Gordon Food Service (GFS) is a food service distributor based in Wyoming, Michigan serving the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest regions of the United States and coast-to-coast in Canada. It also operates stores in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Alabama, and Wisconsin.
GFS traces its origins to the turn of the 20th century when Isaac Van Westenbrugge, a 23-year-old Dutch immigrant living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, borrowed $300 from his brother to start up a business providing dairy products to local grocers. Van Westenbrugge and his wife maintained a barn in the back of their house for storing their merchandise, which they inspected by hand for freshness. Delivering cheese, butter, and eggs in a horse-drawn wagon to Grand Rapids stores, Van Westenbrugge became a successful businessman known for his commitment to high-quality products and dependable service.
In 1942, Ben and his brother Frank renamed the company Gordon Food Service. Since then, Gordon Food Service has grown to become the largest privately held and family-managed foodservice distributor in North America. Gordon Food Service serves a wide variety of foodservice companies across industries, ranging from restaurants, to healthcare, education, and more.
GFS became fully committed to the food service industry in the mid-1970s when it discontinued the last of its accounts with retail establishments. Marketing mainly to restaurants, hotels, and schools in western Michigan, the company had around 4,000 steady customers by 1974 and achieved $36 million in annual food service sales that year.
Gordon Food Service has 14 distribution centers in the U.S. In 1996, the company began a series of acquisitions in Canada, forming Gordon Food Service Canada. It now has 8 distribution centers in Canada. They deliver products via truck to more than 100,000 customers, including independent restaurants, long-term care facilities, hospitals, schools, colleges, and regional and national chain restaurants.
According to referenceforbusiness.com; en.wikipedia.org. Source of photo: internet
