Cash&Carry Rebrands Itself Into Smart Foodservice

Cash&Carry Smart Foodservice announced it is rebranding to the name Smart Foodservice Warehouse Stores. The company said the change reflects more than 60 years of evolution in the industry.

“The updated name better reflects our mission and provides a much clearer message to current and future customers about the products and services we offer. This new name is a much more accurate reflection of who we are and what we do,” said Derek Jones, President of Smart Foodservice and Executive Vice President of Smart & Final.

Smart Foodservice is a chain of warehouse-format stores catering to the food service industry. The company explained that the new name allows it to better communicate its mission of selling quality ingredients and restaurant supplies in a simple warehouse format.

Launched in 1955, Smart Foodservice sells food service supplies to businesses, non-profit organizations and households. The chain focuses on smaller and convenient locations, which allows it to serve more customers and expand into new markets and states.

According to Chain Store Age, the company said, “This approach will not only better emphasize the go-to market strategy, but will also offer restaurants and businesses the same competitive advantage that is available to some of the largest foodservice operators.”

Headquartered near Portland, Oregon, Smart Foodservice currently has 63 wholesale stores located in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah.

Earlier this week, the company announced that net sales increased 5.1 percent to more than $1 million with a comparable store sales increase of 1.2 percent. In addition, its gross margin increased 9.9 percent, and its adjusted EBITDA increased 17.3 percent to $28.6 million.

David Hirz, president and chief executive officer, said, “eCommerce sales increased over 85 percent, off a small base, and we have a robust plan for growing our e-commerce capabilities in both banners in 2018, with first quarter accomplishments including the launch of our Shop Smart & Final mobile app. We expect the development of our e-commerce and related offerings will support customer traffic, through both customer acquisition and retention, as adoption of this channel accelerates.”