May 11, 2022

FreshEdge expands with City Produce acquisition

FreshEdge, a family of produce and specialty food companies, has acquired fresh food distributor City Produce, headquartered in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

For many years, City Produce has been serving North Central Florida, the Florida Panhandle and central to southern Alabama distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, including an array of fresh-cut offerings, dairy, meats, seafoods, specialty foods and more. City Produce operates out of two facilities, one in Fort Walton Beach, and a second in Foley, Alabama.

The addition expands FreshEdge’s footprint into the southern United States and provides space and logistical support to better serve its customer base as it spreads farther south. City Produce joins Piazza Produce & Specialty Foods, Indianapolis Fruit, Get Fresh Produce, McCartney Produce, Monteverde’s, Valley Produce, Vine Line, Garden Cut, CIBUS Fresh and Papania’s.

FreshEdge now operates with more than 2,000 employees, approximately 808,500 square feet of warehouse space, and a fleet of more than 720 trucks.

“We welcome Tommy Sundy and his amazing team to the FreshEdge family of companies,” said Steve Grinstead, CEO of FreshEdge, in a news release. “We are excited for this great company to join FreshEdge as we expand farther into the Southeast.”

Terms of the deal, which closed on May 10, 2022, were not disclosed. The transaction strengthens the combined business’s presence in Florida and southern Alabama.

“City Produce will be a great addition to our expanding group of ‘best in class’ fresh food distribution companies,” said Greg Corsaro, president and COO of FreshEdge. “We look forward to Tommy’s continued leadership at City Produce.”

“Our City Produce team is excited to join the FreshEdge family – knowing we’ll be ‘better together’,” said Tommy Sundy, president. “This is the next step in increasing our footprint, serving customers with expanded offerings and growing for our future.”

FreshEdge is backed by Rotunda Capital Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm focused on investments in founder and family held companies. Rotunda seeks to provide opportunities for management teams to reach strategic, financial, and operational objectives. Rotunda entered the food business in 2017 with the acquisition of Indianapolis Fruit and Piazza Produce. FreshEdge was created in 2019 when Get Fresh Produce joined the platform.

City Produce represents FreshEdge’s seventh acquisition since Rotunda’s initial investment. Together, Rotunda and FreshEdge intend to continue expanding FreshEdge by welcoming more companies into the group—all focused on high-quality produce and specialty food products, along with exceptional service—to create a unique group of complementary entities.