Ringing In The New

Flash From The Past circa February 2002

Rumors began in early September 2001, Royal Ahold, parent company of U.S. Foodservice in Columbia, Maryland made an offer to acquire The Alliant Exchange, parent company of Alliant Foodservice.

In late November a voicemail went out to all Alliant employees to change their voicemail, and pager greetings to U.S. Foodservice, the company formerly known as Alliant. As of January 1, 2002 the transition is complete.

The benefits of this merger of the second and third largest foodservice companies nationwide are many. Through the expanded network of distribution centers nationwide the combined company known as U.S. Foodservice will enhance the geographic reach and therefore will improve their service. Also by leveraging their combined purchasing power of $19 billion, they will be able to offer an even broader product portfolio in the marketplace. In simple terms we believe that this merger will translate into service, quality and speed benefits to their customers.

Phil Collins, President of U.S. Foodservice of San Francisco (Formerly Alliant San Francisco) in his letter to Alliant customer stated “ U.S. Foodservice and Alliant Foodservice will remain absolutely focused on providing the highest level of service and support as we move through a well planned and thoughtful integration process. Our commitment in the past has always been to put the customer first and we intend to build on that commitment as we move forward.”

“ U.S. Foodservice and Alliant Foodservice will remain absolutely focused on providing the highest level of service and support as we move through a well planned and thoughtful integration process” –Phil Collins, President U.S. Foodservice San Francisco

As President of Alliant San Francisco Phil Collins recently completed a warehouse expansion, nearly doubling available space in order to increase on hand supplies of rapidly moving products and increasing the number of slots available for new products to better meet his customer’s needs.

As this letter goes to press the principals of U.S. Foodservice and Alliant Foodservice are still reviewing product lines to provide the highest quality, and value added products of both companies to their combined customers. The result of this merger will take the strengths of Alliant’s best programs in branded produce, dairy, disposables, and center of the plate items with the time proven quality of Rykoff and U.S. Foodservice canned tomatoes, oils, and dry goods.

Another benefit of the combined company is the E-Business combination of Alliant Foodservice on-line ordering system at Alliantlink.com with U.S. Foodservice on-line supply and equipment catalogs at Nextdaygourmet.com. Customers can order any stocked items for AlliantLink for next day delivery, while with Next Day Gourmet equipment orders can be placed for delivery in as little as three days.

”Our commitment in the past has always been to put the customer first and we intend to build on that commitment as we move forward.”- Phil Collins, President U.S. Foodservice San Francisco

With the increased quality, selection, ease of ordering, and frequency of deliveries here on the Central Coast, U.S. Foodservice of San Francisco looks to be the company of choice.