terminated its merger with US Foods.
History
In 1981, SYSCO Food Services bought out the assets of Lankford Produce, based in
West Pocomoke, Maryland and founded in 1964, by Stanley E. Lankford Jr., forming the Lankford-SYSCO division in the
Delmarva Peninsula
The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia. ...
, renamed Sysco Eastern Maryland in 2008.
In 1988, Sysco acquired
CFS Continental which had recently been acquired from
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 ...
through their purchase of
A. E. Staley in Illinois.
In 1996, Sysco was the third largest company in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
. It had over 30,000 employees.
[Hassel, Greg.]
Sysco goes to court vs. RioStar/Chapter 7 sought for Ninfa's parent
" ''Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...
''. Friday October 18, 1996. Business 1. Retrieved on February 6, 2012.
In 1999 Sysco acquired Newport Meat Company, which generated a yearly revenue of $100 million supplying meat to over 1,000 restaurants.
In 2002, Sysco purchased SERCA Foodservices and renamed it Sysco Canada. SERCA had been owned by the supermarket giant
Oshawa Group
Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...
, which was acquired by
Sobeys in 1998.
In 2003, Sysco purchased Asian Foods, the largest Asian foods distribution in North America. The first group of Asian Foods joined Sysco Kansas City in 2006, followed by Asian Foods Chicago joining Sysco Chicago in Sep, 2009.
In 2009, Sysco acquired Pallas Foods, the largest food distributor in Ireland. Continuing the expansion of their Irish offerings, in 2012, Sysco purchased Crossgar Foodservice for an undisclosed amount.
On December 9, 2013, Sysco announced they would acquire US Foods for a total of $3.5 billion. But on June 24, 2015, US Federal Judge
Amit Mehta ruled that the combined Sysco-US Foods would control 75% of the U.S. food service industry and would stifle competition. On June 29, 2015, Sysco terminated its merger with US Foods.
In May 2022, after a year of testing, Sysco committed to the purchase of
Freightliner eCascadia
electric trucks
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
, with the goal of electrifying 35% of its fleet by 2026.
Subsidiaries
The SYGMA Network, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sysco that provides food and non-food products to chain restaurants throughout the United States.
SYGMA was founded in January 1984, when senior officers of Sysco Corporation started discussions for forming a new distribution company. The first products were shipped in May 1985, from SYGMA’s first distribution center in Oklahoma. In 1988, Sysco acquired CFS, increasing head count at the organization.
SYGMA's customers include approximately 14,000 restaurants representing 26 concepts. Operating from 14 distribution centers, SYGMA is one of the largest chain distributors in the United States with sales over $6.7 billion. 186 million cases of product are delivered each year. SYGMA currently employs over 4,000 employees.
Controversies
Beginning in the summer of 2013, the
California Department of Public Health
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is the state department responsible for public health in California. It is a subdivision of the California Health and Human Services Agency. It enforces some of the laws in the California Health ...
was investigating the storage of food in a total of 21 sheds which were never regulated and never inspected. The food included overnight drop-offs of chicken, pork, beef, bacon, and milk.
[ An investigative report by KNTV recorded food sitting in these sheds for up to five hours, in temperatures as hot as , before the food was delivered to hotels and restaurants. An employee speaking anonymously stated that sheds in Spokane, Washington, had refrigerators which were not large enough, and that most of the time there were cases of frozen food sitting on the floor outside the refrigerators.][UPDATED: Unrefrigerated storage prompts Sysco investigation]
''The Packer'', Mike Hornick, July 15, 2013.
KNTV, Vicky Nguyen, Kevin Nious and Jeremy Carroll, Sept. 18, 2013. " ... Employees from coast to coast say that all of these sheds were hidden from health officials and never inspected."
On July 16, 2014, Sysco agreed to pay fines totaling $19.4 million in California and admitted to the allegations made by KNTV's news team and investigated by the California Department of Public Health.
References
External links
Sysco Corporation website
Asian Foods Inc.
The SYGMA Network, Inc.
{{Authority control
Catering and food service companies of the United States
Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Companies based in Houston
Food and drink companies established in 1969
1969 establishments in Texas
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
1970s initial public offerings